Observations from No. 6 SU’s win over No. 20 Delaware: Goalie battle, Spallina’s brief absence

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Through the first half of 2024, Syracuse longed for a signature win. After close overtime losses to then-No. 4 Maryland and then-No. 4 Army, the Orange traveled to Charlotte for a neutral site game against then-No. 2 Johns Hopkins. Before last Saturday SU hadn’t won a top-five game under Gary Gait and was 1-13 in top-10 matchups.

But that all changed when Syracuse came out with a 14-13 win, Joey Spallina’s five points. The Orange finally had a big win to put on their resume and to build off of for the rest of the season. After the win over the Blue Jays, Syracuse entered its second-straight neutral site game, this time against a less challenging opponent in Delaware.

The Orange led 6-5 at halftime, but blew the game open in the second half, allowing just one goal across the last two quarters. Owen Hiltz’s career day sealed the deal for the Orange in the second half as it came out with its third straight win.

Here are some observations from No. 6 Syracuse’s (7-2, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) 14-6 victory against No. 20 Delaware (3-3, 0-0 Coastal Athletic Conference):

Spallina’s momentary absence

With Syracuse trailing 4-3 late in the first quarter, Spallina cut inside and looked to get a shot off, but was decked by Louie Atkinson. Spallina drew a flag — a two-minute unreleasable penalty — but stayed down for a couple of seconds before heading towards the sideline to get looked at by athletic trainers. SU’s leading points scorer on the season didn’t return right away and the Orange would have to play an extended period without him.

With Spallina absent, it left his normal spot at X vacant. To fill the void, Christian Mulé was placed behind the net, a tall task to replace one of the best points scorers in the country. Hiltz rifled a ball into the net to tie the game at four just two minutes into the second quarter.

But after that, SU’s offense grew stagnant. Without the attention drawn to Spallina at X and the rest of the field, Delaware’s defense could key in on other aspects of the attack. Hiltz’s finish was the only goal from an attack without Spallina, but the Orange got help from its defense when Billy Dwan tied the game up at five with 7:30 time left. After the goal, Spallina returned, hitting the post on his first touch. After Syracuse corralled the rebound, the attack fed Sam English in front to put the Orange up 6-5.

Battle at the X

Mason Kohn has completely rejuvenated a bad faceoff unit in 2023, winning 64.5% percent of his faceoffs through eight games. Even in SU’s two losses, Kohn has held his own against Army’s Will Coletti and Maryland’s Luke Wierman. Saturday would be another test for Kohn, matching up against OJ Morris, a 69% man on the season.

In the first quarter, Morris seemed to get the best of Kohn by creating scrums, but Kohn adjusted. He matched Morris’s physicality and won the majority of faceoffs to finish the first half as the Orange built a one-goal lead.

Kohn grew into the game and helped the Orange start the second half with a bang. Morris couldn’t come up with a ground ball after winning the initial clamp and Kohn took advantage. Saam Olexo flanked to his left and Kohn hit him on the money as Olexo ripped a poll goal to put Syracuse up 7-5.

After helping the Orange score the first three goals of the third quarter, Delaware decided to change their faceoff man, implementing Nick Bolger who’d taken just 15 faceoffs on the season. Bolger did win his first faceoff against Kohn, attempting to give Delaware some momentum back. But in the end, SU’s dominance at the X was too much as it won 14-of-23 faceoffs.

Goalie war

Syracuse has one of the best offenses in the country, so it was expected that it would pepper Delaware goalie Kevin Ellington in net. But throughout the first half, Ellington stonewalled SU’s attempts over and over. Part of a top-five defense in the county, he only allowed 8.76 goals per game in the country.

On the other hand, Will Mark has been somewhat inconsistent for the Orange this season. He’s shown flashes like in the second quarter against Johns Hopkins where he only let up one goal, but has had a 52% save percentage.

Both goalies were brick walls especially in the first half with Ellington recording 11 and allowing just six while Mark had nine stops and five goals allowed. Ellington had a highlight reel save to keep Delaware’s deficit at one halfway through the first quarter. After Spallina hit the post, Luke Rhoa picked the ball up and looked to have an open goal, but Ellington somehow put his stick up to deny the chance.

Ellington finished with a career-high 20 saves in net while Mark finished with a season-high 17. Both goalies combined to allow just 34% of the shots they faced.

Strong second half

Against Johns Hopkins, Syracuse trailed by one at halftime but used eight goals in the third quarter to boost itself to a win. Although it wasn’t as much of an offensive struggle, the Orange started a little lethargic in the first half against Delaware leading 6-5. But in the third quarter it started to separate itself.

Olexo opened up the scoring right away before Michael Leo scored on a man-up to increase SU’s advantage to three, its largest of the day to that point. Spallina then set up Hiltz in front for his second of the day before coming around X and scoring one of his own. Spallina’s goal was Syracuse’s fourth of the third quarter as it extended its lead to 10-5. Sam English rifled his first goal of the day to put the Orange up six before Delaware broke a scoreless streak.

The Orange held the Blue Hens off the board in the third quarter, part of a 30-plus minute goal drought which was broken at the 10:43 mark by Tyler Owings. But as Delaware attempted to close the deficit, Syracuse’s offense shut the door, more specifically Hiltz.

After gaining a man-up advantage, Hiltz scored on a step-down from the wing to put the Orange back up six. The attack tacked on two more over the next five minutes to give him a career-high six goals.