EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Syracuse couldn’t find a way to score for 14 straight minutes. Twice.

Pat Perritt attributed it to sloppy shots, lack of execution. John Desko said it was poor shot placement against Princeton’s goalie.

Regardless of the reason, the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team failed to score for a 14-plus minute drought between the first and second quarters, and then again for another 15 minutes spreading from the third to fourth quarters. For over half the game, Princeton’s defense left the Syracuse offense searching for methods to score.

Unable to score for such long periods of time, No. 2 Syracuse (7-2) fell to No. 5 Princeton (8-1) Saturday here at Giants Stadium, 12-8. The Orange never held the lead.

‘I think it came down to the fact (that) we didn’t execute today,’ Perritt, a senior midfielder, said. ‘That’s the biggest thing offensively. Not shooting well and not being able to finish.’

The Orange didn’t lack opportunities. It out-shot the Tigers, 39-31. But when Syracuse did shoot, Princeton goalie Tyler Fiorito often made a save.

Often, it seemed like Syracuse was shooting right at Fiorito’s stick. With less than two minutes remaining, Perritt dodged a Princeton defender and found wide-open midfielder Josh Amidon, who catapulted the ball straight-line toward the net, but Fiorito made the save.

Syracuse’s offense kept shooting high. SU head coach John Desko told his offense to go low during the second half. The offensive unit couldn’t adjust and kept placing them high, resulting in more Fiorito saves.

Goals were hard to come by, and after a 14-minute first-half drought, Syracuse only had three.

Scoring droughts are becoming commonplace for the Orange. Against Loyola March 28, the Orange was held scoreless for 16 minutes. The result: Syracuse found itself in a five-goal deficit with eight minutes remaining in play and had to climb its way out of a deep hole. This time, the drought lasted too long for an Orange comeback.

‘When we did crack their defense, I thought the goalie came up with some big saves,’ Desko said. ‘We tried to get one of our runs going and get some opportunities and had some 10-12 yard shots that we would normally go for. He made some very good saves.’

In the second quarter, SU attack Tim Desko took a shot that left him on the ground. His teammates recovered the ball and shot again. That shot failed, too. Even with multiple opportunities the Orange couldn’t capitalize. The first SU drought continued on.

Again, the Orange offense ran into trouble. For 15:02, Syracuse remained quiet in the second half. Finally, freshman Kevin Drew broke the silence with 2:13 remaining. At that point, the Tigers held a 12-7 lead and a comeback was improbable. Princeton went on a 4-0 run during those 15 minutes to solidify the upset.

Princeton head coach Bill Tierney didn’t notice Syracuse’s long lack of scoring during the game. Tierney said the key was the 56th-ranked man-down defense not allowing any man-up goals from the No. 1 man-up offense in the country.

‘That was the most telling tale,’ Tierney said. ‘We try to get our guys to simulate Syracuse, which is impossible … But sometimes when you know your goalie is playing well and he’s seeing the ball, you tend to get a little more aggressive and make some of those slides and checks that other times you might be a little hesitant to. I thought that happened today.

‘We worked hard to defend. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.’

In this case, it worked. Syracuse’s eight total goals tied a season low. The last time the Orange scored eight, it was in a win over Georgetown March 7.

As Syracuse continued to fail to score, its chance to win vanished.

‘We couldn’t get a lot of things going offensively, but we got that ball back and got a bunch of possessions,’ Desko said. ‘But we really didn’t handle the ball well offensively. There were a lot of easy passes and turnovers, a couple ill-advised shots. As well as Princeton played, there were a couple of things we could have taken care of and we didn’t.’

mkgalant@syr.edu

Published on April 5, 2009 at 12:00 pm