Men's Lacrosse

Fast reaction: 3 quick takeaways from No. 6 Syracuse’s loss to Army, 14-13

Ally Moreo | Photo Editor

Cal Paduda struggled replacing the injured Ben Williams at the X on Saturday.

Despite trailing for a majority of the game, No. 6 Syracuse battled back and tied the game late in the fourth quarter off a 6-on-3 man-up advantage. But the back-and-forth fourth quarter ended with a last-second goal from Army’s David Symmes.

Here are three quick takeaways from Syracuse’s (2-1) 14-13 loss to Army (3-1).

Army upsets Syracuse in similar fashion to last week’s win against Albany

Last week against Albany, Nick Mariano was the one who put the game away with a last-second goal to give Syracuse the win. With just over 30 seconds left on the clock, Army called a timeout. This time, it was the Black Knights who would get off the last shot.

David Symmes caught the pass and fired, beating goalie Evan Molloy with just a half-second left on the clock.



For the second straight week, a last-second goal decided the outcome of Syracuse’s game. But this one ended with an Orange loss

Without Ben Williams, SU struggles at the X

Williams has never missed a game in his Syracuse career. So when it was announced that the senior faceoff specialist will miss Saturday’s matchup, all eyes shifted toward redshirt senior Cal Paduda. And for most of the first half, Paduda struggled, failing to jumpstart any sort of offense while going 3-for-13 at the X.

As the second quarter winded down, Paduda was replaced with freshman Danny Varello, who rode out the first half winning 2-of-3 faceoffs.

The second half started slow for Varello but he finished 10-for-17 at the X. He was called on for arguably SU’s most important faceoff of the game. Down one with two penalties against Army, it was Varello, not Paduda, called upon to take the faceoff.

If he lost, Army could ride out the penalties. But if Varello won, SU could start its man-up offense while having a 6-on-4 advantage. Varello won the faceoff and less than a minute later, Jordan Evans scored to even the teams at 12 a piece.

Nick DiPietro replaced Marcus Cunningham on defense for most of game

Opening the season, Syracuse had to replace its entire starting defense, and against Siena, the starting line seemed to be Scott Firman, Tyson Bomberry and Marcus Cunningham.

That’s how the plan started. But, in the team’s second game against Albany, Syracuse fell behind early. The defense struggled with its slides, especially Cunningham. Midway through the game, Desko called upon his young freshman defenseman, Nick DiPietro.

For the rest of play, DiPietro remained alongside Firman and Bomberry with Cunningham on the sidelines.

“Having Nick hold a little bit as opposed to Cunningham going on the slide,” Desko said after the Feb. 18 game. “Nick does that a little better.”

Against Army, Cunningham started again. Just like the previous week’s game against DiPietro replaced Cunningham. Throughout the game, DiPietro manned the third defense spot while Cunningham sat on the sidelines. Desko may choose to start Cunningham, but when the game mattered most, it was DiPietro down low for Syracuse.





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