GENEVA, N.Y. — The throng of Syracuse lacrosse players quickly engulfed Stephen Keogh.

Jubilation stuck across the faces of each player inside the huddle as the celebration was even evident in its usually reserved head coach, who walked to a makeshift podium after the game with a huge grin across his face.

But Keogh? Aside from a little jump at the end, ‘jubilant’ wasn’t the right word. ‘Relieved’ was more like it.

Keogh capped a frantic comeback by the No. 3 Orange, beating Hobart goaltender Max Silberlicht and sending SU (5-1, 1-0 Big East) to a thrilling 9-8 overtime comeback victory against the rival Statesmen (2-4, 0-1 ECAC) before a raucous crowd of 2,000 at McCooey Field. With the win, Syracuse retained the Kraus-Simmons trophy, which has been presented to the victor each year since 1986. SU has held the trophy 23 of 25 years.

‘Obviously, for us to come out of here with a ‘W’ is very big for us,’ SU head coach John Desko said after the game. ‘Fortunately, we just stuck with the game plan, changed the offense a little bit and got some high-percentage shots in the fourth quarter. And we got out of here with a ‘W.”

It was a decidedly different story in crunch time and a change in offense that put another game in the win column for the Orange.

Maybe it was, as Desko said, changing up the offense to get more high-percentage shots on goal and more one-on-one situations. Maybe it was desperation starting to sink in. Maybe the Orange felt the pressure of what would be its first loss to an unranked opponent since 2007, when it lost to Massachusetts on April 28.

Whatever the case, SU’s offense needed a boost. Held scoreless for the second time in a quarter this season in Tuesday’s second period, the Orange found itself down 5-2 at halftime.

Sure, Syracuse had its fair share of shots. But even Desko was surprised when he saw the stat line after the game.

‘Wow,’ he said to Keogh and JoJo Marasco, both of whom accompanied him in the press room. ‘Fifty-six shots to 24.’

Yet, SU’s offense was stagnant. Though the Orange outshot Hobart in the first half, it didn’t get high-percentage shots. Its offense didn’t plan for the play of Silberlicht, either, who had 23 saves on the day.

Hobart did its preparation. Silberlicht and his defense watched film of the high-powered SU offense. But preparing and doing are two different things. This was the same offense that had scored double-digit goals in each of its five previous contests. The same team that saw six different players score in its victory Saturday over Johns Hopkins. But Silberlicht was undeterred.

‘It’s all in the preparation,’ Silberlicht said. ‘We work hard. As a goalie unit, we worked hard all week — all three of us. We push each other. And I felt ready today.’

Along the way, though, something clicked for the Orange. Silberlicht still made one point-blank save after another, covering any and every area of the cage with ease.

But the Orange started getting better looks. It started holding onto the ball longer to get those better looks. And, eventually, something had to give when the two teams played the fourth quarter and overtime almost exclusively on Hobart’s defensive end. SU shot 26 shots to Hobart’s three in the fourth quarter and overtime.

‘We finally got some high-percentage shots later in the game against (Silberlicht) from in tight, one-on-one,’ Desko said. ‘We changed the offense a bit there, and that was the difference in the game.’

And Keogh embodied the second-half change. In the first half, he tried behind-the-back shots. He couldn’t hit any part of the goal on one point-blank attempt in the first quarter. Once, when he was wide open, a pass sailed through his stick in the wet conditions.

But, like the rest of his team, Keogh changed up offensively in the second half. He got a goal in a one-on-one situation late in the third quarter.

And in overtime, he found himself wide for one of those high-percentage shots that even an inspired Silberlicht couldn’t stop.

‘When I beat him, I just kind of closed my eyes and shot it,’ Keogh said. ‘I was taking some poor shots early in the game. (Chris) Daniello just drove hard and found me wide open in the middle. Luckily, my shot found the back of the net.’

bplogiur@syr.edu
 

Published on March 23, 2010 at 12:00 pm