Jordan Evans chuckled, paused momentarily, and responded, “no.”

After scoring five goals against Marist, he was addressing the fact that he never expected to put that many in the back of the net in an NCAA tournament game after an injury-plagued start to his Syracuse career.

But on Sunday, he felt free without a brace restricting his left knee.

“It was hard to move laterally and now that the brace is off it makes me more comfortable dodging,” Evans, a sophomore second-line midfielder said. “I just feel a lot faster.”

Heading into the matchup against the Red Foxes, Evans had six career goals. That total skyrocketed to 11 by the end of second-seeded Syracuse’s (13-2, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) 20-8 win over Marist (14-4, 6-0 Metro Atlantic) to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.

He scored three in the first quarter, helping the Orange get out to an early lead it wouldn’t relinquish, and showed why the prolific offensive player many have expected to see may finally be coming around.

“I think my confidence is back a little bit,” Evans said. “It was definitely a rough beginning to the year with the injury, but now that I have the knee brace off I’m just trying to help out where I can.”

Syracuse came up with all eight first-quarter faceoffs, which Marist head coach Keegan Wilkinson attributed to Evans’ success because it provided more possessions and in turn, more chances for the second-line midfield.

 

Evans’ first tally was off a nifty backhand feed from Randy Staats. Then a fake pass from Evans himself that opened up space for a 10-yard laser. And on the third, he picked up a rebound off the turf and ripped a low shot past goalkeeper Dave Scarcello.

Wilkinson admitted that Evans wasn’t prominent on his scouting report in the days leading up to the game, but given the number on his back it was no surprise how he dismantled the Red Foxes defense.

“Obviously he’s wearing 22, so he’s got to be pretty good,” Wilkinson said. “From a scouting report standpoint we didn’t see him as much as we did tonight, but not surprised in the least bit.”

But number aside, Evans is just satisfied with having a full range of mobility and being able to do what he couldn’t before.

Coming into Sunday, he hadn’t scored a goal in four games. But as has been the case often this season, Evans pointed out how the attacks were feeding the open midfielders, and he was just trying to fill openings where the slides were coming from.

On his fourth, and most impressive goal, Evans deftly spun off his defender, juked Marist’s Tyler Vallie, faked high and slotted low. And on his last of the day, a goal that gave SU a 20-6 lead, there was no celebration.

Just a slight adjustment of his right elbow pad and a jog back to the sideline as if he’d been doing it all along.

“We’ve been waiting for him to break out,” SU head coach John Desko said. “…so I think it’s perfect timing.”

Published on May 10, 2015 at 11:37 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman