CHESTER, Pa. — The solutions were supposed to come from everywhere. Faceoffs were perhaps Syracuse’s greatest weakness last season. Chris Daddio was the obvious answer, but freshmen Cal Paduda and Brendan Conroy were supposed to provide solutions as well.

Through three games, it had been almost all Daddio. The midfielder took 55 of the Orange’s 68 opportunities at the X. Paduda had taken just two. Conroy had taken just six, and none until March 1 against Virginia.

But on Saturday, head coach John Desko made a change. The head coach started Conroy at the X, where he turned in an up-and-down performance before being bailed out by the veteran Daddio in the fourth quarter.

“It’s been an adjustment for the whole year,” Desko said. “Daddio’s done a good job for us early, and we’ve been missing a lot of ground balls lately, so we just went with some of the younger guys.”

Conroy won the game’s opening faceoff and went into the half 6-for-11 at the X, but fell apart in the third quarter, winning just 1-of-8 and finishing just 8-of-19 on the day. Daddio came to the rescue with a 4-for-4 fourth quarter as No. 10 Syracuse held on for a 13-11 win over St. John’s in the Whitman’s Sampler Independence Classic at PPL Park in Chester, Pa.

It was a matter of matchups, Desko said. What Conroy brought to the table would benefit the Orange against St. John’s. But it was also an opportunity for the freshman to prove his mettle. Though he went just 1-for-6 in his first game of the season against the Cavaliers, he had performed admirably in the preseason, before illness sidelined him for the early part of the season.

Since his return, though, he’s performed well in practice, Desko said, and earned his spot in the lineup.

For 30 minutes, Desko’s move paid off. SU held a three-goal lead at the break, and Conroy had won more than 50 percent of his faceoffs. But in the third quarter the Red Storm pieced together a run that started with its success on faceoffs.

“Jordan Rothman did a great job at the X today, winning a lot of faceoffs, getting the ball to our wings,” SJU goaltender Jeff Lowman said, “which helped us a lot getting the ball on the offensive end and trying to work from there.”

Conroy turned in a good showing, but he had become overmatched. Desko made one last change. In came Daddio, needing to slow St. John’s Ryan Fitzgerald at the X.

Daddio did just that, turning in a perfect 4-for-4 finish to ice the game for Syracuse. The Orange won 5-of-6 faceoffs in the final frame and outscored St. John’s 3-2 to cap the conference victory.

“Based on some of the moves that the St. John’s guy was using we thought Daddio would be a good changeup for us,” Desko said. “I think we were 8-for-19 at one point and we just went back to a guy with some more experience and he came through for us.”

Published on March 9, 2013 at 6:42 pm

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2