Daniello Leads Syracuse Past Rutgers
from press release
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 2 Syracuse (10-1,
3-0) extended its winning streak to eight games with an 11-5 win
against Rutgers (5-6, 1-2) in front of 3,253 fans Sunday, April 18
at Yurcak Field. The Orange scored nine of its 11 goals in the
second half and received a stellar effort from its defense in the
victory.
Senior Chris Daniello (Cross River, N.Y.) had a career night to
lead the Orange offense. He totaled a personal-best six points,
including tying his career high with four goals. Redshirt sophomore
Tim Desko (Syracuse, N.Y.) matched his career high with three
points (2g, 1a) in the contest. Senior Cody Jamieson (Six Nations,
Ontario) also scored twice for the Orange.
In addition, the Syracuse defense blanked the Scarlet Knights in
the first half and 40:42 overall to start the game before Andrew
D’Agostino scored the Scarlet Knights’ first goal with
4:18 left in the third period.
Rutgers turned the ball over 26 times in the game, including 15 in
the first half. The Scarlet Knights struggled to find shooting
lanes all night and attempted just 25 shots in the contest. They
only took nine shots in the opening two quarters.
Freshman Brian Megill (Clark, N.J.) was one of the leaders of the
Orange’s defensive charge, collecting a career-best six
ground balls. He also forced a personal-best four turnovers. Junior
longstick midfielder Joel White (Cortland, N.Y.) also had six
ground balls and tied his personal high with three caused
turnovers.
The two teams played a scoreless first period before Daniello
finally broke the stalemate in the second quarter with an
unassisted goal at the 10:34 mark.
Daniello scored again less than three minutes later to give the
Orange a 2-0 lead. After shifting to the midfield, he beat a
shortstick with a swim move and snuck one past Rutgers goaltender
Billy Olin with 7:45 left before intermission.
The score was still 2-0 at halftime, but it didn’t stay that
way long as Syracuse found its offensive groove in the third
quarter. The Orange outscored Rutgers in the period, 5-2, to take
control of the game.
Thompson opened the third quarter with a goal to extend the Orange
margin to 3-0, and Desko pushed the lead to 4-0 with 9:02 to go in
the stanza when he rolled from behind the cage and beat Olin with a
low shot. A pair of Jamieson goals followed to give the Orange a
6-0 advantage.
The six-goal margin didn’t deter the hosts as Rutgers tallied
three of the game’s next four goals to trim the lead to four
(7-3) with 14:04 left in regulation. But Desko reclaimed the
momentum for Syracuse with his second highlight-reel goal in the
last three games. He found the cage in transition with a whirling
shot from 10 yards out as he was falling to ground that pushed the
SU advantage back to five (8-3).
Desko’s goal kick-started a 3-1 Orange run that resulted in a
10-4 advantage with less than eight minutes to play and put the
game out of reach.
The Orange held the advantage in shots (36-25) and ground balls
(31-27) Sunday. The Scarlet Knights won 10 of the game’s 18
faceoffs, however, several of their faceoff wins were on violations
called against Syracuse.
Justin Pennington and Adam Goldberg led the Scarlet Knights with
two goals each. Tad Stanwick finished with a team-best two
assists.
Olin made 14 saves in the loss, including seven in the first half
to help keep Rutgers in it.
Another BIG EAST opponent sits on the horizon for Syracuse as it
faces Providence in its home regular-season finale on Saturday,
April 24 at the Carrier Dome. Faceoff is slated for 2 p.m. on Time
Warner Cable Sports. It’s also Senior Day as this
year’s outgoing class will be recognized in a brief ceremony
prior to the game.
Game Notes: It was Syracuse’s sixth straight win against the
Scarlet Knights … This was the second straight season the
Orange shut out the Scarlet Knights in the first half …
Syracuse also held Rutgers scoreless in the first 30 minutes of a
10-3 win at the Carrier Dome a year ago … Rutgers’
40:42 scoreless drought was the longest for an SU opponent this
season … The Orange is now 6-0 this year in night
games … Junior goalie John Galloway (Syracuse, N.Y.) earned
his 41st victory to move into a five-way tie for seventh on the
Division I all-time wins list … Senior Joe Coulter (San
Diego, Calif.) recorded the first assist of his career on
Desko’s second goal … Sunday’s game was the
300th for Rutgers head coach Jim Stagnitta.
