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After its second straight loss against a top five opponent, Syracuse faces another ranked team in No. 12 Army at the Carrier Dome and looks to avoid losing three consecutive games for the first time since 2016.

Army has only played one ranked team this season in No. 4 Rutgers, who handed the Black Knights their only defeat of the season. The Black Knights also defeated the Orange in last season’s opener and will pose another test for Syracuse as the Gary Gait era settles in.

Here’s what our beat writers expect when No. 14 Syracuse (1-2, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) hosts No. 12 Army (3-1) on Wednesday afternoon.

Alex Cirino (2-1)
One more year
Army 16, Syracuse 12

Syracuse was shot back into reality after its loss to No. 2 Virginia, the defending national champions who it beat comfortably last season. But last season, Army came to the Carrier Dome against a much deeper Orange team and handed them a surprising, yet dominant, seven-point loss. As the two high-powered offenses face each other in arguably a do-or-die game for Syracuse, it’s likely the Orange will fall for their third straight game against a ranked team.

Army’s defense has allowed three fewer goals per game than the Orange. But offensively, attack Brendan Nichtern, who scored seven points against Syracuse last season, is on pace to have a career season and will likely hurt SU again. The Orange may keep things close, but they will still fall short, proving that they’re not yet ready to handle the country’s best.

Roshan Fernandez (2-1)
Syracuse’s Nichtern problem returns
Army 14, Syracuse 13

Nichtern torched Syracuse last season with four goals and three assists, helping the Black Knights to an 18-11 upset win in the Dome. He forced SU into defensive switches and capitalized with two man-up goals early on and then two fourth-quarter goals. Two years ago, he had four first-half points but then disappeared during the second frame when SU came back to win.

So far this season, the leading scorer has 30 points in four games, an average of over seven points per game. The star attack’s still playing alongside teammates Bobby Abshire and Aidan Byrnes, among others, who he’s developed strong chemistry with over the years. Syracuse has never really found an answer for Nichtern, and I think that speaks to the defensive issues that Syracuse will face against Army. The Orange’s offense hasn’t been firing on all cylinders either, and I don’t know if they can count on that unit to purely outpace Army’s offense.

Anish Vasudevan (3-0)
Back on track
Syracuse 16, Army 13

Over the last two weeks, the Orange have been slated against the best two teams in the country. Wins were not a given, but SU still fought to as close as one score versus Maryland and three goals against Virginia. The biggest problem was that Syracuse needed to play catch-up the entire game, which shouldn’t be an issue against the Black Knights, as it was able to create a 6-1 lead last year.

But Army came back, which is something the Orange can’t afford on Wednesday with the possibility of a three-game losing streak. Dave Pietramala’s defense will need to bounce back, making sure that Army’s ride doesn’t create problems like UVA’s did last week. SU needs to make sure that its offense gets back to distributing the ball like it did against Holy Cross, but if it can, there shouldn’t be a reason why the Orange can’t pull out a victory.

Published on March 1, 2022 at 9:45 pm