Syracuse (8-2, 1-0) mounted a second half comeback to nab its first ACC win of the season Saturday afternoon, defeating Virginia 12-10 in Charlottesville. Here are three takeaways from SU's fifth consecutive victory:
The Orange squeezed just enough offensive production out of eight players in the comeback.
For the second consecutive year the Virginia defense concentrated on containing SU's leading scorer Joey Spallina, and that strategy worked from a statistical standpoint. Spallina, who had a team-high 53 points heading into the contest, finished with just one assist and only six shots on goal, after being held scoreless last season against UVA.
But that Hoos game plan opened up opportunity for Owen Hiltz and Michael Leo to step-up and catch fire with their shots on the net, the duo combining for six goals to fuel a furious fourth quarter.
For Hiltz, now with a 55 game SU scoring streak, his emphatic final two goals in the last 2:10 of the game put the exclamation point on the fourth quarter comeback. Sam English was 2 & 2 his last assist coming on Hiltz's eventual game-deciding goal.
A breakout game for new attack starter Payton Anderson.
It was one of those goals that when you look at the final result it was important at the time.
Anderson, the prodigious 6'3" frosh from Hopewell Junction, N.Y., took a long pass from Michael Grace and fired in a goal with one second left in the first half to give the Orange, trailing 5-1 at the time, a little kick in the butt heading into halftime.
Anderson's second goal, a bullet shot late in the fourth quarter, also came on a long downfield pass in which he utilized his size and speed to race from the right corner to the goal to fire in a 25-foot shot.
Next up a showdown with recent nemesis Notre Dame.
Following North Carolina's 13-12 loss to Army Saturday, and Notre Dame's 14-7 win over Duke, combined with the 'Cuse victory over the Cavaliers, SU and ND are 1-0 in ACC play heading into next Saturday afternoon's game between the teams in the Dome (2:00 p.m. ET / ACCN).
Besides vying for first place in the league standings, it's personal for Gary Gait and the program looking to snap a seven game losing streak against the Irish dating back to the 2019 season.
Last year's 14-12 defeat in South Bend was the closest the Orange have come in the seven defeats. ND also has two losses this year with one, also like SU, coming against Maryland, the other a one goal loss to No. 3 ranked Ohio State.
Expect the season's largest home crowd to turn out for the battle ...
