Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse Bounces Back Against Hobart

GENEVA, N.Y. – Over four minutes into No. 11 Syracuse’s (6-3, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) Tuesday night game with No. 20 Hobart (8-2, 2-0 Northeastern), and junior goalie Drake Porter still had yet to face a shot. Then, with the shot clock ticking down to 10 seconds, Eric Holden, who entered the game as Hobart’s leading scorer with 28 goals this season, launched a shot on cage. Porter stepped up to cut down the angle and his hands quickly reacted to make the save, the first of 16 he would make on the day, and an important opening stop after being pulled at halftime after giving up 11 goals to Notre Dame.

Porter tied a career high in saves, and Syracuse did not allow Hobart to score after the 7:47 mark in the second quarter en route to a 17-5 domination of the Statesmen. With the win, Syracuse holds onto the Kraus-Simmons Trophy for the sixth-straight season. At the center was Porter, who said after the game he tried not to focus on Saturday’s poor performance.

“When you’re a goalie in lacrosse sometimes you just gotta bare down and just think I just need to save the ball.” Porter said, “If I went into today like ‘Wow! I really need to recover from all of that’ it would just be kind of dumb, and I would be putting more pressure on myself than I need to.”

While the matchup was billed as a better game than past seasons, the Orange dominated after the midpoint of the second quarter, holding the Statesmen to no goals in the final 37 minutes of the game.

On the offensive end, Bradley Voigt and Jacob Buttermore both tallied hat tricks. Meanwhile, Porter credited the defense in front of him, which allowed just nine shots on goal in the second half.

“Our defense I thought was phenomenal today,” Porter said. “The shots I was getting were pretty easy saves in my mind. I think we do have probably the best defense in the country. I am a lucky goalie”

Defenseman Nick Mellen claimed that the little things were the focus for the defense after the loss to Notre Dame.

“I know in past games we have had a lot of trouble in fast break situations,” Mellen said. “In this game we did a lot better in that part of that game.”

That defensive effort for 60 minutes is a big reason why Syracuse grabbed its first halftime lead in five games and ended with its most lopsided victory since opening the 2018 season with a 17-goal victory against Binghamton.

The Orange gets back into action next Tuesday against Cornell, on Senior Day.

kpmoegle@syr.edu| @karl_moeglein