Syracuse had its three-game win streak snapped on Saturday in a loss to No. 3 Notre Dame, 20-12. Here are the key takeaways as the Orange fall to 6-5.
Notre Dame offense outlasts Syracuse
Out of the gates, Notre Dame was efficient with six goals on their first eight shots on goal, and jumped out to a 5-0 lead with 4:23 left in the first quarter.
Though Notre Dame sputtered at times, and allowed Syracuse to take a brief 12-11 lead with 13:09 left in the fourth quarter, the Irish took full command down the stretch, scoring nine unanswered goals to dominate SU.
Jake Taylor finished with four goals, while Chris Kavanagh scored two goals during Notre Dame's final run to end the game.
"Tough game," Syracuse head coach Gary Gait said. "We battled for three quarters, but unfortunately, we ran out of possessions, and ran out of gas a little bit."
Syracuse still manages to rally
Despite spotting Notre Dame five goals in the first quarter, Syracuse regrouped before halftime.
Syracuse scored five goals of its own in the second period, with Michael Leo and Cole Kirst scoring unassisted goals to keep SU close at 8-4. Then, Alex Simmons scored two straight goals to end the half as the Orange went into intermission down just 9-7.
Syracuse continued its surge in the third quarter, scoring four unanswered goals to tie the contest at 11.
"I give our team a lot of credit for battling back," Gait said. "Hopefully we can learn from this game.”
Syracuse struggles at the X, again
The Fighting Irish's doninance in the fourth quarter can be directly traced to the faceoff X.
Faceoff specialist Will Lynch won 9 of 11 in the decisive period, and easily dispatched anyone Syracuse tried throwing at him (he finished 23 of 36). It was no surprise that Notre Dame outshot Syracuse 16-4 in the final stanza.
Gait tried three different specialists, all with the same result.
Jack Fine took the majority of the faceoffs, winning only 12 of 30. Gavin Gibbs (1-3) and Johnny Richiusa (0-3) also made appearances, but couldn't solve Fine.
It has been a recurring theme for SU this season, win the Orange winning at just a 41.3 percent clip.
“We came up short on possessions but I think for three quarters we played one of the best teams in the country," Gait said. "When you don’t get the ball back it ends the way it happened.”
----
Chat about this story and all things Syracuse and Syracuse recruiting on our premium message board, Cuse Classified!
Follow us on Twitter @TheJuiceOnline, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram @SUJuiceOnline and listen to our podcast.
Tips/questions/concerns? E-mail Recruiting Analyst Charles Kang here.
Not a subscriber to The Juice Online? Join today for access to all our premium content and message board community.
