MLAX : Lerman, Lamolinara play well in net for Syracuse; Orange commits too many penalties
After John Desko said all week that he was going to go with a goaltender by committee, Matt Lerman’s performance in the first half nearly made him reconsider.
Lerman played a near-perfect half in net for Syracuse, yielding just two goals on eight shots by Albany. But with a comfortable 8-2 halftime lead, the Syracuse head coach could experiment and made the decision to replace Lerman with Dominic Lamolinara for the second half.
‘I think we were fortunate,’ Desko said. ‘We were a little more comfortable having a lead at halftime making that decision. I think it might have been tougher if we didn’t have the differential in the goals.’
Lerman and Lamolinara split time in net for Syracuse (1-0) in its season opening 12-7 win over Albany (0-1) on Sunday. Lerman stopped six shots in the first half, and Lamolinara made 10 saves on 15 shots in the final two quarters.
Lerman was tested early. After the Orange went down a man early in the first quarter due to a slashing call on Brian Megill, he turned away three shots from in close. He did allow two man-down goals, but those two scores were the only blemishes for Lerman on the afternoon.
Lamolinara replaced Lerman in the second half, and he turned away a barrage of shots from the Great Danes’ attack. He stopped all five shots he faced in the third quarter before Albany finally broke through. Lyle Thompson snuck a shot by him with 11:21 remaining in the game.
Lamolinara gave up four more goals in the half with the outcome already decided as SU had built a comfortable lead.
And overall, Desko was pleased with what he saw from both goaltenders.
‘We’ve seen what we’ve been seeing with the two goaltenders, and we watched them closely in practice this week, and we felt Matty warmed up well and was good to go,’ Desko said. ‘I thought Dom was pretty cool in the second half, making some good saves. We’re happy that we have a couple guys to choose from right now. ‘
Syracuse needs to keep penalties down
With about seven minutes left in the opening period, Syracuse trailed Albany by two goals. After playing to a scoreless tie in the previous eight minutes, the Great Danes broke out for two goals in eight seconds.
And it was all set up by two penalties on the Orange on the same sequence. Matt Harris and David Hamlin went to the sidelines for illegal body checks in a chaotic play that ended with Hamlin leaving his feet to lay out Albany attack Joe Resetarits.
‘We’ve talked about it right from the first scrimmage that we needed to cut back on those,’ Desko said. ‘You can’t just be going for guys’ heads.’
Desko knows his team needs to cut back on the penalties that provide golden opportunities for opposing offenses. Though Syracuse recovered to cruise to a 12-7 win over Albany on Sunday, SU committed nine penalties that led to 10 man-up chances for the Great Danes.
Albany converted the first two early and didn’t strike again until the game was decided in the fourth quarter. Overall, Albany finished 4-of-10 on man-up opportunities.
And though the undisciplined play didn’t cost Syracuse on the scoreboard, Desko knows it will when the Orange faces tougher competition later in the season.
With a schedule that includes matchups with the top four teams in the nation, Syracuse will have a harder time containing more explosive offenses in man-down situations. The head coach already had his mind on the challenges it could create against defending national champion and No. 1 Virginia later.
And after last season’s unit set a school record and led the nation in man-down efficiency at 81.7 percent, Syracuse’s new group of defenders haven’t experienced that same pressure against elite competition.
‘Virginia was 50 percent last year on their man-up, which was pretty impressive,’ Desko said. ‘We can’t go out and give them that many opportunities. It’s going to be a thing for us.
‘Especially, even our man-down unit is relatively new also.’
