To Stephen Keogh, it was a garbage goal. He was simply turning an easy opportunity into an eye-pleaser.

‘I don’t think I really needed to throw it behind the back, but I kind of wanted to make it a little bit flashy,’ Keogh said. ‘It was there, and I didn’t really look where it went. But luckily, it went in.’
 
For Keogh, though, it was the next one that would really get everyone’s attention.

On his next tally, Keogh netted his 100th career point. Despite the fact that Syracuse’s 15-8 win over Albany will be remembered as the program’s 800th, the attack reached his own milestone in scoring a point in his 30th straight game. After adding one more goal in the fourth quarter, the junior has 91 goals and 10 assists in his 44-game career.

But before the feat was announced over the Carrier Dome loudspeakers and fans rose to their feet for a standing ovation, Keogh had no idea why.

‘I actually did not know that. I kind of wish I had a little bit more assists,’ Keogh said, drawing some laughter out of his teammates at the podium. ‘But it’s cool to get 100 points, and hopefully I keep going.’

The vast majority of those points have come on the current scoring streak, which extends all the way back to his freshman year and is the fourth-longest active streak in the country. The last time Keogh failed to register at least one point in a game was against Colgate on May 3, 2008.

Keogh hasn’t exactly been struggling to keep that streak alive. In 25 of those 30 games, he has scored at least twice.

The junior doesn’t typically do a lot of dodging to create for himself. He will scoop up a rebound and put it back in the goal, as he did in the first quarter against the Great Danes. Or he takes a pass from his teammates and finishes it off, like he did for his 100th career point.

As midfielder Josh Amidon worked behind the net in the third quarter, Keogh’s defender lost his footing in front of the net. And that’s all it took.

Amidon saw Keogh move into open space to the right of the net and dished it out to the attack. Keogh caught the ball, wound up and ripped a low shot past Albany goalie John Carroll to reach the century mark.

But even with the behind-the-back goal and 100th career point, SU head coach John Desko thought Keogh’s day could have been even bigger. After all, the junior leads the Orange with 22 goals this year and scored 49 last season — tied for the seventh-best single-season total in Syracuse history.

Desko expects Keogh to finish off most of the opportunities he gets, and he seems to remember when the attack doesn’t capitalize.

‘I thought he could have had a couple more today,’ Desko said smiling. ‘But he threw one into the goalie’s stick, and the goalie made a great save on him, too.’

The head coach’s expectations for Keogh may be high, but he knows how big of an asset the junior is to the Orange. The rest of the offense sees it, too. They know they can probably count on Keogh for at least a score in every game — he hasn’t failed to do so since his freshman year.

‘It’s awesome, you know,’ Amidon said of playing with Keogh. ‘Especially if we’re having (an opponent) that’s having a good game, you always can count on Keogh — either garbage goals or just him being himself inside and creating something. It’s awesome just playing with somebody like that who can do anything.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

 

Published on April 5, 2010 at 12:00 pm