May 7, 2011

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The top-ranked Syracuse Orange used scoring from 14 different players to take a 20-6 win over St. John's in the 2011 regular season finale at the Carrier Dome.

Tommy Palasek scored two goals and notched two assists as the Orange's points leader, while goalkeeper John Galloway allowed only six goals while making nine saves. The win gave Syracuse (14-1, 6-0) the regular season BIG EAST title for the second year in a row.

St. John's (4-10, 2-4) was led by freshman Kevin Cernuto who scored two goals, while sophomore Jordan Rothman won 16-28 face-offs and tied a career high with eight ground balls. Sophomore Jeff Lowman made 13 saves in goal.

After a long Red Storm possession opened the game, the Orange picked up an errant pass and Joel White hit the back of the net in the unsettled situation to open the game's scoring.

St. John's responded after a Rothman face-off win when Cernuto circled from behind the net to tie the game at one. The goal marked Cernuto's 40th point of the season, the most for one player since the program's reinstatement.

Syracuse did not take long to retake the lead with four straight goals, including a score in transition as JoJo Marasco intercepted a pass at midfield and beat Lowman to the goal.

Cernuto found the net again at the 6:12 mark of the first period after Lowman threw a field-long clearing pass to the freshman in the corner. Cernuto ran past his defender and beat Galloway to make the margin 5-2.

The Orange closed the quarter with two more goals as Steve Ianzito recovered a ground ball and fired a shot from the left side. Just a minute later, Galloway hit Jeremy Thompson in the middle of the field on a clearing attempt and Thompson bounced in a score to make it 7-2 after one period.

St. John's opened the second period with three straight goals when sophomore Jarrett Carr scored an unassisted goal for St. John's on the right side, his second of the season.

After Brandon Ayers worked for the ground ball on the ensuing face-off, freshman Colin Keegan hit a slashing Keith Switzer who jumped and fired to pull the Red Storm to within 7-4. Just over a minute later, sophomore Dillon Ayers forced a turnover to start the St. John's break. Two passes later, Ayers hit Keegan on the doorstep for St. John's third straight goal.

Syracuse responded with goals on two fluky plays, the first goal coming from Colin Donahue after the rebound from a Lowman save dribbled into the goal. At the 8:01 mark, the Orange turned a turnover on a St. John's extra-man opportunity into a transition run, resulting in a man-down goal from Marasco, the first man-down goal of the season for Syracuse.

Two more goals from the Orange closed the half with Syracuse holding an 11-5 advantage.

St. John's scored first in the second half after Kieran McArdle fired a cannon shot from the edge of the scrimmage area on the right. Dillon Ayers picked up his second assist of the game by setting him up out of the clear.

After several great defensive possessions from the Red Storm, Syracuse's Stephen Keogh gathered a loose ball in front of the goal and spun it in around Lowman in acrobatic fashion to put the margin back to six goals at 12-6 at the 6:06 mark. White scored his second goal of the game three minutes later and the score held at 13-6 after three periods.

Keogh opened the fourth quarter with his second goal on a two-man advantage to put the Orange up 14-6. The Orange continued to extend the lead with another six goals throughout the quarter, including two in the final ten seconds, to claim the 20-6 victory.

The Orange outshot St. John's 50-26, and won the ground ball game by a margin of 41-34. Syracuse also forced 24 Red Storm turnovers, creating several scoring opportunities in the transition game.

The Red Storm concludes the 2011 season with a number of program accomplishments, including an improvement in goals scored average and scoring margin. Freshman Cernuto and McArdle were the program's highest scorers since reinstatement, while Lowman finished the season second in the country in saves per game. S

t. John's will return all but two starters for the 2012 campaign, including all of the team's top scorers.