CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — After Syracuse beat North Carolina Saturday, John Desko again identified the factor that’s keyed the Orange’s recent outcomes: Possession.

Against the Tar Heels, the Orange commanded the ball by sweeping up 40 grounders and leaning onDanny Varello during his hot start at the faceoff X.

“That’s a lot of possessions for us and we were able to get the offense comfortable again,” Desko said after learning Varello started 10-of-10.

From securing the ball at the faceoff X to scooping ground balls and patient offensive possessions, No. 9 Syracuse (8-3, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) and Desko have emphasized getting the ball and being deliberate with possessions. Sloppiness with the ball sunk the Orange against Notre Dame earlier this season in a 23-turnover loss. Recently, Syracuse’s held the ball more and won three straight-games.

After the loss to the Fighting Irish, in which the Orange took six penalties and 17 shots, Desko lamented his team’s careless play. Midfielders dropped easy catches, passes flew long over players and on top of coughing up the ball, untimely penalties gave the ball away. In a disastrous first half, the Orange turned it over 14 times, and Syracuse trailed Notre Dame 11-3 at halftime.

“You know you can’t do that,” Desko said then. “That’s 14 more times Notre Dame’s going to have the ball and have chances to score.”

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Ten days later, the Orange constricted then-No. 8 Cornell to a season-low eight goals by controlling the X. SU scooped 40 ground balls and took offensive possessions deep into the shot clock, rarely giving the Big Red the ball.

“We wanted to make their offense watch as much as we could,” Desko said. “And they did.”

With Jakob Phaup and Varello taking faceoffs, Syracuse have a two-pronged possession-generator. Phaup ranks top-5 in the country in faceoff win-percentage (66.1%) and Varello won 13-of-18 draws against UNC on Saturday. The two are SU’s direct path to dominating possession — when either are on, the Orange are difficult to beat. In the last three games, they’ve combined to win 74% of faceoffs.

Syracuse’s defensive midfielders and close defenders mop up in the defensive zone when the ball hits the turf. In the midfield, any of the Orange’s long or short stick midfielders look to initiate offense.

North Carolina took possession first on Saturday, but eventually Dearth came away with the ball in the defensive zone. He turned upfield and bolted through the neutral zone. As he crossed into the offensive zone unmarked, Peter Dearth turned and drew his stick back to his right hip, firing a sidewinding shot to put Syracuse ahead, 1-0.

“I think our poles did very well,” Desko said. “Once again today, they put the ball back on the ground.”

Syracuse offensive pace isn’t set, rather it’s a deliberate style of offense: Dodging and passing to break down the defense until a prime scoring opportunity arises, whenever it comes during the shot clock.

Dearth shot in transition becausehe was wide open and SU wouldn’t have generated a better scoring chance by running its usual offensive sets. But if a slide had come, dumping the ball off would’ve been more beneficial than a missed or blocked shot that becomes a turnover.

In the first half, though, the Orange scrambled more than they strung together passes, taking second-rate shots.

“Halfway through the shot clock we were settling for shots that we could get with 10 seconds left on the shot clock,” senior attack Bradley Voigt said.

In the second half, the Orange settled down. Possessions routinely ran until the shot clock dipped under 10 seconds and the offense broke down the Tar Heels. Varello stayed hot and Syracuse pulled away, dominating UNC in the third quarter, 4-0. In the end, a simple combination of having the ball and taking time with it is all it took.

“I think we could be a little more patient,” Nate Solomon said. “I think our best game is yet to come.”

Published on April 14, 2019 at 10:28 pm

Contact Andrew: aegraham@syr.edu | @A_E_Graham