Jon Jerome didn’t scout his opponent, even though that opponent holds Binghamton’s school record for faceoffs, faceoff percentage and ground balls in a game. But it didn’t matter. Instead Jerome used his 205-pound frame, which is 10 pounds heavier than J.P. Wioncek, to push the ball out.

Once Jerome did that, he either chased the ground ball or received help on wing play. It worked every time, as Wioncek didn’t draw a single faceoff. Kevin McCarthy taking over the duties didn’t help matters. Overall, Jerome won 18-of-21 faceoffs, helping SU to a 16-10 victory over Binghamton. The performance improved Jerome’s winning percentage to 62 percent and has continued a break-out year. It’s a stark contrast to last year’s performance when Jerome won only 49 percent of the draws.

‘I’ve been in those situations where I lose a couple and you start thinking, ‘Should I change what I’m doing?” Jerome said. ‘I just went out there and kept doing it. I waited for (Wioncek) to change but he never did. So I continued to win.’

Jerome’s consistent success has helped the Syracuse offense, but it hasn’t carried over the way the Orange envisioned. It’s beginning to be a troubling trend as Jerome won the faceoff battle against Army on Feb. 23, going 12-of-16, but the Orange still lost 8-6.

In last week’s game against Johns Hopkins, Syracuse won 17-13 on faceoffs, but poor wing play allowed the Blue Jays to dominate possession time. After Jerome did his job on Saturday, the Syracuse offense gave up 26 turnovers. SU midfielder Steven Brooks saw the Bearcats consistently making checks, causing the Orange to drop the caught balls out of its sticks.

Though Jerome’s faceoffs helped Syracuse dominate possession time, his performance bailed Syracuse’s sloppy offense out rather than the Orange using the successful draws to make quick scores at the cage.

‘It was a little scary, I got frustrated at times,’ SU head coach John Desko said. ‘Statistics like shooting and Jon winning as many faceoffs as he did, for them to be that close (in the fourth quarter) was really frustrating.’

In that period, lost faceoffs sparked a Binghamton run. Syracuse lost the first three faceoffs in the period, resulting in three quick Bearcat scores that spanned in just two minutes and 25 seconds. That three-goal rally reduced Syracuse’s lead to 10-8 with 12:01 remaining.

Syracuse didn’t lose a faceoff until the 2:52 mark in the third quarter. But it didn’t matter when the Orange lost that draw. SU midfielder Matt Abbott intercepted the pass and marched down field, finding midfielder Greg Niewieroski by the cage. The finish resulted in a 9-5 lead with 2:39 remaining.

Bearcat midfielder Matt McNamara acknowledged frustration that the strong faceoff play allowed the Orange to dictate the tempo. Jerome tried to set that tone for the Orange so Binghamton would play impatiently. Jerome’s first two faceoffs quickly resulted in goals from attackmen Mike Leveille and Kenny Nims, respectively. Leveille’s goal happened at the 14:25 mark and Nims’ score occurred just 12 seconds later.

But that would be the only time Syracuse would convert quick goals off the faceoffs. To Jerome’s credit, he scooped up 13 ground balls as SU defenseman Steve Panarelli and Abbott aided the faceoff specialist on wing play. That furthered the Orange’s chances of holding the ball, which didn’t prove to be the case when it hosted the Blue Jays and the Black Knights.

‘Earlier in the year we might’ve won the faceoffs but teams would be pressuring us, double teaming or trying to push the ball up the field,’ Desko said. ‘He did a good job of making those decisions with finding out who the open people were. If he had to go back to the defensive end, he threw the ball to a defenseman or our goal tender.’

Even with those 26 turnovers and three quick Bearcat scores, Jerome started the Orange well at the beginning – at the X.

‘Every time there was a goal, he got the ball back for us,’ Desko said of Jerome. ‘He was definitely a part of the victory. If we were to hand a game ball to someone, it would go to him.’

Published on March 24, 2007 at 12:00 pm