Strong Offense Continues to Roll in Win Over Holy Cross
What was supposed to originally be a game against Hofstra turned into a mid-week reschedule for the Orange to now play Holy Cross. Hofstra was unable to play due to a COVID-19 related issue but with how the Orange have been playing the opponent really would not have mattered with how dominant the offense has been. The Orange took care of business for the fourth game in a row and defeated Holy cross 15-6.
Offensively things for both teams were not going how they expected them to at first. The Orange and Crusaders went scoreless for nearly the entire first period until Chase Scanlan broke the scoring drought. It did not end there.
Scanlan led the Orange with seven goals on the day, and everything was working for him and he set the tone for the rest of the offense to succeed. Seven different Syracuse players scored, and the love was shared all around. The Orange had a huge lead in the shots on goal as well 34 to 11 as well as nine assists to only one from Holy Cross. Trimboli and Rehfuss also chipped in with two goals of their own. Scanlan only had five goals on the season beforehand and was in a bit of a slump until today.
“It was just going back to practice and working on mechanics… getting that confidence back, it feels good to be back,” Said Scanlan
But it was the physical play of the defense that kept Holy Cross from any real scoring opportunities. From Ground balls to checks the Orange defense was all over the Crusaders. It only helps when you have Drake Porter in the net as well. Porter had a shutout going the entire first half and it was broke two minutes into the third. Porter ended the day with five saves but set the tone for the Orange defense. The communication between Porter and the defense has continued to improve and has so at the right time.
“I thought we played good individual defense... Thought we did a good job defensively the most game,” Said Coach Desko
The Orange have found themselves clicking on all cylinders and have found it at a perfect time as their biggest test of the season comes this Thursday night against #1 ranked Duke.