Syracuse Tops St. Bonaventure For Second Straight Win

Orange men's lacrosse picked up a resounding victory against the Bonnies to secure its second win in a row.

Syracuse cruised past the Bonnies of St. Bonaventure Tuesday evening, dominating their in-state opponent 22-6. The matchup marked the first ever meeting between the two programs.

Notably, Syracuse Head Coach Gary Gait yanked most of his starters at the start of the fourth period; the score at that point was 17-3. This allowed his younger, less experienced players to record quality minutes. Five Orangemen scored their first goals of the season.

Coach Gait said after the game that he was glad to be able to go so deep into his lineup.

“We got to go deep in the lineup, almost everybody,” Gait said. “What I did enjoy was watching a lot of our guys actually execute that we haven’t seen that much of this year, and they played well.”

Among the five first-time scorers for the Orange was Pete Fiorini, a senior midfielder out of Baldwinsville. He said that the goal felt especially good given that it came shortly after he turned the ball over.

“It’s pretty awesome, especially after going in there a little cold,” Fiorini said of his goal. “To see that sideline erupt… it’s pretty awesome, the support I got from my guys.”

14 different players scored for Syracuse today, something Coach Gait attributed to his lineup. Those deeper in the depth chart scored five goals for the Orange during their time on the field during the fourth quarter.

Perhaps the best performance of all was that of John Cohen, a sophomore attack out of Carmel, IN who transferred to SU from Johns Hopkins this year. He accumulated four points in the fourth quarter alone with one goal and three assists.

“Johnny Cohen got in, hasn’t played a whole lot this year,” Gait said. “He made plays. His first three or four shifts, his plus-minus was all plus.”

He noted that Cohen was just one of several players that stepped up off the bench in the second half to secure the win.

Will Mark put on yet another solid performance in net. He recorded eight saves and just three goals allowed in his three quarters of play. At the start of the fourth quarter, Harrison Thompson entered the game in Mark’s place, with Kyle Rolley and Patrick Duffy getting in on the action throughout the final 15 minutes of play.

For St. Bonaventure, just one player recorded multiple points. Patrick Carpenter scored twice, giving him two points on the day. Syracuse’s defense held the Bonnies to 37 shots, only 19 of which were on goal. The Orange, on the other hand, shot the ball 39 times, but were much more accurate and efficient, with 26 of their shots being on goal.

Arguably the most intriguing statistic from this contest was that of assists. Because of the suffocating defense, particularly from Syracuse’s LSMs, St. Bonaventure was barely able to move the ball; as a team, they registered just two assists. Syracuse, on the other hand, tallied 14, a testament to their unselfish, team-oriented style of play and their ability to pick apart opponents’ defensive schemes.

Despite everything else being rather lopsided on the stat sheet, faceoffs were perfectly even. Johnny Richiusa, SU’s go-to faceoff specialist, actually took turns with Jack Fine (who scored his first goal of the season today). Both teams won 15 faceoffs. Richiusa won 10 of his 17 faceoffs and Fine won four of his eight.

The Orange are now 5-4 on the season and St. Bonaventure falls to 1-7 with the loss. Syracuse will be back in action on Saturday to take on a historic opponent. They’ll face Hobart at 1:00 p.m. in the JMA Wireless Dome. The game will be available to watch on ACC Network Extra. 

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