DURHAM, N.C. — Despite allowing 21 goals against Duke on Sunday, Syracuse did receive a steady performance from one of its goalkeepers.

Backup goalie Bobby Wardwell replaced Dominic Lamolinara in the second half and allowed only eight goals on 22 shots in No. 6 Syracuse’s (4-3, 0-3 Atlantic Coast) 21-7 loss to the No. 4 Blue Devils (8-2, 2-1) at Koskinen Stadium.

“I thought Bobby did a pretty good job in the second half,” Syracuse head coach John Desko said. “He had a bunch of saves. But I think they put up almost 60 shots on us today. You’re going to get more shots when you play a zone defense.”

After the game, Wardwell didn’t complain about the sloppy weather conditions or the cloudy background he faced. He said the weather was actually better than most practices the team has outside in Syracuse and the visibility was better than what he normally has inside Manley Field House.

Wardwell allowed only three goals in the third quarter, giving the Orange some hope of making the score more respectable.

The junior said before he came in Lamolinara told him what the Duke offense was doing – shooting a multitude of shots from the outside – and that the SU defense was struggling to rotate to the Duke player on the backside of the offense.

“They have tremendous offensive players,” said Wardwell, who made multiple saves with his legs. “ … If you take that many shots in a game, you’re going to score.”

Despite one of the only standout performances for the Orange, Wardwell didn’t look too much into it.

Wardwell said he and Lamolinara went into this season splitting time, and he doesn’t see that changing.

“Dom basically won us the past two games (against Johns Hopkins and St. John’s),” Wardwell said. “He played absolutely tremendous. Sometimes the shooters just have a good day.”

Published on March 23, 2014 at 6:47 pm

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu