PHILADELPHIA — They’ve grown accustomed to their roles: Denver’s Ryan LaPlante starts in net and plays the first half. Jamie Faus comes in at the break and ices games.

“Jamie’s our closer,” DU head coach Bill Tierney said.

Even so, when LaPlante shined in the first half, notching 13 saves and allowing just two goals, it was decision time for Tierney. He could stick with the hot hand, or stick to his rotation.

For him, it was never a question.

“Honestly, we were thrilled with the way he was playing,” Tierney said of LaPlante, “but this is what we’ve done.”

Faus followed up LaPlante’s spectacular first half with an adequate second. He made four saves, but conceded seven goals and opened the door for top-seeded Syracuse’s (16-3) late comeback and 9-8 final four victory over the No. 4-seed Pioneers (14-5).

For nearly the entire first quarter, LaPlante was an unsolvable jigsaw puzzle for the Orange’s deep offense. Midfielder Luke Cometti finally broke through for a goal with 53 seconds left in the period, but the SU offense couldn’t pick up any sort of rhythm.

LaPlante conceded just one more goal, again to Cometti, but leapt, sprawled and stepped in front of almost any shot SU took in the first half to hand DU a 5-2 halftime lead.

“Just was seeing the ball, just was relaxed,” LaPlante said, “and the defense was giving me the shots that I wanted them to.”

LaPlante didn’t warm up at halftime. Tierney said he knew his goalie had a strong first half, but not one that good. Not that it would’ve changed anything — it was Faus’ ballgame now.

He struggled early but tightened up. He made the save of the game in the third quarter when midfielder JoJo Marasco found attack Derek Maltz all alone cutting to the net. Faus’ stop swung momentum back in Denver’s favor, and could have changed the complexion of the game.

But Syracuse rallied back and Faus took the loss. Even on Maltz’s game-winning goal, Faus denied a Cometti shot before Maltz scored on the rebound.

The script had flipped from Denver’s quarterfinal win over North Carolina, when Tierney was criticized for leaving LaPlante in for too long as he dug the Pioneers into a hole. The formula had carried DU to the final four, so there was no reason to change it.

“Sometimes, to leave your goalie in after the first half when we’ve been switching all year long, all of a sudden it changes their mindset, too,” SU head coach John Desko said. “So I think it’s something they’ve done, and I thought he came in the second half and he made some big saves, too.”

Published on May 26, 2013 at 12:19 am

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2