No. 7 Syracuse Takes Air Force Down, 17-11

USAF ACADEMY, Colo. – In their second straight meeting with a top 10 team at Falcon Stadium, Air Force fell to No. 7 Syracuse, 17-11, Thursday afternoon. The Falcons, now on a six-game cold streak (1-6), have one more game remaining on the non-conference slate.

Eight Falcons accounted for 11 goals behind scoring leaders Caelan Driggs (2g, 2a), Luke Vrsansky (2g, 1a), and Ben Heidt (2g). AJ Serna, Ryan Stadelmaier, John Kleinbeck, Christian Schweiger and Michael Frieri combined for the remaining five goals— Kleinbeck scored his first collegiate goal while Stadelmaier and Frieri notched their first strikes of the season.

The Falcons attempted 35 shots on the day, 19 on goal, led by Driggs with seven and Serna with six. The Orange put 45 shots with Michael Leo taking the lion's share. Leo scored five goals while teammate Finn Thompson tallied a hat trick. Nine Orangemen scored on the game. Last week's ACC Player of the Week, Joey Spanilla, dished a season high eight assists.

Sophomore keeper Matt Deedy held fast against the high-powered offense, making 12 saves to tie his career high mark. Air Force struggled at the center dot, winning just 10 face offs in 32 attempts. Rogan Kane went 4-14 while teammate Frieri went 4-13 with a goal. Seth Aliveto won a pair of attempts in five tries.

Air Force had a one-goal lead early on as AJ Serna and Ben Heidt struck in the opening minutes to grab a brief 2-1 lead. Cuse responded with back-to-back goals assisted by Spallina, and Luke Rhoa added a third-straight Orange tally, also from Spallina, to put Syracuse ahead 4-2. Air Force cut it to 4-3 on a Christian Schweiger man-up goal late in the first.

The Orange pushed the margin back to two at the second-quarter open. Driggs answered for AF to make it 5-4, but Drew Angelo responded immediately off the draw to make it 6-4. Luke Vrsansky pulled the Falcons within two again at 6-5, and the teams went to the half with Syracuse up 6-5 after neither team found the net the rest of the second.

Syracuse came out of the break with purpose. Anderson opened the third on a Spallina dish, and after Air Force's Ryan Stadelmaier answered on a man-up, Matt McIntee and Bogue Hahn scored in succession to push the lead to 9-6. Anderson netted his second of the game, assisted by Rhoa, to make it 10-6. Vrsansky capped the third with his second goal to trim the margin to 10-7.

Syracuse exploded out of the gate in the fourth. Wyatt Hottle scored seconds into the quarter, and Thomson struck again 16 seconds after that on a Spallina assist to make it 12-7. After Michael Frieri scored for the Falcons, Leo and Kellogg each found the net on Spallina feeds, and Leo added his fifth on a Kellogg assist. Kellogg closed things out with a Greg Elijah-Brown assist as the Orange pulled away for the six-goal final.

Up next, the Falcons hit the road for the road to take on Providence in the non-conference finale, March 21. Action against the Friars at Chapey Field at Anderson Stadium is set for noon ET.

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Team Stats

Caelan Driggs

Luke Vrsansky

Ben Heidt

AJ Serna

Players Mentioned

Seth Aliveto

Matt Deedy

Caelan Driggs

Michael Frieri

Ben Heidt

Rogan Kane

John Kleinbeck

Christian Schweiger

AJ Serna

Ryan Stadelmaier

Luke Vrsansky

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