Balanced Attack Headlines First 'Cuse Scrimmage

1/26/2020 5:36:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

The Syracuse men's lacrosse team couldn't have asked for much of a better start in their first action vs. an opponent of the spring.

The SU offense combined to score 28 goals in six quarters of action and managed to out-score the opposition 20-6 in the four quarters which both teams were playing their starters. The score was reset after every frame, but the Orange managed to take five of the six quarters, defeating Hofstra 6-0, 4-1, 7-2 and besting Vermont 7-3 and 3-2 before the Catamounts took the final quarter of the day by a score of 5-1.

"I thought the day went pretty well," said Head Coach John Desko. "I didn't like how we cleared the ball in the first game, it's something that we've been working on a lot and I thought we could have done a better job with it, but we obviously did very well offensively in the first game.

"In the second game, Vermont is different. They have eight Canadians on the team and they typically dodge a little differently so it was good for our defense to see that. In both games we had the starters in for two quarters and we got some other guys in during the third quarter of each game, so a lot of guys got good experience today."

In game one vs. Hofstra, all six offensive starters registered multiple points to key a first half outburst that saw the Orange jump out to a 10-1 lead at the end of two. Lucas Quinn was 'Cuse's leading scorer vs. the Pride out of the second midfield unit, scoring twice and adding two assists. Griffin Cook (3-0), Brendan Curry (1-2), Mikey Berkman (1-2), Jamie Trimboli (2-0), Tucker Dordevic (2-0), Stephen Rehfuss (0-2) and Chase Scanlan (1-1) all picked up multiple points in the contest.

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Jacob Buttermore, Peter Dearth, Andrew Kim, Owen Seebold and Pete Fiorini also notched a goal, while Brett Kennedy picked up an assist in transition as well to round out the 'Cuse scoring.

Defensively, the Orange were excellent vs. Hofstra. 'Cuse only allowed 11 shots on net through the three quarters of play and eight of which were turned away by the trio of netminders who saw action. Drake Porter stopped all-four shots he faced, while Luke Strang and Willie Klan III each added two saves as well.

The tandem of Danny Varello and Jakob Phaup combined to win eight of 15 restarts in the first two quarters, while Nate Garlow won three of the seven third quarter faceoffs.

Against Vermont, 'Cuse got its offense settled in early once again, jumping out to a 7-3 lead in the first 15 minutes and owning a 10-5 lead through two quarters before both teams emptied their respective benches.

Trimboli (2-2) and Dordevic (3-1) led the way with four points apiece vs. the Catamounts, while Curry tallied three helpers and Cook notched two more goals to ignite the Orange offense. Buttermore (1-0), Andrew Kim (0-1), Andrew Helmer (1-0), Dearth (0-1), Quinn (1-0), Pete Fiorini (1-0) and Jake Nelson (0-1) contributed to the game two scoring as well.

Porter was again solid in cage, stopping six of the 11 shots he faced, while Strang made four saves in relief in the third quarter.

Syracuse will have one more tune-up before the regular season next weekend vs. Yale (in a matchup that is also closed to the public), before the Orange open the year against Colgate at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7.