NEWARK, Del. — Towson more than lived up to its defensive reputation while smothering Syracuse in Sunday’s NCAA tournament quarterfinals.

A six-goal burst in the first quarter to seize control? That’s something new.

The unseeded Tigers sealed their first trip to the semifinals since 2001, never trailing in a 10-7 masterpiece against the second-seeded Orange.

Joe Seider scored four goals, Ryan Drenner had four assists and Matt Hoy made 12 saves for Towson (12-4), which will meet third-seeded Ohio State on Saturday in Foxborough, Mass.

“We haven’t done what we did in the first quarter today much throughout the season,” coach Shawn Nadelen said.

The Tigers had silenced midfield after midfield, and Syracuse (13-3) simply became the latest victim. With pole Tyler Mayes marking ACC player of the year Sergio Salcido and short stick Zach Goodrich shutting down Nick Mariano, the Orange saw its offensive strength neutralized from almost start to finish.

That duo combined for a goal and an assist on 11 shots as Syracuse lost in the quarterfinals for the third consecutive year.

“They’re very good, especially when they’re winning faceoffs and they [can] keep them rested,” Syracuse coach John Desko said of Towson’s rope unit. “They run those guys almost the whole game. We thought we would get some possessions in the second quarter and saw them leaning on their knees a little bit, but they’ve been there before. Those long offensive possessions Towson had really helped their case.”

That was especially true in the first quarter, when Towson’s Alex Woodall won five of seven draws and Syracuse maintained possession for approximately 4 minutes, 21 seconds. It was hardly the only facet the Tigers dominated early.

Hoy made four saves in the early going, and Syracuse handed Towson three extra-man chances. The Tigers cashed in all of them, with Drenner skipping passes to open teammates throughout the quarter.

“They had the ball a lot and we were playing a lot of defense,” Syracuse defenseman Scott Firman said. “On top of that, we were playing a lot of man-down. It was kind of a lose-lose situation there.”

Syracuse, which found itself in a ceaseless string of one-goal games and could only dream of tightening things against a Towson bunch adept at maintaining leads. The Tigers led 6-0 after a quarter, and their 8-2 margin at the break marked the Orange’s largest halftime deficit ever in an NCAA tournament game.

Not that Towson was content with a healthy margin at the break.

“Guys were yelling at each other that they don’t hand out trophies at halftime,” Hoy said. “We knew Syracuse was a team that did a really great job of going on runs in the third and fourth quarter. I know I was feeling really paranoid that we were in for a run like the one they had in the ACC tournament.”

Indeed, Syracuse almost won despite a massive halftime hole against North Carolina last month. And its well-deserved reputation as escape artists was a defining trait throughout the season.

Yet ultimately, this Orange team fell short of championship weekend like its three immediate predecessors. Syracuse has just one trip to the semifinals in the last eight years (2013), and its senior class is the first to depart campus without a final four appearance since 1979.

It makes for an unusual legacy, especially for a team that managed a 9-2 mark in one-goal games this season.

“I think this team did a pretty unbelievable job,” Firman said. “I’ve never been part of a team that literally doesn’t have quit in their vocabulary. You look at the ACC [tournament] coming back from eight goals and even today, it’d be easy to step back and quit but it didn’t happen a single time this season. I don’t think it was a disappointment at all.”

Syracuse should rue running into Hoy on one of his best days. The Towson goalie repeatedly stuffed the Orange at point-blank range, with three critical saves in the fourth quarter to stymie any hopes of a rally.

“It’s like I didn’t even see the ball at points in this game — I just went,” Hoy said. “It’s like I almost knew where they wanted to shoot the ball.”

It was the continuation of a stellar run for Towson, which has allowed just 31 goals during a five-game winning streak. After slowing down Penn State in the first round, it stuck to its formula of methodical offense, stingy defense and timely saves to knock out the Orange.

It all produced what, in retrospect, seems like a next logical step for Towson. The Tigers won a play-in game before falling to Notre Dame in 2015, then upended Denver on the road before losing to Loyola in last year’s quarterfinals.

Now, Towson is off to the semifinals for only the third time in school history.

“We talk about being in championship weekend, but talk is nothing without action. …,” Nadelen said. “I think it’s been a learning curve throughout, and I think these guys have done a good job embracing that and learning from the experiences we’ve had previously.”

And things are far from finished. Towson has something else to learn from as it heads to New England — a 6-3 loss to Ohio State on March 15. The Tigers have grown since then, settling on Hoy as their starting goalie and continuing to refine a style of play no opponent enjoys contending with.

“I think our team is playing well at the right time of the year,” Drenner said. “I don’t think any of the guys on the team are going to say it’s a magical feeling because we kind of expected to be here.”