Syracuse 10 - Rutgers 14: A seven-goal second half run finishes off the Orange

Basketball was not the only sport in action on Sunday, but it certainly had a better result. The Syracuse Orange fell to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 14-10 in a game that turned on a seven goal run from Rutgers in the third and fourth quarters.

The first half featured a back and forth goalie battle with both Max Edelmann and Dom Madonna ending with ten goals each. Madonna’s save percentage on the season is now .433. He has faced 205 shots and 127 shots on goal. His numbers definitely are not great but he has been left hung out to dry with a lot of crease goals this year.

Stephen Rehfuss had two goals in the first quarter getting Syracuse of to a 4-2 lead coming out of the first period. That lead quickly evaporated into the second quarter with Rutgers scoring three against just one goal from the Orange off the crosse of Riley O’Sullivan.

Brendan Bomberry got it going in the third period to give Syracuse the lead. It was Bomberry’s first goal since the Army game and the first time in nearly 155 minutes that a Syracuse senior had scored. Less than two minutes later Ryan Gallagher tied it back up at six. Casey Rose followed that up with a dodge from the side of the box avoiding several SU defenders before firing one off while finally getting hit. It was the second lead of the game for Rutgers but it would not hold.

Nate Solomon tied it up at seven coming up and around the crease from behind cage and getting leveled while shooting. A little over a minute later Max Edelmann mad a save on a Brad Voigt shot but gave up the rebound directly to Solomon who buried it for his second of the day giving Syracuse the 8-7 lead. Solomon had two goals on three shots in his first game back.

Off of the ensuing faceoff Jules Heningburg lost the ball out of bounds. Dom Madonna ended up with the ball on the clear and walked it up about 10 yards. Madonna attempted a clearing pass but the ball came out of his stick awkwardly, it looked like it might have gotten caught on the lip of the head and it went straight to Jules Heningburg. Heningburg took it straight to the goal for his third of the day. It was a goal that would kick off a seven goal run for Rutgers, four of which would be from Heningburg. What bothered me most during that stretch of play was the inability of the Syracuse defense and defensive middies to switch off of the pick. Sure, I get it, sometimes there’s bad communication and you let a guy get free off of a pick, but it happened at least three times during that seven-goal run.

Bomberry would end up with back-to-back goals in the final 1:20 of the game to leave the final score 14-10.

The faceoff game was actually positive with Danny Varello winning 15 of 26 and six of seven in the first period. Instead, Sunday the problems lay with the turnovers. The Orange had 22, a new season high. In fact, more than a quarter of all turnovers this season occurred versus Rutgers and 12% of all turnovers on the season occurred in the fourth quarter on Sunday. The worst part about the turnover situation was that the vast majority were unforced.

This was an unfortunate way to follow up the disaster last weekend against Johns Hopkins.

Up next is a trip to Durham on Saturday at 1:30.