Orange Come Back to Muzzle Danes

Sunday, May 15

Syracuse, NY

7:30 p.m.

Syracuse University

#9 Albany

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

5/15/2016 10:16:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - After trailing 6-2 at the half, the No. 8 seed Syracuse men's lacrosse team dominated the second half of its NCAA Tournament first round game at the Carrier Dome on Sunday night, outscoring Albany 9-3 to advance to the quarterfinals by a final tally of 11-9.

The Orange advance to face No. 1 seed Maryland in the quarterfinals on Saturday in a noon start in Providence, Rhode Island after the Terps advanced with a 13-6 win over Quinnipiac.

Sergio Salcido had a team-high four points on two goals and two assists. His goals came at crucial times as well; the first snapping a four-goal Albany run in the first half, and the second giving the Orange their first lead of the game, 9-8, with 9:54 to go. The redshirt junior midfielder also assisted Derek DeJoe's goal with 2:09 left in the 3rd quarter that tied the game, 7-7.

Tim Barber and Jordan Evans added two goals each for Syracuse, while Evan Molloy had 12 saves in goal.

"I thought that Albany was extremely well prepared. They came out on fire tonight," said head coach John Desko. "We didn't expect their faceoff guy to do as well as he did, but he was a big part of getting them the ball to that potent offense and creating some transition. Defensively they played very aggressively and did some things that we didn't really expect. Our guys came in at half time and were able to turn it around and reverse the halves and win some faceoffs in the second half. I think we took 13 shots in the third quarter to put some pressure back on them. Their goalie played well in the first half but we were able to get to him in the second half."

After the teams exchanged goals in the first 2:29 of the contest, the Great Danes took control, realing off four in a row between the 11:12 mark of the first quarter and the 12:40 mark of the second quarter to take a 5-1 lead. The visitors took a 6-2 lead into the locker room at halftime after outshooting the Orange, 21-12, over the first 30 minutes.

The Orange came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders, outscoring Albany 5-1 in the third quarter, while holding an 18-3 shot advantage for the period, to send the game into the fourth stanza knotted 7-7.

It was Nick Mariano that started the Orange run, just two minutes into the second half. Tim Barber got his 25th of the year only 43 seconds later to pull 'Cuse back to within two with 12:10 left in the third quarter. Albany's John Glancy halted the Orange momentum with a goal of his own a minute and a half later, but from that point forward it was all Syracuse in the third. Jordan Evans finished a Salcido feed to pull Syracuse to within two, with Matt Lane making it a one-goal game for the first time since the 11:12 mark of the first quarter 1:33 after Evans' goal.

DeJoe then buried the equalizer with 2:09 to go in the quarter to end the period.

Albany wouldn't go away, however. John Maloney scored his second of the day to open the fourth quarter scoring and retake the lead, but it was another 3-0 run that gave the Orange the lead back for good that started next.

Barber scored to tie things up less than a minute after Maloney's goal and Salcido picked up his second two minutes after that to give Syracuse its first lead of the game. Joe Gillis finally opened things up for the Orange scoring on a low bouncer after a pass from Paolo Ciferri that snuck by Albany netminder Blaze Riorden. Riorden made nine saves on the day for the Great Danes.

Adam Osika scored his second of the day with 6:48 left to again give Albany life, but Evans put the game out of reach with 4:12 to play and Syracuse moved onto Providence in the process.

Syracuse finished with a 39-34 shot advantage for the game thanks to a 27-13 edge in the second half.

After Albany won all five faceoffs in the first quarter, Syracuse's Ben Williams went 12-of-19 over the final three quarters.

The Orange and Terps will faceoff at Noon next Saturday on ESPNU.

GAME NOTES: Syraucse has won 41-straight games in which it has held its opponent to under-10 goals ... Dylan Donahue moved into sole possession of seventh on Syracuse's all-time goals list, passing Tom Abbott.