HAMILTON, N.Y. — A day before it finds out its NCAA tournament seed, No. 3 Syracuse (12-2, 4-0 Atlantic Coast) edged Colgate (5-9, 2-5 Patriot) on Saturday afternoon. Junior midfielder Brendan Bomberry scored three times and SU had a 4-0 run late to win 11-9.
Syracuse jetted out to an early 3-0 lead and held on late to preserve the win in Hamilton, New York.
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Senior midfielder Nick Mariano didn't notch a single goal or assist for the first time this season.
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Chase Wittich scored a goal and added an assist on Saturday afternoon.
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SU won the ground ball battle, 33-24.
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Austin Fusco and the rest of the defensive midfielders struggled defensively and with the ball.
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Sophomore defender Tyson Bomberry works to push the tempo.
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Raiders goalie Brandon Burke allowed 11 goals and saved seven shots.
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Syracuse's Ben Williams dominated the faceoff X, winning 70 percent of his chances and all five in the fourth quarter.
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Joe Paduda (left), father of senior midfielder Cal Paduda, leads the SU fan section.
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SU senior midfielder Sergio Salcido had one goal and two assists, boosting his team-high total to 32.
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Salcido looks on before the rain poured down at the half.
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Said Bomberry: “This was a good tune-up game to prepare myself for the playoffs.”
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Syracuse has not lost to Colgate in its last five tries.
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Colgate committed 11 turnovers.
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The game was marked by physicality at both ends of the field.
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“The way they were sliding,” SU head coach John Desko said, “we had some good looks inside. Bomberry's really nifty at finding space inside, he could have had a couple of more. The goalie robbed him of a couple.”
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Evan Molloy saved nine shots and improved to 12-2 on the season.
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A Colgate player works around the cage.
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Freshman midfielder Jamie Trimboli scored once.
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Syracuse fans fair outweighed Colgate fans, as Hamilton, New York, is only about 40 miles from SU.
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For Colgate, Sam Cleveland scored four goals, a game high.
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A sea of Syracuse fans.
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Anthony Abbadessa, Wittich and Peter Donato added goals for the Raiders.
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Williams won fewer than 50 percent of his faceoffs over the last two games before erupting for 70 percent of his chances at the X.
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Stephen Rehfuss emerges from behind the cage. The redshirt freshman scored once.
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Joe Gillis pushes transition.
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Colgate hit the crossbar several times, something its head coach Mike Murphy said after the game could have turned the contest in its favor.
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Williams and Colgate's Collin Orr grinded out the first faceoff of the fourth quarter for 30 — yes, 30 — seconds.
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Syracuse's second-ranked man-up unit in the country went only 1-for-3 on Saturday, while the Raiders converted on their only man-up opportunity.
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“We have someone who can step up, and Brendan did that,” SU goalie Evan Molloy said.
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Syracuse fans didn't have much to cheer about — the Orange committed 17 turnovers and nearly lost to an unranked team.
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Midfielder Matt Lane has seen more playing time over the last couple of games. He assisted on a Bomberry goal in the first quarter.
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“I tried to exploit my game a little more,” Bomberry said. “I was a little laid back the past couple of games and I really wanted to get into a groove here.”
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The Orange went 18-for-19 on clears, Colgate 20-for-21.
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Joe Gillis (right) works to recover from a bad first step on the defensive end.
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Colgate celebrates one of its nine goals on SU.
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The Raiders took a lead in the third quarter on the No. 3 team in the country.
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On this play, Salcido got double-teamed and coughed up the ball with a minute go. The Raiders did not capitalize on their final possession of the game.
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Molloy on the follow through of his first career goal, a last-second heave to make it 11-9.
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Syracuse celebrates its 12th win of 2017, eight days before the NCAA tournament.
Ally Moreo | Photo EditorPublished on May 6, 2017 at 4:42 pm Contact Alexandra: amoreo@syr.edu
