VILLANOVA, Pa. — JoJo Marasco and Syracuse’s first midfield line needed to do anything they could to stay warm. Relegated to the sideline by Thomas Croonquist’s dominance at the faceoff X, Marasco and Co. had to settle for running in place or jumping up and down on the sideline instead of actually running around on the field for the vast majority of Saturday night’s 11-10 loss to Villanova.

Croonquist won 22 faceoffs to the Orange’s two on Saturday, keeping SU’s potent offense away from the action and allowing the Wildcats to outshoot Syracuse 44-21. But when the Orange had its opportunities it capitalized, scoring on nearly half of its shot attempts.

“We tried to slow the thing down, get better possessions, work for good goals,” SU head coach John Desko said, “because I thought when we did have the ball and took our time on offense we were getting good shots.”

After an uneventful first frame, Syracuse’s offense went to work in the second quarter, piecing together a 3-0 run. The Orange went into halftime having scored five goals on just 10 shots.

Villanova outshot SU in all four quarters. During that second-quarter run, Syracuse scored on half of its six shots in the frame.

Syracuse reeled off another mini run in the third quarter. It scored back-to-back goals to stretch the lead back to three as part of a four-goal third quarter. Again, the Orange scored on half of its shots.

“You’ve got to be real smart with the ball when you get over and especially with the defense playing a lot of defense,” Marasco said. “With these new rules, with the stall teams are going to go right into zone and you’ve got to make a quick play, so it’s going to be tough on you when you don’t have the ball.”

But all the offensive efficiency that SU displayed in the first three quarters wouldn’t matter in the fourth. Syracuse failed to win a single faceoff as Croonquist continued his remarkable run of dominance at the X. The Orange got off just three shots and capitalized on just one.

Trailing for the first time on the day, Marasco set up the offense with less than a minute remaining. Two years ago he scored a game-winning goal on this very field. On Saturday his heroics would be needed to extend the game. He charged toward the crease, hoping to draw the defense over, and misfired on a pass to Luke Cometti. VU scooped up the loose ball and ran out the clock against an exhausted SU defense.

“In the fourth quarter I think maybe we took one or two possessions,” Marasco said. “That hurts you. Your first midfield line doesn’t get on the field.”

Published on March 24, 2013 at 12:24 am

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2