Syracuse Lacrosse Sinks Further, Loses at Johns Hopkins 10-7
Syracuse lacrosse coach Gary Gait found similarities between Syracuse and Johns Hopkins before the two, storied, college lacrosse programs faced off on Sunday afternoon.
"They're kind of a team in a similar situation we are," Gait said after Wednesday's practice last week. "A team with a huge, long tradition and they're trying to get back to being a final four type caliber team."
SU traveled to Homewood Field in Baltimore, Maryland, and brought with them an opportunity to reach .500 and string together multiple wins for the first time this season.
Instead, the Orange (2-4) offense sputtered, despite SU's defense playing one of its best games of the year. Johns Hopkins beat Syracuse 10-7 and prevented the Orange from scoring a ranked win for the first time this year.
The Orange led the Blue Jays three separate times in Sunday's first half. Tucker Dordevic scored three times and finished as the only SU player with multiple goals. Harrison Thompson played the entire game in net and made seven saves.
"We dominated everything except scoring," Gait said. "You got to be able to put everything together if you're going to have wins. We didn't do it today."
Part of that stat sheet domination included shots, for which Syracuse led the Jays 54-29. SU did not commit a penalty and fumbled seven fewer turnovers than Johns Hopkins.
The Blue Jays capitalized on situational opportunities such as fast breaks or odd-man rushes. 10 goals are the fewest the Orange have allowed this season since conceding five in the blowout win against Holy Cross.
"Our defense played pretty well. I got to be honest that was probably the best game they played all year," Gait said. "I thought the defense really made some strides this week."
Still, the offensive struggles, specifically scoring execution woes, kept SU from evening its record. Dordevic said after the game he thought he didn’t play well. He led Syracuse's offense with 15 shots and has collected three or more goals in four of SU's six games this season.
The Orange will play at Stony Brook on Sunday, March 19. Dordevic scored three goals when Syracuse beat the Seawolves 17-9 last year.
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