Jamie Trimboli gave a slight shrug to his teammates as he stood up from the Carrier Dome turf. He’d just fallen to his knees after a dodge but still beat the Colgate goalie to make it 18-12 for Syracuse. Unlike last year, Syracuse avoided an upset at the hands of Colgate, holding the Raiders off, 21-14, to start the season on Friday. Chase Scanlan scored seven goals in his Syracuse debut as the new No. 22, and the Orange could seemingly do no wrong, never relinquishing the lead after a little more than 10 minutes had been played.  

Here are some takeaways.

Shots galore 

In the first quarter, any opening, even for just half-a-second, meant a Syracuse shot on offense. The Orange outshot Colgate 20-13 in the opening frame but scored just four goals. SU’s shots went high and wide or right into the midsection of the Colgate goalie. Last weekend, North Carolina took just 10 shots in the first quarter but led 7-0 at the end of it. 

Syracuse toned down its shooting rate and took smarter looks from the second quarter on. The shots came from closer and less from on the run. The Orange didn’t capitalize backside as much as UNC did against the Raiders, but ball movement, which was preached by the coaches before the season, became a focal point when Syracuse set up in the offensive zone.

For the game, SU outshot Colgate, 65-44, and reached UNC’s total of 42 with 14:09 left in the fourth quarter. Last year, the Orange averaged 43.8 shots a game and had 36 against Colgate in the 2019 season-opener.  

Midfield madness

Syracuse’s first four goals were all off broken plays or in transition, and that came as a result of forcing turnovers and picking up ground balls at midfield. Chase Scanlan would be the beneficiary multiple times throughout the game. First, Lucas Quinn found him backside with no defender close enough to make a play after a quick stop-start left Colgate unprepared. Then, Colgate’s Marshall Terres was met by Scanlan and two other Syracuse players when trying to clear, and going the other way, Scanlan found open space to the left of the cage before showing his quick hands in a one-on-one situation with the goalie. The early run was instrumental in giving the Orange a 4-3 lead at the end of the first quarter while their half-field offense stuttered. 

In the second half, Griffin Cook dislodged the ball from a Colgate stick, and Stephen Rehfuss picked it up. Scanlan was ahead of the play, this time with a defender back, but it didn’t matter. He bounced it past the goalie for his fifth of the game. Scanlan got his seventh, again from Cook, but this time when an errant pass to the Colgate goalie was snagged by Cook and fed out to the new No. 22. It was an impressive debut for Scanlan, and much of it came from what the midfielders and his fellow attack did on the ride. 

No Mellen, some problems

Nick Mellen went down with an apparent lower body injury about seven minutes into the third quarter with Syracuse leading 13-8. He was able to limp off the field but did not return the rest of the afternoon. The defense without him gave up six more goals with one coming on a man-down situation. But Brett Kennedy, who’ll shift around depending on the game per head coach John Desko before the season, stabilized the new group of close defenders.

Grant Murphy proved a capable close defender, knocking the ball away from a Colgate midfielder on one play and taking it upfield in transition immediately after. Kennedy did the same on another play in the fourth quarter and nearly scored on a give-and-go but couldn’t catch the pass back to him. All three new defenders looked good all game, hardly getting beat one-on-one. It’ll take time for the slides to perfect themselves. But for now, even if Mellen’s injury keeps him out for a couple of weeks, Syracuse’s defense is in good hands, especially against nonconference foes.  

Published on February 7, 2020 at 6:29 pm

Contact Arabdho: armajumd@syr.edu | @aromajumder