A Syracuse team that was staggered after back-to-back losses to Johns Hopkins and Rutgers suddenly finds alone atop the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.
The Orange followed up last weekend's 15-14 road win at Duke with a stifling 10-6 victory over Notre Dame to improve to 5-3 overall and 3-0 in the ACC.
"It was definitely a great win for us today," said head coach John Desko. "I thought we played pretty well on both sides of the ball. With such a stingy defense that Notre Dame has, I had hoped that we could get to double-figures and hold them under. Not many teams get to double digits against them.
Syracuse goalie Dom Madonna made 13 saves for the second straight game, his career best, and the defensive unit kept the Irish off the board on eight extra man opportunities.
"Defensively I thought we were terrific," Desko said. "I thought Dom had another special day making some one-on-one saves, especially on man-down. They were man-up eight times and they didn't score in those situations, so hats off to him and the man-down unit."
Syracuse scored the first three goals of the game, but then went scoreless for the next 16 minutes allowing the Irish to come back and tie the game 3-3.
Brendan Bomberry's goal with 2:11 in the half gave Syracuse a 5-4 halftime lead. Brian Willetts scored early in the third quarter to tie things up, but Notre Dame then went 26 minutes without scoring and the Orange scored four straight to pull away, including this hightlight reel goal by Tucker Dordevic, the hero of Syracuse's win over Virginia earlier in the season.
Nate Solomon had two goals and two assists to pace the Syracuse offense, and Bomberry and Jamie Trimboli both had two goals as well.
Willetts had two second half goals for Notre Dame (5-3, 1-1 ACC), but was the only player for the Irish to record multiple points. Notre Dame committed six of its 16 turnovers in the fourth quarter.
Terps Pull Away From Michigan
For nearly 40 minutes, first-year Michigan head coach Kevin Conry saw his Wolverines go head-to-head with his old team, defending national champion Maryland, but the Terps (8-1) scored the final seven goals of the game to post a 13-5 victory in both teams Big Ten opener.
Conry, the defensive coordinator at Maryland last season, has Michigan (7-3) off to a great start this season, highlighted by last week's win over Notre Dame, but they couldn't solve the defense he helped build during his time in College Park.
Trailing 6-3 at halftime, Brent Noseworthy and Chase Young scored early in the third quarter to pull the Wolverines within one, but Michigan then went scoreless for the final 25 minutes of the game. Michigan got off just one shot in the fourth quarter.
Redshirt freshman Logan Wisnauskus led the Maryland offense with three goals and two assists and freshman Bubba Fairman had a second half hat trick for the Terps. Dan Morris made 10 saves to earn the win.
Michigan won the faceoff battle with freshman Connor Cronin taking 13-of-22 from a trio of Terps and senior goalie Tommy Heidt made 15 saves. Noseworthy and Young each had two goals and an assist for the Wolverines.