MLAX : Record crowd propels Orange; SU commits season-low 8 turnovers
With three minutes remaining, the Carrier Dome crowd let the Notre Dame fans hear it. The couple hundred loyal Irish supporters became the target of the thousands of Syracuse fans to their left.
The Orange held a five-goal lead and with the win secured, chants of ‘overrated’ were hurled in the direction of the Notre Dame fan section.
Most of the fourth-largest regular-season crowd in Carrier Dome history left happily, as No. 4 Syracuse knocked off No. 1 Notre Dame 11-8 Saturday. The 14,751 spectators were vocal throughout and helped push the Orange to clinch at least a share of the Big East conference title.
‘We had over 20,000 in the Meadowlands,’ SU head coach John Desko said. ‘And if that’s 14,000, that sounds more like 30,000. That’s the loudest crowd we’ve been in front of this year so far. We give our home fans some credit. It was great to have them come out and support us today.’
The atmosphere was electric from start to finish, though the overwhelmingly pro-Orange crowd didn’t help Syracuse immediately. SU fell behind 2-0 early, and the Irish showed no signs of being affected by the raucous environment.
Syracuse long-stick midfielder Joel White said he and his teammates were a little too hyped up at first. The jitters came on the defensive end. Desko said that unit failed to slide quickly enough against the Notre Dame offense early.
‘We were a little too pumped up at first, and we had a few mistakes because of it,’ White said. ‘But at the same time, it’s great to have that crowd, and it helped juice us up and make our comeback.’
The comeback came in the form of two separate 4-0 runs made by the Orange. SU reeled off four straight to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead. Later, it put the game out of reach with a run that gave Syracuse a commanding 8-3 lead.
Notre Dame defender Kevin Ridgway said the crowd didn’t have too much of an effect on the game, but that it does highlight any small mistakes a team makes. Notre Dame finished with 17 turnovers to SU’s eight. That included seven in the fourth quarter while the Irish tried to make a comeback.
‘I don’t think it’s really that much of a factor,’ Ridgway said. ‘Little plays are magnified by how many people there are in the stands, but you settle in.’
Ultimately, it was the Orange who settled in best. Riding the emotion from the crowd, Syracuse put up 11 goals on what was the nation’s best statistical defense coming into the game.
Desko and the SU players agreed it was the liveliest environment the team has been in so far in 2011.
Said Desko: ‘I thought the crowd was incredible to have that many people here in the Carrier Dome to watch a great lacrosse game.’
Handle with care
Coming into Saturday’s matchup, Syracuse was averaging 14.2 turnovers per game.
Desko said that was a big topic of discussion in the week heading into the Orange’s matchup with Notre Dame.
‘We knew that against such a great defense, we’d have to value our possessions,’ he said.
SU did just that Saturday in its 11-8 win, committing a season-low eight turnovers against the Fighting Irish. The Orange coughed the ball up just four times in the first three quarters before four more giveaways in the fourth ballooned that number to eight.
‘We talked about turnovers going in,’ Desko said. ‘And there’s a fine line because we have to be able to push the ball to the center of their defense once in a while because they do slide so quickly. But you don’t want to commit too many turnovers as a result.’
There were some occasions where passes got away from the Orange, but the possessions were salvaged through SU hustle and a few fortunate bounces.
After a Tom Palasek goal put SU up 3-2 in the first quarter, Jeremy Thompson pulled the faceoff back toward his goal. Senior Jovan Miller chased it down and sent a long pass back to goalie John Galloway. The pass sailed high, but Galloway managed to get a piece of it with his stick and chased it down before it crossed the end line.
On the other end, Notre Dame was not so fortunate, committing 17 turnovers — 11 of them officially caused by Syracuse.
‘They do a great job of getting that last check in,’ Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan said. ‘They do a great job of scraping passing lanes and knocking balls down and doing that stuff. … I think we contributed way too much to the turnovers at the offensive end.’
