Syracuse University
#16 Army
Army Outlasts Syracuse In Double OT, 9-8
5/16/2010 10:46:46 PM | Men's Lacrosse
The loss was just the second NCAA playoff defeat for Syracuse in the Dome and it ended the Orange's bid for its third straight national championship. Syracuse finished the season 13-2, while Army improved to 11-5.
Army will face seventh-seeded Cornell on Sunday, May 23 in the NCAA quarterfinals at Stony Brook's LaValle Stadium. The Big Red outlasted Loyola (Md.) in triple overtime Saturday, 11-10, to advance to the quarterfinal round.
Lynch's game-winning goal marked the only time Sunday that the Black Knights held the lead. Army overcame deficits of 5-1 and 7-4 to post its eighth consecutive victory and the school's first in the postseason since 1993.
In addition to assisting on the game-winner, Boltus was the one who forced overtime when he scored with 6:49 to play in regulation, tying the game at 8-8.
The Black Knights carried the momentum into the first overtime following his equalizer and had possession for nearly the entire four-minute session. Army unleashed three shots in the first extra frame, but none found the mark. The Orange had the ball briefly twice in the period, but turned it over both times.
In the second OT, Army's Derek Sipperly won the faceoff to set up an offensive chance for Brendan Butler. SU junior goalie John Galloway was there though, denying Butler in front. However, the Orange turned the ball over again on the following possession and failed to back up a shot by junior Josh Amidon later in the period.
The miscues set the stage for Boltus, who drove hard to the cage and dumped the ball to Lynch for the winner.
Boltus and Lynch were two of four Army players to record three points in the game. They both had two goals and an assist as did Garrett Thul. Rob McCallion totaled a goal and two assists.
Army also got a strong performance from Sipperly to help erase the deficits. He won 11 of his 18 draws to lead the Black Knights to a 7-3 advantage at the X in the second half and overtime, and a 12-7 overall margin for the game.
The extra possessions allowed the Black Knights to outscore the Orange, 5-2, after halftime.
For Syracuse, senior Cody Jamieson led the way with three goals. Junior Jovan Miller tied his personal-best with two goals, and junior Stephen Keogh also scored twice. In addition, Syracuse got 16 saves from Galloway. Ten of his stops came in the second half or overtime, including six in the third quarter.
Early on it seemed like Syracuse would cruise to its ninth straight playoff victory. Jamieson gave the Orange a 2-0 lead with a pair of tallies separated by just 31 seconds in the first period. He scored an unassisted goal at the 12:33 mark of the quarter then found the cage in transition with 12:02 to play following an Army turnover.
McCallion got the Black Knights on the board with 9:56 to go in the opening period, but the Orange reeled off three straight goals to take a 5-1 advantage early in the second quarter.
Then it was Army's turn. The Black Knights used a man-up goal by Tyler Seymour and a defense that forced six Orange second-quarter turnovers to spark a turnaround. Army notched three of the half's last four goals to close the gap to 6-4 at the intermission, including a tally by Lynch with one second to go before halftime.
In the third quarter, Jamieson's third goal of the night pushed the hosts' margin back to three (7-4), but the Black Knights never wilted, getting goals from Sean O'Sullivan and Garrett Thul to close the third period down one (7-6).
Keogh opened the fourth-quarter scoring with an unassisted goal at the 12:05 mark to put the Orange up two (8-6). But it was the final goal of the game for Syracuse as the Black Knights held the Orange scoreless for the final 18 minutes and netted the last three goals of the game to earn the win.
Both teams attempted 40 shots Sunday with the Black Knights erasing what had been a 21-13 SU advantage in that category at the half. In addition, Army took advantage of three Syracuse penalties by scoring two extra-man goals. The Orange failed to score against the Black Knights when it had the man advantage, going 0-for-3 in the contest.
For Syracuse, the loss snapped its 14-game home winning streak dating back to last season. It also stopped the Orange's 11-game winning streak dating back to a March 7 defeat at Virginia.
Despite the loss, Syracuse recorded at least 10 wins for the 10th time in SU head coach John Desko's 12 seasons. The Orange posted 13 regular-season victories in 2010, the most regular-season wins for the program since 1986, and won the inaugural BIG EAST regular-season championship.
Game Notes: The Orange is now 22-2 all-time in NCAA Tournament games played at the Carrier Dome ... Syracuse's only other Dome playoff loss was in the 1991 NCAA semifinals to North Carolina (19-13) … The defeat also snapped the Orange's five-game overtime winning streak … Prior to Sunday, Syracuse's last OT defeat came against Virginia (11-10) on March 1, 2008 … Junior Joel White assisted on Jamieson's second first-quarter goal … It was his fourth straight game with a point ... Keogh's fourth-quarter goal was the 100th of his career.
