Syracuse 8 - Johns Hopkins 7: The Orange take down the Jays in OT

Last season it was the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays who took home an overtime victory but today Syracuse returned the favor with an 8-7 OT win. For the fifth game in a row, the Syracuse Orange played a one-goal game and with the win SU moves to 5-1 on the year.

Everyone knows this is a rivalry game, and the players certainly felt it too. Both teams started off the day with a man in the box after a little skirmish at midfield during warmups. The game was somewhat chippy throughout with a few big hits peppering the match.

The Orange went down 2-1 early, but following Joel Tinney’s only goal of the game at 3:26 in the first, Hopkins did not score again until 6:51 in the third period on an extra man opportunity from Wilkins Dismuke. During that stretch SU went on a 4-0 run picking up goals from Peter Dearth who has had an increased presence on this team, Sergio Salcido, Nick Mariano and Nate Solomon. Solomon and Mariano led the Orange in goals with two each on Saturday.

The Orange defense played exceptionally well today but after the Dismuke goal in the third to end the scoring drought, Syracuse allowed Hopkins to go on a 5-1 run.

Alex Concannon tied the game up at six with 6:06 left in the fourth. Off of the ensuing faceoff, Hunter Mooreland won the draw and flipped it behind him to long-pole Robert Kuhn who took it into the box, faked the pass and buried a shot to give Hopkins a one goal lead. Two goals within eight seconds.

The teams remained tied but with under two minutes to go in the game Joel Tinney dodged towards the goal and lost the ball. What ensued was an awkward play in which Tinney tried to recover the GB and tripped himself up while running towards the ball and the net. Evan Molloy came out of the crease to try and grab the GB but Tinney pushed it just out of reach and towards the goal. The ball rolled into the net as Tinney hit the turf but his hand went into the crease. It looked like his hand crossed the crease line after the ball crossed the goal line but because he was not pushed into the crease the referees called him for a violation and negated the goal. It was a huge call for the Orange that essentially allowed SU to stay in the game.

Syracuse got the ball into the offensive box off of the clear and called a timeout with 1:12 to go in the game. With 33.4 on the clock, freshman Jamie Trimboli found Mariano just two yards off the crease. Mariano, with his back to the net, collected the pass and put it over his shoulder on a no-look shot tying the game at seven. Certainly one of the more impressive goals from SU this season. Hopkins did get one more opportunity but couldn’t put the ball on cage.

Ben Williams won the faceoff to start overtime and SU called a timeout. With just over a minute gone in the extra period it was Sergio Salcido who found Brendan Bomberry just off the crease. Bomberry put the ball in high while getting hit, past Hopkins goaltender Gerald Logan for the game winner.

Coming off of a horrible win at St. John’s in which the SU offense couldn’t stop itself from turning the ball over, the Orange played better but still did not look up to par. SU turned the ball over 11 times and put up 32 shots with Logan making 10 stops. For the third time this year, Syracuse lost the groundball battle while Ben Williams went 9-18 at the X and 4-12 against Hunter Mooreland. One thing I am concerned with is Brendan Bomberry’s ability to catch the ball and get a quick shot off. He certainly can do it, but at times he looks like he’s focused on the shot before he gets the ball. I’d like him to be a little bit better at controlling the catch, but otherwise he has been very good as a first year player for SU.

Defensively I was impressed by Syracuse. The long-poles were physical and managed six caused turnovers. Tyson Bomberry did not have a caused turnover today but he continues to look better and better as a two-way player. Evan Molloy definitely made his defense look good. He had seven saves including several point blank stops; very impressed by Molloy today.

Tough loss for Hopkins who now is in a three game skid and will go on to face: Virginia, Rutgers, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, and Maryland.

The Orange will play Duke next followed by a contest at Notre Dame before another rivalry game at Hobart.