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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Sam English heard the deafening sound of the ball smacking against the metal pipe after his game-sealing shot attempt went awry. He thought he’d been summoned into battle with Syracuse hanging on by a thread as the clock drained toward zero.

“‘Oh, sh*t. I’m gonna have to go play some defense,’” English said in his head.

Little did English know that a prowling panther lurked behind him, ready to pounce on the ball. That beast is Owen Hiltz, who English has known for eight years since their high-school days at Culver Academies. English said he trusts Hiltz with the ball in his stick more than anyone else. Especially from the left wing.

So on Saturday, when Hiltz scooped the ground ball with 40 seconds left, set his feet at the left wing and aimed at Virginia goalie Matthew Nunes, euphoria struck English while his knees were planted in the Klöckner Stadium grass.

He knew Hiltz would bury the dagger.

“I mean, that guy’s an animal,” English said of Hiltz.

Hiltz found twine twice in the last 2:10 Saturday, with the latter serving as the straw that broke the camel’s back. No. 8 Syracuse (8-2, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) overcame a horrendous start to survive on the road against Virginia (5-5, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) in a 12-10 victory. The Orange outscored the Cavaliers 10-5 across the final three quarters and turned the ball over just once in the second half en route to opening ACC play with a win.

SU didn’t put together a characteristic performance by any means. John Mullen struggled at the faceoff X, finishing 9-for-22. Joey Spallina didn’t score a goal versus long pole John Schroter. Virginia attack McCabe Millon picked Syracuse’s close defenders apart for a six-point outing. The Orange committed more penalties than UVA and were worse on man-up opportunities.

Yet, consistent play in the cage from Jimmy McCool — who tallied a .630 save percentage and stopped 17 shots — and second-half offensive adjustments carried Syracuse’s success. It still needed someone to deliver in the clutch, and this time around, Hiltz stepped up.

Sam English emphatically celebrates after scoring a game-tying goal midway through the fourth quarter of Syracuse’s win over Virginia. English posted a season-high four points (two goals, two assists) to aid the Orange’s victory. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer

The Orange are now victors of five straight games, the program’s longest winning streak under head coach Gary Gait.

“Virginia gave us everything we could handle, jumped on us 5-1, and our guys hung in there and really made plays,” Gait said. “The biggest difference is we made plays when we needed to.”

Gait said before the game that it’d be key for the Orange to limit the Cavaliers from developing offensive chemistry. Virginia, a powerhouse under two-time NCAA Champion Lars Tiffany, is amid a rough year, coming into Saturday with a 5-4 record and a low-scoring offense. UVA’s early-season hangover followed the graduations of Connor Shellenberger and Payton Cormier, who led it to the 2021 National Championship and three total Final Fours.

But Gait knows the Cavaliers’ sheer talent is not to be trifled with. He didn’t want the Orange to underestimate them.

“They’re just trying to find chemistry, and you never know when that’s going to hit,” Gait said Thursday. “You don’t want to be the team that helps them get there.”

Virginia’s chemistry was prevalent from the get-go. Syracuse trailed 5-1 by the 4:43 mark of the first quarter. The Cavaliers scored at will while the Orange couldn’t move the ball in set offensive possessions or win faceoffs regularly. It was the Millon show on one end, and a suffocation by Schroter and UVA defenseman Griffin Kology on the other.

SU’s players barely knew what hit them.

“I mean, I don’t know if we were just not prepared. We were very prepared. But I don’t know if we … for whatever reason … I don’t even know how to explain it,” said Syracuse junior defenseman Riley Figueiras, struggling to get the words out.

“We just didn’t execute the game plan,” English admitted, adding the Orange got a stern talking to from defensive coordinator John Odierna. “When we came off, I think that’s the first thing (Odierna) said. He was like, ‘Everything they’re doing, we practiced for this week.’ And we just weren’t ready for it to start.”

Freshman attack Payton Anderson, who made his first-career start Saturday, injected life into SU with an airborne goal with one second left in the first quarter, which salvaged a 5-2 deficit heading into the second. Though the Orange never gained significant ground before halftime, as they went to the break trailing 6-4.

Gait has harped on Syracuse needing to be a better third-quarter team. On Saturday, he used a similar strategy to the one he deployed on March 9, when SU defeated then-No. 7 Johns Hopkins in a second-half comeback. He wanted the Orange to stay involved in the game, not sit down and sulk in a locker room.

If Gait’s halftime blueprint is magic, then it’s clearly his greatest trick.

Spearheaded by three Michael Leo goals, the Orange exploded for a 4-0 run to begin the third. They executed their signature fast-paced style of offense. And they found ways to get the ball back despite Mullen’s tough day at the faceoff X, relying on McCool’s play and their defense forcing giveaways; SU caused 10 turnovers against UVA, led by defenseman Chuck Kuczynski’s four.

Jimmy McCool’s 17 saves versus Virginia were one off his season-high 18, which he accomplished in Syracuse’s win over Colgate on March 22. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer

Whereas the Orange made a lot of isolated runs at the net and statically moved the ball around the yard in the first half, Syracuse displayed swift ball movement and forced UVA’s defense to slide more often in the second half.

“When you start sliding at Syracuse, that ball movement is fantastic,” Tiffany said. “That third quarter, they were able to get us rotating more than we were hoping.”

Even when the Cavaliers knotted the game 9-9 after three quarters, Syracuse didn’t flinch. Its stout fourth-quarter defense rendered Virginia’s faceoff success irrelevant. Though UVA settled in on SU’s offensive tweaks, the Orange’s veterans came through when it mattered most.

English bounced a step-down release past Nunes with 7:15 to go in the contest, tying the two sides at 10-10. Kuczynski and Jake Spallina then caused turnovers on back-to-back Virginia attacking trips to keep the Cavaliers at bay, which perfectly set up Syracuse’s offense for the last laugh.

As the clock ticked toward the two-minute mark, English sent a cross-field pass into the stick of Hiltz, who ripped a lefty screamer into the back of the net. The go-ahead goal preceded Hiltz’s clincher a minute and 30 seconds later.

Gait said after SU’s Feb. 15 loss to Maryland that his team needed to “learn how to win.” It’s clear the Orange have figured that out as they charge into April with a five-game win streak.

“Gary’s building a team that most of the links are really strong,” Tiffany said of Syracuse. “For all of us coaches, you don’t want those weak links, and you try to attend to them. And that’s a strong chain he’s got up and down … So, yeah. Just not a lot of weaknesses.”

Published on March 29, 2025 at 3:32 pm
Contact Cooper at: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews