SU Tops Hobart For Kraus-Simmons Trophy

Tuesday, April 17

Geneva, NY

7 p.m.

Syracuse University

Hobart

Derek Maltz (right) and Tommy Palasek (left) combined for seven goals and three assists on Tuesday at Hobart.

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

4/17/2012 9:40:29 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Score By Period	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Syracuse	5	5	1	2	13
Hobart	2	2	5	3	12
Box Score \| Photos \| Highlights \| Interviews April 17, 2012 \| Boswell Field / Geneva, N.Y. \| Attendance: 2,800

GENEVA, N.Y. – Sophomore Derek Maltz became the first Orange player since 2008 to score six goals in a game, and No. 15 Syracuse (7-5) survived a second-half Hobart scare to defeat the Statesmen (3-8), 13-12, on Tuesday, April 17 at Boswell Field and retain the Kraus-Simmons Trophy for the sixth straight season.

Five of Maltz's six goals came in the first half as Syracuse built a 10-4 halftime advantage before Hobart outscored SU, 8-3, in the final 30 minutes. Senior Bobby Eilers and redshirt freshman Henry Schoonmaker also registered multi-goal games for SU, while Brian Megill scored his first collegiate goal and collected a career-high nine ground balls.

Despite winning just 10-of-28 faceoffs in the game, Syracuse generated most of its first-half offense by harassing the Statesmen into 11 turnovers in the opening 30 minutes. Hobart had 22 total turnovers in the game to Syracuse's 10, while the Statesmen held a slight 36-35 edge in ground balls.

Syracuse used an extended possession to take a 1-0 lead a little more than four minutes into the contest as senior Tommy Palasek threw a long pass from behind the cage to Eilers, who then fired a bullet past Hobart goalie Peter Zonino (18 saves) for the score.

After Bobby Wardwell made back-to-back saves midway through the first quarter on tough-angle shots, the Orange countered with three goals in just 58 seconds to pull in front, 4-0. Maltz had two of them and Schoonmaker added the other. The Statesmen finally got on the board with 6:36 left in the first as Sam Miller threw a low shot past Wardwell for his 20th goal of the season.

With SU on the man-up with less than three minutes left in the first period, Palasek and Eilers connected for another goal. Hobart's Cam Stone answered 18 seconds after the Eilers tally with a bounce shot past Wardwell.

The Statesmen drew within two (5-3) in the first minute of the second quarter when Taylor Vanderbeek took a pass from Stone and sent a shot past Wardwell, but Maltz netted his third goal of the night to push the SU advantage back to three. After the Statesmen made it 7-4, Maltz got behind the Hobart defense, took a pass from junior JoJo Marasco and beat Zonino again.

After Maltz's goal made it 9-4 Orange, Megill netted the first goal of his SU career when he picked up a loose ball, sped down the field and fired one home to extend the SU lead to 10-4 at the half.

Hobart put the Orange defense to the test after intermission, scoring five of the third quarter's six goals to make it an 11-9 game. Four different Statesmen found the cage during the run with Alex Love netting two goals in the span. Palasek, who scored the lone SU goal in the third quarter, nearly converted on a second in the waning seconds of the period, but was stoned by Zonino on a shot from just outside the crease.

In the fourth quarter, Maltz came to the rescue once again for the Orange, notching SU's third man-up goal of the game, but Branden Kessler's first career goal 66 seconds later brought Hobart back within two at 12-10 with 10:11 left in regulation.

Tim Desko picked up his first of the game with 6:06 left in the fourth on a shot that was deflected on its way to goal, but the resilient Hobart attack answered again as Miller capitalized on a SU turnover near the cage and beat Wardwell to cut the SU lead to 13-11 with 3:41 remaining.

A man-up goal by Love with 8.4 seconds left to play made it 13-12, but Hobart never got the ball back. Megill won the ensuing faceoff and the Orange killed the final seconds to secure the Kraus-Simmons Trophy.

Syracuse returns to the Carrier Dome on Saturday, April 21 to host Georgetown in its regular-season home finale. Faceoff is slated for 3 p.m. on ESPNU.

Game Notes: Syracuse won the Kraus-Simmons Trophy for 25th time in the 27 years it's been awarded … Maltz is the first Orange player since Kenny Nims in 2008 against Villanova to score six goals in a game … In addition to scoring his first career goal, Megill registered his first multi-point game by adding an assist … Marasco extended his point-scoring streak to 20 straight games with an assist on Maltz's second goal of the game … Eilers has two goals in each of the last three games … Syracuse scored a season-high three extra-man goals for the second consecutive outing.