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Grant Murphy’s stick, as it had been almost all game, was in the perfect spot to bat down an Albany pass to the middle of the offensive zone. Murphy calmly looked down, located the ball and kicked it away from two Albany players and toward Syracuse defender Cole Horan. Late in the fourth quarter and up by five goals, Syracuse’s defense still didn’t let down its guard.

This season has been up-and-down for the Orange. Second-quarter collapses erased first-quarter offensive outbursts against both Army and Notre Dame. The same faceoff unit that won 22-of-33 faceoffs off Virginia had won just 17 faceoffs in its last two outings coming into Thursday evening. And in the last two weeks, the team lacked effort for stretches in games, with Brett Kennedy plainly saying Syracuse was “outworked” last week in a loss to Notre Dame.

But against Albany, the No. 9 Orange (5-3, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) cleaned up those intangibles for a 13-8 win at the Carrier Dome on Thursday evening. They picked up 17 more ground balls than the Great Danes (5-3, 3-2 America East). Their faceoff unit rebounded from back-to-back poor weeks to go 15-of-25. And their defensive intensity never wavered, not allowing Albany the types of runs Army, Duke and Notre Dame found to bury the Orange.

“Coming off the Notre Dame game, where we gave up as many goals as we did, I thought they came out a little more possessed and wanted to play good defense and took some pride in it,” head coach John Desko said.

After the loss to UND last weekend, attack Stephen Rehfuss said he was glad there was a short week before facing Albany. The Orange dropped to their lowest ranking this season, No. 9, and desperately needed a rebound performance to make up for back-to-back ACC losses. SU’s energy in the first quarter was indicative of that.

Even with an uncharacteristically sloppy offense in the first half, with six turnovers, SU controlled the contest with its defense. Murphy stepped into the passing lane to force a turnover, then Mitch Wykoff stepped up to block a transition opportunity. Two players converged onto Albany’s Jakob Patterson to knock the ball loose, and at the other end, Chase Scanlan and Jacob Buttermore scrambled to Albany goalie Liam Donnelly behind the cage to get a cheap Rehfuss goal off the ride.

The Orange couldn’t find separation, but with their offensive struggling, they showed what they missed in earlier games this season: urgency.

“In the past couple games, we felt that we were lacking intensity that we needed to pull off big wins,” Wykoff said. “We brought that this game.”

With the goals drying up for stretches in the first half and with Albany threatening to make a run, Syracuse’s defense held steady. The transition goals for Albany were few and far between. And when the Great Danes settled in the half-field, their off-ball movement didn’t faze SU defenders. The slides were purposeful and coordinated, a far cry from earlier in the season.

“We matched up pretty well. We didn’t have to slide as much as we had a week ago,” Desko said. “And I just think when we do that, we play pretty good defense, and one-on-one defense was very good.”

It wasn’t all perfect. Steve Ramirez’s dodge through X drew a Brett Barlow slide, leaving Graydon Hogg open on the crease in a familiar sight for Syracuse. Also familiar was Ron John raising his right arm and pointing a finger at the sky after his game-tying goal in the second quarter — Aidan Byrnes had a similar celebration in the season-opener when he put the Black Knights up 8-7 right before halftime.

But the Albany avalanche to crush Syracuse, like Notre Dame and Army’s runs, never came. Brendan Curry answered back-to-back Great Danes’ goals on the man-up in the second quarter. Minutes later, the Orange strung together a 4-0 run of their own to take an 8-4 lead.

In the third, SU again limited Albany’s runs to just one sequence of back-to-back goals. Scanlan smiled at the other end after the first of his two unassisted goals in the period, turning away from the chirps of Albany defenders to embrace his teammates. Wykoff and Dami Oladunmoye chased after Alex Burgmaster before Wykoff’s active stick forced a turnover late in the third quarter to preserve a 12-8 lead heading into the final frame.

Wykoff, whose matchups in the last two games earned a combined 15 points, shut down Albany’s second-leading scorer in Patterson. Wykoff prides himself on his foot movement, which wasn’t good enough against both Michael Sowers and Pat Kavanagh, his last two matchups. On Thursday, he played well enough to relegate Patterson to a largely off-ball role and just one assist.

Wykoff’s individual defense forced Albany into a more free-flowing, improvisational offense that couldn’t break down Syracuse’s other defenders. Albany was more physical, rather than using foot speed like most of Syracuse’s other opponents this season. That played right into SU’s wheelhouse, and in the final quarter, the Orange didn’t allow a single goal to close out the win.

“We had to keep calm but play with intensity, and I think we did that today,” Wykoff said.

Thursday wasn’t a definitive win by any measure. In 2020, Syracuse comfortably beat every unranked opponent it faced by six goals or more and dominated every facet of the game: shots, ground balls, faceoffs. But mired in a midseason slump, to bounce back and beat Albany in all those parts of the game is a step in the right direction for the Orange.

Now, it’s about grinding out these types of wins against ACC opponents. The Orange showed once, against Virginia, they can do that. And in the second half against Duke and on Thursday against Albany, they proved again that their defense is not a sieve. It can be compact, stout and unrelenting in pressure. It can get into the passing lanes consistently and let goalie Drake Porter easily handle outside shots.

With the selection show for the 2021 NCAA Tournament just over a month away, Syracuse needed to start stringing together wins. And limiting an Albany offense, even without leading scorer Tehoka Nanticoke to aid goals, is a start. Winning 15-of-25 faceoffs is a start. And never allowing a run longer than two goals is a start.

“We go out and we lose this game, I think there would be a lot of questions and the confidence level wouldn’t be the same,” Desko said. “So in a short week, to get back on track and score a few goals and play very good defense … it was good to have.”

Published on April 8, 2021 at 7:32 pm

Contact Arabdho: armajumd@syr.edu | @aromajumder