SU Rally Comes Up Short At Notre Dame

Saturday, April 28

South Bend, IN

5 p.m.

Syracuse University

#3 Notre Dame

Tommy Palasek assisted on SU's final goal at Notre Dame Saturday.

Photo by: Joe Raymond

4/28/2012 7:58:20 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Score By Period	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Syracuse	0	0	3	3	6
Notre Dame	3	1	2	2	8
Box Score \| Highlights \| Interviews April 28, 2012 \| Arlotta Stadium / South Bend, Ind. \| Attendance: 4,522

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – After failing to score in the first half, No. 17 Syracuse (7-7, 3-3 BIG EAST) recorded six goals after intermission, but came up short in its regular-season finale, losing 8-6 to No. 3 Notre Dame (11-1, 6-0 BIG EAST) on Saturday, April 28 in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,522 at Arlotta Stadium.

The Orange trailed 4-0 at the half, and 6-3 after three quarters before rallying to get within one, 7-6, midway through the final period. Syracuse was never able to tie the game though, and Will Corrigan added an insurance goal for the Irish with 7:10 left to produce the final score and extend Notre Dame's winning streak to 10 games.

Junior JoJo Marasco and senior Bobby Eilers led the Orange with three points each. Marasco finished with two goals and one assist, while Eilers recorded one goal and a career-high tying two assists. Redshirt senior Tim Desko also contributed two goals for the Orange.

The Irish opened up a 3-0 lead after the first quarter on goals by Jim Marlatt, Westy Hopkins and Ryan Foley. In the second quarter, Pat Cotter scored on Notre Dame's only shot of the period to extend the Irish advantage to 4-0 at the break.

The Orange scoring drought reached 37:53 before Desko fired a left-handed laser past Notre Dame goalie John Kemp at the 7:07 mark of the third quarter to get Syracuse on the scoreboard. Senior long-stick middie Joe Moore followed with an unassisted goal in transition to cut the Notre Dame advantage to 4-2.

With the momentum starting to swing Syracuse's way, the Irish responded by scoring two of the third quarter's last three goals, including one by Foley with one-tenth of a second left in the stanza. Foley's last-second goal pushed the Notre Dame lead to 6-3 heading into the fourth quarter.

Marasco and Notre Dame's Sean Rogers traded goals in the first two minutes of the final period. After a nifty between-the-legs score by Desko, and an Eilers' goal closed the gap to 7-6 with 7:43 left in regulation. However, Eilers' tally was the Orange's last of game as Notre Dame's top-ranked defense held Syracuse scoreless the rest of the way.

Seven different players scored for Notre Dame. Only Foley, who had two goals, recorded with more than one. He also added an assist to finish with three points. Rogers (1g, 2a) also had three points for Notre Dame to match Foley for team-high scoring honors.

Kemp made 11 saves for the Irish to earn the win, including seven stops in the first half. His counterpart, Bobby Wardwell, finished with nine saves for Syracuse.

Syracuse outshot the Irish, 31-21, for the game. The Orange also held the advantage in ground balls (26-24) and faceoffs (9-8).

Next up for Syracuse is the Villanova Wildcats. The Orange and Wildcats meet at 7 p.m. in the semifinals of the inaugural BIG EAST Championship on Thursday, May 3 at Villanova Stadium. Syracuse is the No. 3 seed for the tournament, while host Villanova is the No. 2 seed. Thursday's game will air live on ESPN3 (Internet only) and tape-delayed on ESPNU at 11 p.m.

Game Notes: The Irish finished unbeaten in BIG EAST play for the first time to win the conference regular-season championship outright … Marasco extended his point-scoring streak to 22 games … The loss was Syracuse's first to Notre Dame … The Orange is now 5-1 all-time against the Irish.