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Wyatt Schupler’s save on Dami Oladunmoye’s shot was enough to prevent Syracuse from taking a two-goal lead as the third quarter ended. The Orange appeared to be in charge heading into the final period, but Brett Barlow, who was in the crease, slashed Schupler’s stick following the save.

Simultaneously, Max Rosa and an Army player tackled each other to the ground. Then as Schupler and Barlow went down, Oladunmoye joined in with two other players. And it was Syracuse who received the brunt of the altercation as Oladunmoye and Rosa received unsportsmanlike conduct and interference penalties, respectively.

It put Army two-men up heading into the fourth quarter. After the Black Knights missed three straight shots high and wide, the ball was worked toward Danny Kielbasa along the left wing, and his high shot fell below the crossbar and over the line, giving Army its equalizer after it had trailed since midway through the second quarter.

Then, the fourth quarter solidified SU’s chances of picking up a win, as No. 12 Army (3-1) scored five unanswered goals to hand No. 14 Syracuse (1-3, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) its third straight loss against a ranked opponent, losing 17-13. The Orange led for nearly half the game until the Black Knights’ man-up goal, and their 19 turnovers proved costly late in the game as SU gave into its first three-game losing streak since 2016.

“Too many times we had a good defensive stand, whether we’d get the ball on the ground or Harrison would make a save,” Brett Kennedy said. “We just got to work on keeping our head up and picking up the ball on the first time.”

Army regained the lead it held earlier in the game after a block on an Owen Seebold pass led to an offensive push. The ball found Brendan Nichtern, who played a pass inside that didn’t connect as he fell to the ground. Grant Murphy collected the loose ball and passed behind the net to Oladunmoye. But as he tried to clear the ball, Bobby Abshire pried it loose and rushed in along the left wing to put Army up 14-13.

It was the first of what would become four goals from Abshire, as Syracuse’s clearing struggles continued from its loss to No. 2 Virginia, where it went 13-for-18. In the fourth quarter, the Orange failed on three clearances and Army controlled most of the final period’s possession, outshooting SU 16-4 and recording seven shots on goal.

“Instead of making a mistake, recovering and making a great play, we compounded those mistakes and kept making more and more, and the game just got out of control,” head coach Gary Gait said. “Those types of things just kept happening in the fourth.”

Much like the fourth quarter, Syracuse struggled to generate offense early on despite scoring on its first possession of the game when Brendan Curry rifled a shot over Schupler’s right shoulder.

But the Orange only took four more total shots that quarter, as Army took 16, with half of them making it on net. It led to an early string of five unanswered goals from the Black Knights, with Brendan Nichtern accounting for three of their first four goals.

Nichtern recorded seven points, including four goals, in last season’s meeting between the two teams, which Army won 18-11. On Wednesday, his hat trick came less than 10 minutes in. Nichtern’s first goal came after a miscommunication between Syracuse’s Nick Caccamo and goalkeeper Bobby Gavin caused Caccamo’s errant back pass to sail out of bounds.

Army quickly worked the ball inside for a close shot in front of the net by Kielbasa that went wide left. But Nichtern picked it up and scored, shooting right over Gavin’s head, to make it 1-1.

Then on the next possession, the Black Knights won the ensuing faceoff and were able to set up Nichtern, who scored a similar shot, faking inside and rifling an off-balance shot right over Gavin.

“Initially (Syracuse) gave me a lot of space to kind of dodge by the five-by-five,” Nichtern said. “I can’t say that we kind of expected that. But I felt pretty comfortable getting to my space and I kind of just played off that.”

Nichtern had four points by halftime as the Orange held him to just one shot on goal in the second quarter. Without Nichtern generating the majority of Army’s attack, the Black Knights were held to just seven total shots in the second quarter.

Syracuse took advantage and notched 12 shots on goal, making up for its season-low five first-quarter shots. In the opening period, the Orange only took four shots after Curry’s goal, and didn’t shoot until the final three minutes of the frame, but still scored twice on its final three shots of the quarter.

After Army scored its fifth unanswered goal, Jakob Phaup won the faceoff and Syracuse immediately started its attack. The ball was worked to Saam Olexo, who stood just above the left corner of the 8-meter where he hesitantly took his shot after no defenders immediately crashed him. Olexo’s shot went high and into the right corner for his first goal of the season.

Then, Seebold hit a backhand shot from close range on the ensuing possession and the Orange trailed by just two goals heading into the second quarter. Their late first-period push generated much needed momentum for its seven-goal second period.

Both teams struggled to find secondary scoring, and both relied on a pair of players to score four goals each. For Syracuse, it was Seebold and Curry, who made up for Tucker Dordevic’s second straight one-goal game after scoring five in its first two games. Seebold, in particular, was pivotal for the Orange early on, scoring the game-tying goal — the fourth of an eventual 6-0 run early in the second quarter.

For Army, Abshire and Nichtern scored four goals apiece, which included Abshire’s fourth-quarter hat trick. It held Syracuse scoreless and to a season-low four total shots mainly due to the Orange’s seven fourth-quarter turnovers. They also failed on three clear attempts, leading to Abshire’s fourth goal where he stole a loose ball from Olexo and put away a close-range shot for Army’s 16th goal.

Gait acknowledged that Syracuse has struggled offensively throughout the first and fourth quarters this season, but it’s not indicative of how productive his offense can really be, he said. But the Orange have now fallen to three straight ranked teams, and his options are slowly dwindling.

“I don’t know how many more changes we can make on the offensive end,” Gait said. “We used a lot of different sets, we’ve been trying to come up with ways to utilize the players that we have and get them good scoring opportunities.”

Published on March 2, 2022 at 7:05 pm

Contact Alex: ahcirino@syr.edu