Syracuse found itself in a familiar situation against Albany. The year before, SU had trailed 6-1 before completing a second-half comeback. Three minutes into the third quarter, the Great Danes took that same five-goal lead.

But this Saturday was not the same for Syracuse. When the Orange fell behind last year, the resurgence, led by its seniors — whether it be an assist or goal —resulted in a game-winner with under two seconds left. But this year, as the goal-differential margin grew and grew, no Syracuse player could find an answer on how to break through. SU’s chances at a comeback quickly evaporated.

A week after its 17-goal rout of Binghamton, No. 7 Syracuse found its first real test of the season. Despite scoring first, a Jamie Trimboli goal just three minutes and 10 seconds in, the Orange would be held scoreless for nearly 36 minutes. That gave No. 4 Albany’s attack time to break down the SU defense.

On the backs of All-American Connor Fields and No. 1 recruit in the freshman class, Tehoka Nanticoke, who combined for seven goals and two assists, the Great Danes (1-0) rode a 7-1 third-quarter run in its season opener to blow the game open and down the Orange (1-1), 15-3, on Saturday afternoon in the Carrier Dome. Syracuse was held to just three goals in a game for the first time since 1991, when it fell to North Carolina, 10-3.

“For the amount of possessions they had and the time that they had the ball on their offensive end of the field,” SU head coach John Desko said, “that’s a tremendous amount of pressure on our defense.”

The third-quarter run was catalyzed from faceoff specialist and All-American TD Ierlan. Last year, he couldn’t find an answer to then-senior Ben Williams, winning just 6-of-21 faceoffs and allowing a Syracuse offense that came out of the gate slow to settle in. Albany was held scoreless in last year’s third quarter, allowing SU to claw its way back into the game.

That wasn’t the case on Saturday, as Ierlan dominated whatever was thrown at him. His 7-for-9 performance at the faceoff X in the third quarter helped Albany possess the ball for the majority of the frame.

Because of Albany’s constant pressure, SU’s defense grew tired. The Orange rarely had any offensive opportunities — only five in that frame — and the defense remained active for the majority of the 15 minutes. Eventually, with the help of Ierlan, Nanticoke and Fields were able to beat their respective matchups of Tyson Bomberry and Nick Mellen.

“We played possession after possession after possession,” Mellen, a redshirt-sophomore longpole, said. “… I felt tired throughout the game, it was a long game defensively.”

Nanticoke entered Saturday surrounded by hype from analysts and fans alike. He was the top-ranked recruit and videos of his trick shots went viral. He scored just one goal in the first half and missed a handful of shots. But in the third quarter, Nanticoke finally broke past Bomberry, netting four goals in the frame.

To open the second half, Nanticoke caught the ball and backed down Bomberry. As he moved closer to the cage, he turned and jumped in front of the net, placing the ball past goalie Dom Madonna. It was the turning point in an otherwise close game.

“If you’ve looked at our last couple of games here in the Dome, we’ve had leads at halftime but really struggled in that third quarter,” Albany head coach Scott Marr said. “… When you can get that monkey off your back and that feeling of not scoring in the third quarter, that gave us a really good emotional boost.”

Nearly 12 minutes later, with the Great Danes up eight, Nanticoke backed down Bomberry on the opposite side. Similar to the one before, he spun in front of the crease and beat Madonna. Fields added back-to-back goals as well in the 7-1 run. With Mellen’s stick in his face, Fields spun and released a shot while in the air, beating Madonna. He added the other goal in transition after a Syracuse turnover.

Fields and Nanticoke combined for just one first-half goal, but the duo put up six goals combined in the third quarter. In all, the Great Danes outshot the Orange 16-to-4 in the third quarter and Madonna ended the frame without a single save.

“We just wanted to keep playing that game we were playing in the first half,” Fields said, “because we were feeling like we were getting a lot of opportunities, we just weren’t capitalizing on them.”’

The fourth quarter was similar to the first half, with neither team dominating. But the damage had been done and the game was already blown wide open.

“We fell apart in the second half,” Bomberry said.

And Albany, the team that entered Saturday with just one win ever against Syracuse, made a statement in its season opener.

Published on February 17, 2018 at 4:22 pm

Contact Charlie: csdistur@syr.edu | @charliedisturco