With Syracuse and Albany tied 16-16 just moments into overtime, Syracuse attack Randy Staats sat atop the SU offense with the ball cradling around his stick. The game’s fate rested in his hands.

But not for long. As an extra Great Danes defender slid off Henry Schoonmaker toward the junior transfer, playing in just his second game at SU, Staats fired a pass to Schoonmaker on the right side. A split-second later, the ball was out of Schoonmaker’s stick and behind Albany goalkeeper Blaze Riorden.

“I thought Randy was wide open,” Syracuse head coach John Desko said. “I just thought he had a tough angle to feed (Schoonmaker) with. And of course Schoony came up with a good play.”

Staats finished with five goals and two assists, leading No. 2 Syracuse (2-0) with seven points in its 17-16 overtime victory over Albany (0-1) on Sunday in front of 6,484 at the Carrier Dome. A teammate of Albany brothers Miles, Lyle and Ty Thompson on the Iroquois National team, he may have had an extra sense of motivation heading into the Albany match.

But other than not having as many jitters as his first game at SU, Staats said the matchup against Albany was just another game.

“Playing box, he’s one of the top players on the team,” Miles Thompson said. “Me and Lyle (Thompson) were saying, he wasn’t out there on man-up. And we’re like, ‘Why isn’t he out there on man-up? He should be out there.’ Toward the end of the game, he was on man-up.”

Three minutes into the match, Staats ran down the left side of the Orange offense with a full head of steam. When he hit the 5-yard line, he fired a pass across the field to Billy Ward, who beat Riorden to give SU an early 2-0 lead.

With just seven seconds to go in the first quarter and SU starting to pull away, Staats snuck an underhand shot through a crowded defense to give the Orange a 7-3 lead.

He said he felt significantly more comfortable than he was in SU’s season-opening win against Siena on Feb. 10.

“It just gave me a feel for the Division I level and starting to get used to it and get the jitters out after the first game,” Staats said. “Today I felt way more comfortable.”

While he extended the lead to close the opening frame, Staats tied the score at nine with just three seconds to go in the half. The attack took a pass from Scott Loy and fired a shot right through the middle of the defense. The Orange would not trail for the rest of the game.

In the second half, Staats was the difference for the Orange. His goals extended SU leads to one, three and five.

With the score knotted at 10, Kevin Rice found Dylan Donahue on the left side of the SU attack. Donahue found Staats cutting down the right side, and Staats put fired a shot into the back of the net. The junior let out an exuberant arm swing, and the Orange led 11-10.

From the 4:31 mark of the third quarter to the 10:43 mark of the fourth, the Orange scored five unanswered goals — including two off the stick of Staats.

Leading 15-11, Bobby Wardwell made a save and quickly found Brandon Mullins. Mullins threw a lengthy pass to Staats, who quickly shot it by the keeper. The play was so fast that it was the only goal of the day that wasn’t shown on the Carrier Dome replay system.

On the last possession of regulation, the ball ended up on the stick of Hakeem Lecky. But in overtime, the ball ended up on the stick of the Staats. And he created.

In Syracuse’s season-opener against Siena, Staats had just one goal and two assists. On Sunday, he more than doubled that point total.

When asked to sum up his emotions after Schoonmaker’s game-winner, Staats paused for a moment and then raised both of his arms upward, smiling ear to ear.

It was the perfect ending to an already memorable day. And in just his second game since donning the Orange, it’s potentially the start of a promising career.

Published on February 17, 2014 at 2:47 am

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu