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After Syracuse scored just seven goals in its season-opening win over Vermont, Gary Gait made it clear the offense had work to do.

Joey Spallina had only scored once on 15 shots, and his performance was uncharacteristic of what Gait wants in his offense — quick ball movement and shots spread amongst several players so teams can’t key on one player. Gait said the Orange would “reinforce” that in practice.

The improvement was clear on Friday, when 10 different players notched goals in a 20-7 win over UAlbany. And that carried into Sunday, when seven different SU players got on the scoreboard — including Spallina (five) and Finn Thomson (four) — in an easy 15-6 victory over Holy Cross that moved the Orange to 3-0 after just one day off.

Thomson said the pregame message from Gait was simple: be selfless. SU responded with quick ball movement, working it around so that 15 players were able to fire off shots. Syracuse used well-timed cuts to get open opportunities in front of goal, and despite only finishing on roughly 43% of their shots on goal, the Orange had plenty of opportunities to win convincingly.

“The ball movement was pretty good, even though we weren’t as fresh as we could be,” Spallina said postgame. “But I feel like offensively, guys were getting open, guys were cutting and moving the ball.”

Spallina reiterated after the game that he’s a pass-first player, and has struggled to put up assist numbers throughout his career. Syracuse has put him at X this season, hoping he can set up teammates cutting toward goal. Spallina, though, didn’t record a single assist in his first two games. He said his first instinct on the field is to dodge and draw a slide, but no Vermont or UAlbany defenders did.

The freshman did get more opportunities to find open teammates on Sunday with Holy Cross sliding more, and Spallina notched his first assist late in the first quarter, when he patiently waited at X until Owen Hiltz freed up on the right wing. Hiltz’s shot made it 3-0 Syracuse, and gave Spallina his first career assist. Then in the second quarter, Jackson Birtwhistle made a quick cut to the net, and Spallina fed him for a wide-open shot.

Holy Cross head coach J.L. Reppert said the Crusaders’ plan was to take the game possession by possession, and “reset” after each one. He knew what Syracuse’s attacks were capable of — particularly Thomson, Spallina and Hiltz — and hoped that well-disciplined and fundamentally-sound defense would contain them. The three attacks, though, combined for 10 of SU’s 15 goals, and totaled 16 points.

“We knew that they’re going to make plays. That’s who they are,” Reppert said. “They’re really good players. And we tried to talk about just resetting and getting back and making the next play, and making them make really good plays.”

The Orange did make some impressive plays, with Hiltz tossing a pretty behind-the-back pass to a cutting Thomson on the give-and-go in the first quarter for an easy goal, and Hiltz making a similar pass to Michael Leo in the second quarter before Spallina found space to make it 8-2 Syracuse.

Reppert had watched SU spread the ball around on Friday night, when Spallina, Birtwhistle and Hiltz each recorded hat tricks, and saw how its ball movement and efforts to diversify the scoring were tough to contain. Last year, Syracuse beat Holy Cross 28-5, but recorded 12 unassisted goals. This year, Reppert was impressed by the Orange’s passing.

“It seemed like on Friday night, and then again tonight, they share the ball incredibly well,” Reppert said. “They look out for each other. It’s a really unselfish group. They’re all talented enough to take over the game individually, but they don’t do that. And it puts you in a lot of tough spots.”

Spallina and Thomson both said Syracuse’s ball movement was good, but it could’ve finished its opportunities better. Birtwhistle didn’t score on six of his shots, and Alex Simmons and Griffin Cook went a combined 1-for-10. A more efficient shooting performance could’ve made a blowout win even more convincing.

“Offensively we were doing what we’re supposed to do, (but) I feel like we could’ve finished the ball a little bit better,” Spallina said.

But SU still made plenty of plays, with rapid-fire passing leading to Thomson getting an open look right in front of the goal, which he buried after faking out goalie Dawson Friers high before shooting low.

And like against UAlbany, when players like Carter Rice (who tripled his career goal total with two scores) and freshman Carter Kempney (who scored his first-ever collegiate goal), other players got involved, too. Freshman midfielder Michael Leo, who scored once on Friday, notched two more scores on Sunday, after Billy Carlini angled him toward the goal and Leo exploded past the long stick midfielder for an open shot after Holy Cross slid too late.

Gait said, despite the 3-0 start, there are things Syracuse needs to improve on — namely faceoffs, clears and rides — but was happy with the offensive performance. Eight days ago, Gait wasn’t pleased with SU’s offensive performance, but that reinforcement in practice the coach talked about, along with the simple message of playing selflessly, got the job done.

Next week, when the Orange travel to play No. 2 Maryland, they’ll likely need to do a better job of finishing their opportunities. But against Holy Cross, likely the easiest opponent on their 2023 schedule, those 15 goals from seven different players were more than enough.

Published on February 12, 2023 at 6:02 pm

Contact Connor: csmith49@syr.edu | @csmith17_