Nate Solomon and Tyson Bomberry sat out of Syracuse's (3-2, 1-0) brutal 18-7 loss to Johns Hopkins (3-2, 0-0) and their absences were certainly felt.
Coming off a road win against Virginia, Syracuse seemed to have put the crushing loss to Albany behind them. However, a lot of the same mistakes and issues cropped up again in this blowout to Johns Hopkins.
After a slow start to the game for both teams, Hopkins went on a run to close the second quarter and never looked back. Cole Williams, Connor DeSimone, Kyle Marr and Alex Concannon all registered hat tricks for the Blue Jays in what proved to be a defensive meltdown for the Orange.
Hopkins controlled the pace for much of the game. Danny Varello and Seth Delisle combined to go 10-27 from the faceoff dot. Pair that with the fact that the Blue Jays outshot the Orange 46-25 and it became a long game for the defense.
Essentially, 'Cuse was outworked in this one. Hopkins registered 11 caused turnovers and secured 38 ground balls compared to just 5 caused turnovers and 22 ground balls for the Orange.
For the first 28 minutes, Syracuse looked competitive. It was just 3-2 before the Blue Jays scored four goals in the final two minutes of the second quarter. Hopkins' ball movement pulled the defense apart and gave it a 7-2 halftime lead.
Heading into halftime, Johns Hopkins had all the momentum, and it carried into the third quarter. The Blue Jays outscored Syracuse six to two in the third period of play, including five unanswered goals to push it to a double-digit lead. Stephen Rehfuss rocketed one into the net to breathe a little bit of life into the Orange to close the third quarter.
Syracuse traded goals to open the fourth, and it became clear just a few minutes in that John Desko was calling off his dogs. He opened up the bench extensively as time wound down in the final period.
Jamie Trimboli added two goals late to earn himself a hat trick. He was part of the underclassmen brigade that carried the offense. The only players to score for SU were freshmen and sophomores. Brad Voigt and Brendan Bomberry were the only two upperclassmen to register a point, each with an assist.
The Orange takes the field next on Sunday March 18th at Rutgers.