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Playing against the vaunted Virginia ride, Syracuse flipped the table in a 20-10 win on Saturday night. It used the Cavaliers’ pressure to spring counterattacks in transition. And the Orange’s own ride caused problems for UVA, not only leading to extra SU possessions but also slowing down the Cavaliers’ attack.

“We were able to push the ball up the field right away while they were substituting to get some numbers going on the other side, which is exactly what happened to us last week,” head coach John Desko said.

In the season opener against Army, Syracuse let in three goals in transition during the first half, allowing the Black Knights to stay in the game and eventually pull away. But Saturday, Desko’s squad cleaned up guarding against early offense, and a large part of that came down to its disciplined ride.

Army cleared the ball with ease against SU, failing on just two of 25 clear attempts. But Virginia failed to clear the ball four times in just the first half on Saturday. As a result of creating more turnovers, the Orange picked up 12 more possessions than Virginia, per Lacrosse Reference. SU also had a 55-40 advantage in shots taken.

“What we try to do every time is take the ball away on the ride,” attack Owen Hiltz said after the game. “We don’t want them to get up the field as fast as possible, so us attackmen, we just drop and we just ride hard.”

Syracuse’s main switch was in holding off substitutions and having the offensive midfielders help out defensively to avoid plays like these. Jamie Trimboli (No. 12), seen at the bottom of the screen, goes off on a change.

Army barely gets the ball across half, but once it does, the Black Knights have a slight advantage because Landon Clary (No. 30) now has to track all the way back.

Nick DiPietro (No. 44) can’t cover both guys, and Army ties the game.

But against Virginia, Syracuse stayed more compact. Brett Kennedy (No. 11) moving up to long-stick midfield helped that — he’s arguably SU’s most mobile player on the defensive side of the ball and is a better option than DiPietro coming out high. On this play, Virginia gets the clear around Hiltz, but Syracuse contains UVA at midfield with Kennedy stepping up and Trimboli staying glued to his man. There aren’t many teams that will try to attack Kennedy given his active stick and ability to move laterally.

ACC Network

Syracuse waited on substitutions again early in the second quarter, which led to a turnover. Brendan Curry (No. 16) doesn’t allow UVA’s John Fox (No. 34) to be an easy outlet man. Hiltz (No. 77) and midfielder Tucker Dordevic (No. 23) trap the ball carrier and force him to turn back. The ball comes back to Virginia’s Cade Saustad (No. 11), and Chase Scanlan (No. 22) tracks him down and whacks the ball out of his stick. Dordevic scores on the next possession.

ACC Network

Overall, the SU ride seemed more cognizant of individual roles. Against Army, there were times where the ride seemed hectic and almost out of control. Orange players ball-watched instead of being active. Here, Griffin Cook (No. 2) tries to double with Stephen Rehfuss (No. 29). Scanlan (No. 22) is standing in no-man’s land, not contributing to the ride, and Army’s cross-field pass easily gets them over half.

Here’s a play where SU allows Army goalie Wyatt Schupler to take a stroll almost to the 40-yard line before finding a pass into the offensive zone. No Syracuse player pressures the ball.

On Saturday, the plan on the ride was clear. Hiltz (No. 77) and Rehfuss (No. 29) trap the initial ball carrier. Virginia attack Charlie Bertrand (No. 41) peels back to his own zone to provide the outlet. Scanlan (No. 22) even gets a whack in before Bertrand can cross safely. Virginia has no chance to try and score quickly.

ACC Network

Virginia gets the ball across cleanly on this possession, but it keeps five outfield players in their own half to ensure the clear.

Virginia’s best chance to score in transition came early in the third period off a misplaced pass by Curry. Saustad (No. 11) catches the ball, but even on this play, Syracuse doesn’t let him turn upfield immediately. Scanlan’s (No. 22) active stick forces a ground ball. Quentin Matsui (No. 22) makes the spinning play to get out of danger and find Fox (No. 34) breaking away. The shot at the other end went off the pipe.

ACC Network

The ride didn’t win Syracuse the game on Saturday. Its 11-3 second-half run, fueled by transition offense, is what gave the Orange their largest margin of victory over the Cavaliers. But the strides in the ride were a clear marker of how much they improved in just one week. It’s a supplementary facet of SU’s game that stood out, especially in the first half. It showed discipline and effort, the intangibles needed to scrap out wins against top-ranked teams.

Published on March 3, 2021 at 12:16 am

Contact Arabdho: armajumd@syr.edu | @aromajumder