Orange Downs No. 12 Albany 16-7

Sunday, February 21

Syracuse, NY

4 p.m.

Syracuse University

2-0

#12 Albany

0-1

Albany

Syracuse

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

2/21/2016 7:20:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Nick Mariano and Derek DeJoe each netted their first hat tricks at Syracuse, Matt Lane posted a career-high four points on two goals and two assists, while Ben Williams was dominant at the faceoff X, winning 17-of-24 attempts for the No. 6 Syracuse men's lacrosse team (2-0), which rolled to a 16-7 win over No. 12 Albany (0-1) on Sunday at the Carrier Dome.

The Orange peppered the Albany net, recording 59 shots in the win, the Orange haven't produced more than that in a game since April 19, 1997 when they shot 72 times against Hobart.

Williams got things going early, winning 11-straight faceoffs to open the action and the Orange offense took advantage of the possessions to get out to an early lead.

"I thought it was a good win for us," said head coach John Desko. "We've been trying to figure out ourselves going into the season with a lot of graduation that we had a year ago. It was good to see a lot of the guys step up today. Ben was in good form; he gave us a lot of possessions to keep a lot of pressure on their defense throughout the game. I thought their defense did a pretty good job as far as limiting goals in the first half. We could have done a little better job of shooting and valuing our possessions a little more. I thought as the game went on we got more comfortable and settled down in our offense, and our defense settled down too, especially from the second quarter on. It was a big win for the Orange today."

Just 1:21 into the game, Jordan Evans put the Orange on the board, dodging from behind the cage and firing into the bottom left corner of the net. Not even a minute later,

Tim Barber took his defender from the right wing to give Syracuse a 2-0 lead, beating the Albany keeper on a shot in the top left of the cage.

After two saves from Albany netminder Blaze Riorden to stop Syracuse's run, the Great Danes put themselves on the board, as Seth Oakes bounced a pass to Bennett Drake, who picked it up in the center of the field before finding the back of the net.'

Riorden turned in 17 saves on the afternoon to keep the Great Danes in it.

However, at the 8:07 mark, just over a minute later, DeJoe extended the Orange lead back to two, cutting across the middle of the field before finishing past his high school teammate Riorden for the goal.

Making his first career start, Lane got involved in the action with 6:24 to play in the quarter. Receiving a pass from Dylan Donahue, Lane took one step before firing from 15-yards out to send one into the back of the net and put the Orange up 4-1.

The Donahue assist extended his nation's-leading point streak to 41-straight games.

Following trades in possession between Syracuse and Albany, Nick Mariano netted his first goal of the day, pushing down the right side and tucking his shot inside the far post.

Closing out the quarter, Bennett Drake narrowed the gap for the Great Danes, scoring his second goal of the day on a dodge in the center of the field. With just nine seconds remaining, the Orange's lead was cut to 5-2.

Out of the break, Albany continued its push as Justin Reh converted a pass on the crease from Kyle McClancy to pull within two – the closest they'd get on the afternoon.

Despite failing to take advantage of an extra-man opportunity, the Orange struck next, stretching their lead back to three on a goal from Sergio Salcido. Dylan Donahue was credited with the assist on the play, finding Salcido on the right side of the field and feeding him from behind the cage.

Albany's Reh netted his second goal of the day with 8:34 to go in the half, catching a pass from Connor Fields on the crease and quick-sticking it past Warren Hill.

Feeling the pressure of Albany's surge, Syracuse yet-again extended their lead back to three, going up 7-4 on another goal from Lane. Using his 6-foot-7 frame to get position on the crease, Lane collected a pass from Mariano and beat Riorden with a shot into the bottom right of the cage for the last goal of the quarter, sending 'Cuse into the break with the lead.

Gaining possession off Williams' 12^th face off win, the Orange started the second half by extending their lead to 8-4. With Riorden leaving the cage to chase a ground ball, Donahue scooped it up and found Devin Shewell cutting down the field for the assist.

As was the case in most of the first half, the Great Danes refused to allow the Orange to run away with the game, fighting back to cut the lead down yet again. Sweeping across the center of the field, Albany's Eli Lasda fired past Hill with 9:15 to go in the quarter.

However, not even a minute later, DeJoe scored his second of the afternoon, and third of the season, for the Orange, sneaking one past Riorden in the top portion of the net.

With 6:47 to play in the third, Lane added to his point total with an assist as he found Shewell for the freshman's second goal of the afternoon. The goal gave Syracuse a 10-5 lead, its largest of the game.

Taking advantage of a man-up opportunity, the Great Danes stopped the Orange run on a goal by John Maloney, assisted by Connor Fields. However, after an Albany penalty of its own, Syracuse converted on a man-up possession, with Donahue scoring his first of the day on a pass from Salcido.

With just 14.5 seconds left in the third quarter, Mariano found the back of the net to extend the Orange lead to six. Tucking his stick under an Albany trail check, Mariano beat his man from behind the net for his second goal of the game.

Starting the fourth quarter with a six-goal lead, the Orange added to it on a Jordan Evans goal off a pass from Dylan Donahue. The assist was Donahue's fourth, giving him a total of five points on the day, the game high.

Syracuse got its first hat trick of the game courtesy of DeJoe, who ripped a shot from 12 yards out to put the Orange up 14-6 with 8:29 to go in the game.

Unwilling to step down quietly, Albany bounced back with a behind-the-back goal from Seth Oakes at the 6:48 mark. However, with 3:33 to play, Nate Solomon got the goal back for the Orange, streaking in front of the cage and shooting a low shot past Riorden for his first career goal.

Stretching the Syracuse lead to 16-7, Mariano added his third goal of the game on a man-up opportunity, scoring on a pass from Lane. The three-goal effort for Mariano made for his first hat trick of the season; while the assist from Lane gave the lengthy redshirt sophomore four points on the day.

Next up, Syracuse takes on Army West Point next Sunday at 4 p.m.