Narrowly clinging to a one-goal lead with about five and a half minutes left in the first quarter, Syracuse coughed up the ball — Villanova was ready to make its move.

But instead of the Wildcats getting the ball upfield and potentially swinging momentum in their favor, freshman JoJo Marasco turned things right back around for SU.

As Villanova tried to clear on the right side, Marasco and Stephen Keogh hounded the Wildcat defenders. Marasco finally knocked the ball free, and Keogh picked up the ground ball. He took a few steps toward the cage before finding an open Cody Jamieson just to the right of the crease.

Jamieson caught the pass and ripped the shot past Wildcat goalie Billy Hurley to give SU a two-goal lead.

From then on, No. 3 Syracuse never looked back. The Orange (6-1, 2-0 Big East) blasted the young Wildcats 20-6 in front of 2,341 people in the Carrier Dome Monday afternoon. It was the most goals SU has scored in a game this season and the fewest it has allowed. Syracuse controlled the ball most of the day, and its high-pressure play frustrated No. 15 Villanova (5-3, 0-1) as the Orange dominated all facets of the game.

For Wildcats junior longstick midfielder Brian Karalunas, though, there was one aspect that really keyed Syracuse to the blowout win. The SU riding — when the offense works to force turnovers as the defense attempts to clear its zone — was too much for Villanova to handle.

‘Speaking from a defensive standpoint, trying to clear the ball, I honestly think that Syracuse’s best asset of the game today was their ride,’ he said. ‘More than their 6-on-6 sets. They really outplayed us in the riding and clearing game, and I think that’s what led to the wide margin of victory.’

Other than the first five minutes of the game, in which Villanova scored the game’s first goal, the outcome was never really in question. Syracuse outscored (5-2), outshot (14-5) and outhustled (13 groundballs to four) the Wildcats in the first quarter. Junior Jeremy Thompson and Keogh led the Orange with three goals apiece, and Marasco dished out a career-high four assists.

SU would gain possession and keep it for chunks at a time while Villanova struggled to just get the ball into its offensive side of the field. And the lack of possession and lack of success got to the Wildcats, who started six underclassmen.

‘As the hole got deeper for them, you could see the frustrations coming out a little,’ junior defenseman John Lade said. ‘They were trying to force the ball a little more and, yeah, you just saw a little frustration when they couldn’t get the ball that much.’

Some of the Villanova players could not hold in their emotions, even early on in the game. After a holding call on midfielder Nolan Vihlen following a faceoff at the end of the first quarter, the sophomore jogged over to the sideline and spiked his stick on the ground. He then paced back and forth along the sideline behind his teammates as SU’s Jovan Miller scored on the ensuing possession.

Syracuse continued its domination throughout the rest of the game. Villanova struggled to find its offense, mostly due to Syracuse’s ball control and ball-hawking rides.

The Wildcat defensive unit accounted for 10 of the team’s 21 turnovers. It could not solve the Orange’s pressure for any stretch of time as SU switched up its tactics throughout the game.

‘I thought we rode pretty well,’ SU head coach John Desko said. ‘(Assistant coach Kevin Donahue) had a pretty good game plan coming in and mixed it up. We used probably three different rides today, and I think just the changing of the rides did a very good job.’

By the fourth quarter, Syracuse held a 15-5 lead and rotated in some of its bench. But that didn’t even help Villanova slow down the Orange attack. Redshirt freshman Ryan Barber and junior Alex Giocondi tallied their first scores of the season in the final period to cap off the day.

‘I thought that maybe a little bit of the Dome bug might have got to (Villanova) a little bit,’ Desko said. ‘But I think a lot of it had to do with our possessions and how these guys played today. … Just playing pretty good offense and the defense being stingy.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on March 29, 2010 at 12:00 pm