After tough stretch, defense locks down Big Red
John Galloway overestimated his involvement in Tuesday night’s game against Cornell.
Perhaps it was from the high volume of shots the sophomore goalie had seen in the last two games, during which he had been barraged with attempts from multiple angles. Whatever the reason, Galloway expected a little more action to come his way during the contest.
‘Cornell did not get as many shots on us as I expected,’ Galloway said. ‘And that’s a lot of a credit to our defense.’
After struggling during the Orange’s last two games, the Syracuse defense stepped up its effort Tuesday night and slowed down the Big Red in a 15-10 win in the Carrier Dome. The defense did not allow Cornell to score over the final 13 minutes, 40 seconds of the game, while containing one of the nation’s best midfielders in Max Seibald.
‘Our 6-on-6 defense played great today,’ Galloway said. ‘It was a huge difference from what happened on Saturday. We forced great shooters outside, and I think Seibald only scored once, and I just think that 6-on-6 we played great. The defense was really tight, and the pace of the game was in our favor.’
In its last two games, the Orange yielded 25 goals and fell from its No. 2 perch in the polls. Opposing players were able to find easy looks and found multiple ways to put the ball past Galloway.
From the outset Tuesday, the Orange did not allow Cornell to get into rhythm. The Orange played aggressive defense, pressuring the ball handler and not allowing easy looks. This forced Cornell to throw the ball around Syracuse’s defense and try and find an open man, but the Big Red struggled with its passes at times and turned the ball over on several occasions.
The defense was especially important for the Orange, since Cornell won 16-of-27 faceoffs on the night. The Big Red controlled the X, which led to an increased time of possession, but Cornell could not decipher a way to break SU’s defense.
‘I thought they did pretty well,’ Desko said. ‘Forty-two (Seibald) can really score from the outside, and (Galloway) did a great job stopping some outside shots on him that might have gone in on another night.’
Much of the Orange’s success on the night stemmed from Joel White’s ability to contain Seibald, who came into the contest with 18 goals and five assists. The senior midfielder could not distinguish himself on Tuesday, as White did not allow him to get near the crease.
White and his defensive counterparts contained Seibald to just one goal and assist, the former of which came in an unsettled situation when Syracuse held a man-up advantage with SU leading 12-9 in the fourth quarter.
Kenny Nims said the offense tried to help White by having Seibald run with them down near the net to make White’s job, ‘a little bit easier.’ The tactics worked.
‘It’s a real challenge going out there, but I think at the same time, I have a great defense behind me and we had some great guys sliding,’ White said. ‘Overall, I think we played a lot better than we did last week and the way we got the ball to our offense and when our offense plays like that, it’s hard to beat us.’
SU also held Cornell to just 2-of-6 in extra-man conversions, preventing Cornell from crawling back into the contest. With SU leading 12-10 in the fourth quarter, Cornell had an extra-man advantage after Kenny Nims was called for holding.
The defense, though, forced a bad shot and defender Sid Smith was able to get his stick over the line first and give SU possession, on which it would score on a Chris Daniello goal to make it 13-10 and ice the game.
While Cornell came into the contest averaging 44.8 shots and 13.75 goals per game, the Orange held the Big Red about 11 shots and four goals below average. After the game, the Orange engulfed Galloway, much in the same manner Princeton had done to its goalie after beating the Orange Saturday.
While it wasn’t as prolific a group celebration as the Tigers had done, it let the defense know they had done a good job.
‘I think this was our best riding game of the year,’ White said. ‘I think our defense had a lot to prove after last week and I think we did a nice job and we still have a long way to go.’
