#1 'Cuse Races Past Cornell

Tuesday, April 11

Syracuse, NY

7 p.m.

Syracuse University

9-1, 3-0ACC

Cornell

3-7, 2-2IVY

Cornell

Syracuse

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

4/11/2017 11:15:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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Williams wins 19-of-25 at the X, Evans scores five points to lead Cuse

Overcoming a hot start by Cornell (3-7, 2-2 IVY) the No. 1 Syracuse men's lacrosse team (9-1, 3-0 ACC) used a 10-0 run through the second and third quarters to race past its in-state rival 15-8 and tie the program's best start to a season through 10 games since the undefeated 1990 team.

The Orange made the most of its extra possessions provided by faceoff man Ben Williams, who won 19 of his 25 faceoff attempts on the evening and picked up a season-high 11 ground balls. Williams' ground balls led 'Cuse to a 36-27 advantage in the category as well.

Jordan Evans led the way for Syracuse with five points on three goals and two assists, while Stephen Rehfuss added four points of his own off the bench. Nate Solomon and Nick Mariano added hat tricks as well, while Evan Molloy posted another solid night in net, making seven saves before he was relieved by Dom Madonna midway through the fourth quarter.

"It was a good win for us tonight," said head coach John Desko. "I thought that Cornell came out in the first half and really competed and Coach Kerwick did a nice job getting his guys ready to come to the Carrier Dome. He brought a young group against a group that's pretty confident here. At the end of the second quarter we were able to put up a couple in order to get a bit of a lead going into halftime. I was happy in the third quarter when we really came out and put some points up.

"To get Ben Williams in the swing that he was tonight, giving us all those possessions puts a lot of pressure on the other team's defense. It gave us a lot of opportunities to score some goals. We were fortunate to be able to get in a lot of players tonight for two reasons: so they can get some experience, and to rest our starting group, because we are going to be hopping on a plane on Friday morning. We got Wednesday and Thursday to get ready, and we got North Carolina on Saturday. We accomplished what we need to accomplish, and we look forward to continuing to get our team to compete."

The Orange got on the board first, converting on its first possession just 3:23 into the game. Swooping around from behind the net, Nick Mariano scored his first of three goals on the night to get the Orange offense rolling.

The Big Red responded, knotting things at one with a goal by Kason Tarbell, assisted by Jeff Teat. With 8:59 to play, Cornell scored its second straight, pushing ahead 2-1 on a man-up goal from Jake McCulloch. Again, Teat recorded the assist.

After creating a turnover on the ensuing Syracuse possession, Cornell stretched its lead to two, as Tarbell finished in transition, with Teat recording his third assist of the game.

Putting an end to the 3-0 Cornell run, 'Cuse bounced back when Evans threw a cross-field pass to Solomon for the goal.
Jordan Dowiak extended the lead back to two, scoring with 4:09 to go in the game's opening period off what was Teat's fourth assist early.

But from that point forward it was all 'Cuse. Converting on a 5-on-4 man-up opportunity, Sergio Salcido found Brendan Bomberry wide open on the crease for the assisted goal, cutting the lead back to one. Starting the second quarter down 4-3, the Orange tied things up 4:22 in on an Evans goal.

After 8:39 of scoreless play from both sides, Syracuse broke the drought with another Solomon goal. Collecting a pass from Evans, Solomon dove across the crease for the finish, giving the Orange its first lead since the 9:58 mark in the first period.

One minute later, with 59 seconds to play in the half, Evans scored his second goal of the day, extending the Orange lead to two for the first time in the game, with Sergio Salcido chipping in his second of three assists on the evening.

As time expired in the half, Jamie Trimboli capped off a 4-0 second quarter to give Syracuse a 7-4 lead at the break. Trimboli then opened the scoring in the second half for the Orange, as he scored an unassisted at 13:52 to make it 8-4.

Evans then followed up with another goal at the 12:02 mark of the third on a pass from Matt Lane. Mariano got back in the action just 33 seconds later, putting the Orange in double digits.

Brendon Bomberry continued the run for the Orange, making it 11-4 at 8:45 in the third quarter, off of a pass from Rehfuss. Just 24 seconds later, Rehfuss tallied his first goal of the night making it 12-4. The goal was unassisted.

Cornell ended the 9-0 scoring run for the Orange at 7:16 in the third quarter, as Colton Rupp scored his first of the evening making the game 12-5 in favor of Syracuse.

Brad Voigt made it 13-5 after Rehfuss found him right in front of the net with 6:24 left in the third quarter.

Cornell got the scoring underway in the fourth quarter, as Kason Tarbell scored his third of the night on a pass from Austin Fingar, just 24 seconds into the quarter.

Just under five minutes into the quarter, Mariano tallied his third of the night and 26th on the season off of a close range shot.

Rehfuss tallied his second of the night with 5:03 remaining in the game, coming from behind the cage and scoring on a one-handed shot to finish off the 'Cuse scoring.

The Orange will now travel to No. 17 North Carolina on Saturday, taking on the Tar Heels in the second game of a 'Cuse-UNC double-header with the women at 4 p.m. That game will be televised on ESPNU.