Ben Williams never missed a game in his college career. The consistent faceoff specialist who’s cementing himself inside SU record books has a career win-percentage of 65 the X. If there was one thing Syracuse could expect every week, it was winning the majority of faceoffs.

Forty minutes prior to the opening faceoff, Syracuse ruled out Williams with an undisclosed injury. When the game started, the No. 37 jersey was nowhere to be found. Instead, Williams donned a blue polo with khakis, watching as Syracuse struggled at the X, the same place where he has been so dominant over the past three-plus years.

Army took advantage of Williams’ absence in the first half, winning 11-of-16 at the X. The Black Knights (3-1) were able to keep the ball in No. 6 Syracuse’s (2-1) defensive zone for minutes at a time, leading to extra scoring opportunities in Army’s 14-13 win.

“They had some nice two-to-three minute possessions and a couple of times it bounced,” Syracuse head coach Desko said. “And it bounced their way.”

Without Williams, it was redshirt senior Cal Paduda who Desko called on at the X. Syracuse jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. But that would be short lived. Army FOGO Dan Grabher used “quick hands” to beat Paduda early on. Soon enough, Grabher started beating Paduda more and more.

Twenty-six minutes into the game, Paduda had racked up a 3-for-13 record at the X. After Army’s Conor Glancy scored to put up the Black Knights by four, Desko decided to make a change. He called on the freshman Dan Varello who had just four faceoff attempts to his name prior to Saturday.

On his first faceoff of the game, Varello won. And just 49 seconds later, SU’s Stephen Rehfuss scored to pull the Orange within three. After that win, the change was made. Paduda began to line up on the wing at faceoffs instead of being the one crouched down against Grabher.

“Prepare for the worst,” Varello said. “Ben gets hurt, what’s gonna happen? Cal, Cal is gonna go in. If Cal doesn’t do well, what’s gonna happen? You always have to have that mindset. If you don’t, you’re not gonna succeed.”

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The Orange entered halftime trailing by two. Desko made some faceoff adjustment changes, most notably on the wings. Instead of boxing out the Army wings, Desko wanted Syracuse to charge toward the X and be more aggressive.

Varello began to struggle to start the second half. He lost three of the first four, two of which ended in an Army goal. But Desko kept his trust in Varello and it paid off. Over the last 10 faceoffs, Varello won seven. As Varello began to win faceoff after faceoff, Syracuse’s pace on offense picked up. The end result was a Syracuse comeback.

“When Danny started winning faceoffs it got us all going,” senior attack Jordan Evans said. “In the back of my mind I knew eventually we would start getting the ball some more and it started flowing better.”

Varello’s most important faceoff came with six minutes left in the game. He lined up against Grabher with the Orange trailing by one. Syracuse had just scored and drew two slashing penalties prior. Lose the faceoff, and Army could play keep away and ride out the penalties. But, if Varello won, SU would have a 6-on-4 man-up advantage.

Once the whistle blew, Varello and Grabher fought for the ball. Sergio Salcido charged from the wing. Varello dove on top of the ball moving away from the two faceoff specialists before Salcido hit the ball toward the sideline. After picking up the ground ball, he was hit from behind and drew yet another penalty for the Orange. The ensuing play, Evans scored his second goal of the game to knot the score at 12. When Syracuse needed Varello to step up, he did.

“With Cal not coming up with (faceoffs, Varello) was plan B and plan B worked pretty good,” Desko said.

But the damage had already been done. Paduda had lost 10 faceoffs. Varello, another seven. When games come down to the wire, reliability at the X is a necessity. And while Varello did that in the fourth quarter, he was three quarters too late.

“Ben Williams is one of the best in the game and has really gotten after us the past couple of years,” Army head coach Joe Alberici said. “… When Williams is in there he’s a big part of everything they do, both offensively and defensively.”

Published on February 25, 2017 at 5:08 pm

Contact Charlie: csdistur@syr.edu | @charliedisturco