A record 30 games were played in NCAA Division 1 on Saturday in the last weekend of play in February. Below is a quick recap of my observations from today’s Syracuse vs. Maryland game.
The Terps came into the Carrier Dome for the first time since 1983 and won 19 of 27 face offs and outshot Syracuse 55-32 to double up Syracuse 16-8. Junior Charlie Raffa was the man of the match winning every big face off and scoring two crucial goals for a young Maryland squad. On the defensive side Senior Niko Amato stopped 11 of 19 shots. Maryland is now 3-0.
For Syracuse it’s déjà vu all over again with the Orange not being able to win at the face off X. It could be a challenge for the Orange in future games in the ACC with Duke’s Brendan Fowler and UNC’s RG Keenan, two of the nation’s best faceoff players in their own league.
Henry Schoonmaker was the leading scorer for the Orange with three goals. The Orange attack of Randy Staats, Dylan Donahue and Kevin Rice were held to a one goal each.
Maryland was very impressive on playing a strong team game with suffocating defense led by Goran Murray and the sharpshooting of senior Matt Chanenchuck, junior Jay Carlson and freshman sensations Matt Rambo and Connor Cannizzaro. In the future Maryland will be the team to beat in the Big Ten in 2015 and beyond. In their swan song season in the ACC, do not count out John Tillman and the Terps.
Follow me on Twitter@bchambeaux15
