Sitting at the podium after Syracuse’s 15-9 victory over Hobart were the game’s biggest factors.

Attacks Randy Staats and Kevin Rice — who combined for nine goals — and midfielder Billy Ward, who scored a crucial goal midway through the fourth quarter that helped push the Orange to a comeback win.

But between Ward and Rice was Jordan Evans, who hadn’t been at a postgame press conference yet this season but cracked SU head coach John Desko’s rotation Saturday.

In No. 4 Syracuse’s (9-3, 2-3 Atlantic Coast) 15-9 win over Hobart (4-8, 3-2 Northeast) at Boswell Field, the highly recruited freshman played the most he has all season. He was mainly on the field as a short-stick midfielder on the defensive end in his increased minutes, a position he’s somewhat new to but has worked on in practice in recent weeks.

Although Evans said he thought he was out of position a couple times, he credited Drew Jenkins and Tom Grimm for helping him in practice to learn the defensive communication.

“It’s definitely a lot different than offense,” Evans said.

“It’s better than sitting next to me,” Desko interjected.

“We thought, we have such a quality player here, let’s get him in here somehow,” Desko went on to say. “He’s smart and he’s good in packages and he’s good at picking things up quickly.”

And even as he worked to catch onto a different spot, Evans’ offensive background was beneficial. With the game tied 1-1, the Jamesville-DeWitt (N.Y.) High School product received an outlet pass from Matt Harris. He then sprinted down the field and sent a lead pass to Rice, and two passes later the ball was on the stick of Dylan Donahue before flying past Hobart goalie Jackson Brown and into the back of the net.

“We haven’t been getting a ton of those (fast-break goals),” Desko said.

Evans also saw some time at his natural attack position, like when he was on the field for a Nicky Galasso goal that gave the Orange a 12-8 lead late in the fourth.

“It’s good to be out on the field,” Evans said. “At this point, I don’t care where I’m at. As long as I’m out there helping, I think I can definitely help in transition, so wherever I can help.”

Published on April 19, 2014 at 10:42 pm

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu