ITHACA, N.Y. — Syracuse’s Dom Madonna did what he could, sprawling low to deflect a fast break opportunity. With SU already set to go a man-down following a Tucker Dordevic penalty, Madonna denied the initial scoring chance but failed to maintain possession. Instead, the ball bounced to the corner, and the Big Red’s possession continued.

Again, on the next feed, Syracuse seemed to stop Cornell. An Orange long pole deflected a pass, leaving the ball on the carpet for SU defender Nick Mellen. The ball took an off-bounce, Mellen bobbled the pickup, and Cornell’s Clarke Petterson buried another Cornell goal.

“We didn’t play absolutely terrible,” Mellen said. “They got a bunch of goals off broken plays and passes that somehow went to the ground and somehow went to their stick.”

On Tuesday night at Schoellkopf Field, No. 7 Syracuse’s (6-4, 3-0 Atlantic Coast) defense held strong at times but couldn’t finish in a 13-8 loss to No. 9 Cornell (8-3, 3-1 Ivy league). The Big Red’s offense entered riding a four-game winning streak in which it averaged more than 20 goals. It ranked first in goals per game (15.30), assists per game (10.50), points per game (25.80) and shooting percentage (.418). Yet Syracuse held it scoreless for more than 13 minutes in the second quarter and more than eight minutes in the third.

Still, Cornell finished enough. In a game with nearly equal shots on goal and an even faceoff distribution, the Big Red hammered SU on the ground. It scooped 43 groundballs to the Orange’s 30. Five of Cornell’s goals came off second-chance opportunities where it had already shot earlier in the possession.

“Just going into this game I think we knew it was going to scrap; it was going to be a battle,” said Cornell attack Jeff Teat, who had six points. “I think we scraped off second-chance opportunities and finished plays when we need to.”

Cornell dumped in four goals before 10 minutes had ticked off the clock. After the Big Red saved a Bradley Voigt shot, the agonizing possessions began for SU. With the Orange trailing by two goals at the time, Teat scooped up a ball off what could’ve been a Cornell turnover a minute into the possession. Then he fired a shot off an SU defender, but Cornell’s Connor Fletcher nabbed the groundball.

The ball eventually worked its way back to Teat. He was covered tightly but whipped a behind-the-back pass into traffic anyway. The ball jostled through a crowd of SU defenders before bouncing on the ground. Cornell attack John Piatelli scooped the ball off the hop, making it appear as if the bounce pass was intentional. Moments later, Piatelli’s low crank shot dribbled in after deflecting off the goalkeeper.

“I thought it was OK considering how much they had the ball,” Syracuse head coach John Desko said. “We just can’t let them get the inside stuff.”

Throughout the night, Syracuse’s defense looked like a football defense that was excellent on the first two downs but faltered on the third, or a basketball defense stellar at contesting shots but horrible at boxing out.

Syracuse’s version of those came when the defense flashed a glimmer of hope. Mellen caused a turnover on Teat behind the cage, simply poking the ball right out of the nation’s leading point scorer’s stick. On SU’s next possession, Cornell did the same, forcing David Lipka into a turnover.

Again, Mellen forced a turnover. Mellen rode Teat down the right hash marks, the same place he had been beaten for a goal in the first quarter, and swatted the ball out of Teat’s stick. With Teat falling to the ground, Mellen scooped the ground ball and gave SU a possession, which led to a goal.

Then came another lengthy possession. Syracuse denied Cornell for more than two minutes. Madonna’s save once again left the ball loose. Cornell missed the net on its next shot. Then, with Teat standing nearly flat-footed at the top of the X, he fed an open cutter for a Cornell goal.

“You have to understand that’s just the way it goes,” Mellen said. “Sometimes we’re going to get a couple big stops and we try to clear it and turn it over or we get down to the offense and they just get a quick turnover. That’s just something we need to work on.”

Moments before Mellen spoke, explaining how SU’s defense hadn’t played as bad as the scoreboard may have portrayed, Cornell’s players celebrated.

The Big Red players gathered in front of the entrance to Schoellkopf Field, rose their hands and hooted and hollered in celebration as their photo was taken. In Cornell’s best win since 2014, it didn’t matter how well Syracuse’s defense had played. The scoreboard didn’t reflect it.

Published on April 10, 2018 at 10:59 pm

Contact Josh: jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44