Men’s Lacrosse Look to Start a Hot Streak against Vermont
By Tyler Melito
CitrusTV’s Men’s Lacrosse Beat Reporter
Following last weekend’s electric 20-10 win over then No.3 Virginia, Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse seemed to really hit their stride after what was an disappointment in their first game against Army.
The victory catapulted the Orange to number six in the country. Brendan Curry and Jakob Phaup earned Atlantic Coast Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week respectively(Curry had a career-high seven points in a single game; Phaup went 22-of-33 from the faceoff X with eight ground balls). Phaup, along with defenseman Mitch Wykoff earned USILA Team of the Week honors as well.
It was an overall complete performance for Syracuse head coach John Desko’s team. Drake Porter had a bounce back game in net, allowing ten goals against UVA compared to 18 against Army. Freshman Owen Hiltz showed why he was the #2 player in the Class of 2020 with his three goals and two assists. Hiltz was one of four players for SU to have a hat trick in the game against UVA(nine different players scored at least one goal for Syracuse). The defense was able to limit the star players of the Cavaliers. Prior to playing the Orange, Matt Moore for Virginia had eight goals on 23 shots through two games. Against SU, Moore went scoreless on ten shots.
Next up for the ‘Cuse is Vermont inside the Dome. This will be the first ever meeting between these two teams in a non-exhibition game ever. The Catamounts this season are 1-1 on the season, losing to Bryant 15-12 in their first game February 27th, and then again to UMass Lowell 21-7 on Wednesday.
One player for UVM that will see a lot of attention against SU is goalkeeper Ryan Cornell. In his fourth year with the program, Cornell has not had an easy road. He missed the entirety of the 2019 season with an Achilles injury. Now, he is back and having a very strong season through two games. He had 13 saves while allowing 15 goals against Bryant, but then against UMass Lowell, four goals allowed on just 13 shots.
Vermont head coach Chris Feifs commented on his netminders toughness, saying that he feels that in another life, he can envision Cornell as a Navy Seal. Cornell will need that toughness with the amount of shots he will see from the Orange’s offense(through two games SU has 91 total shots and has the 12th best scoring offense in the country).
This is a true David versus Goliath game between Syracuse and Vermont. When asked during his weekly press conference, Feifs said that the key for the Catamounts to win is all about the little things, given how good the Orange are on both sides of the field.
“We have to limit our mistakes, limit our turnovers, keep care of the ball and be smart,” said Feifs.
With this being the first game in over a year(374 days) with fans being allowed inside the Carrier Dome for an SU athletics game, expect the energy to be high, and the Orange to feed off that energy. This should make for an amazing afternoon with the action starting at 1 p.m.
If there is one thing that Syracuse absolutely cannot do, it is overlook their opponent in Vermont. After what was an amazing performance from them last week, it would be a real shame if they lost all that momentum due to overconfidence.
@MelitoTyler | tylermelito@gmail.com
