VILLANOVA, Pa. – Syracuse’s first midfield of JoJo Marasco, Scott Loy and Luke Cometti is enough to torment any defense. Sometimes Henry Schoonmaker joins them if he’s not leading the second midfield.

But when that backup unit fires like it did Thursday, SU feels close to unbeatable.

“I’ve said it a couple times now, when our second lines rolling I don’t really see – it’s going to be tough to beat us,” Marasco said.

After Thursday’s 9-3 win against Notre Dame (10-4) in the Big East semifinals, head coach John Desko and his players hesitated to claim complete invincibility. But they came close multiple times. And after the Orange’s (12-3) second midfielders combined for three of SU’s even-strength goals Thursday, they had every reason to.

Hakeem Lecky led linemates Henry Schoonmaker and Ryan Barber as he constantly threatened with his first step. It’s how he freed himself up for his first goal in the middle of SU’s 3-0 run to end the first half. Half a step to the left opened up a narrow shooting window, and he obliged with a 12-yard snipe.

“I mean he’s a good player,” Notre Dame goaltender John Kemp said. “I expect the same thing from every player. He just took good shots.”

Kemp entered Thursday’s game surrendering less than eight goals per game on average. Lecky, whose erratic shooting often neutralizes his nearly unstoppable speed, put two past the Tewaaraton Award nominee.

Lecky’s pair of goals added to Schoonmaker’s opener. Schoonmaker is one of a few players in the same class of speed as Lecky, and he tore past his man down the right wing and bounced his unassisted shot into the lower-left corner of the goal.

“There’s so much speed in our second line and they’ve got to constantly worry about them and us,” Marasco said.

Most teams key on Schoonmaker when defending SU’s second midfield, but for much of Thursday’s game, Lecky was covered by Jack Near, the same player who marked first-line playmaker Marasco.

As SU dives into a postseason run through May, Lecky’s is a more-than promising development.

“We get that – we get him going on that second midfield and between Schoony and Barber, that’s going to be a tough group to stop,” Desko said, “and really help us going down the stretch, getting into the playoffs and building some depth, especially with this warm weather coming.”

Published on May 2, 2013 at 10:25 pm

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_