Orange Pick Up 9-8 Road Win at St. John's

Saturday, March 11

Queens, NY

1 p.m.

Syracuse University

4-1, 1-0ACC

St. John's

1-5, 0-0BIG EAST

Syracuse

St. John's

Photo by: Tyler Cady

3/11/2017 4:53:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score CuseTV - Desko Discusses St. John's CuseTV - Mariano Discusses St. John's CuseTV - Jordan Evans Postgame CuseTV - Nick Mariano Postgame

Mariano records five points in win

The No. 8 Syracuse men's lacrosse team (4-1, 1-0 ACC) jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter after tallying five goals in just over a six-minute span over St. John's (1-5) on Saturday. However, the Red Storm clawed all the way back to pull within one late, making 'Cuse stave off a late rally to earn a 9-8 win in its fourth-straight one-goal game.

The Orange were led by a five-point effort from Nick Mariano, who had a hand in five of the Orange's first-eight goals with two goals and three assists. Evan Molloy was solid in net as well, stopping nine shots. Ben Williams won 13-of-20 face offs while scoring a goal and adding an assist and Brendan Bomberry posted a hat trick.

"We came down here in our first road game and I thought we were very sloppy and didn't take care of the ball today," said head coach John Desko. "We made a lot of errors that I don't like to make this time of year with 15 turnovers. Fortunately, St. John's had just as many turnovers as we did today. All in all, I thought we settled down in the fourth quarter and had enough good possessions to hold onto the lead.

"Our defense hung tough at the end, a lot of good lacrosse teams got beat today and we could have been one of them but we hung tough at the end and came away with the W and that's what's important."

Brad Voigt got the Orange on the board at the 9:16 mark of the first half on a pass from Mariano. It was one of a pair goals from Voigt on the day, which was the first multi-goal game of his career.

Mariano then chipped in his first of the day just 36 seconds later before Ben Williams and Jordan Evans connected on the two ensuing faceoffs. With Wiliams burying a feed from Evans and Evans finishing a Williams pass for the third and fourth goals respectively. The Orange's first-four goals came in a one minute span.

Mariano then made it 5-0 on a pass from Sergio Salcido with 3:25 left in the first. But 'Cuse would only score once more between that goal and the end of the third quarter.

Joe Madson and Scott Scannell from the Red Storm potted back-to-back goals to pull back within three, but Brendan Bomberry scored his first of two on the day with 9:05 remaining before halftime.

St. John's followed that with three straight after Nick Heller scored a man-up goal, and Colin Duffy scored with 1:35 left until halftime to pull St. John's within two heading into the locker room.

Joe Madsen scored the first goal of the second half until Bomberry ended a 24-minute drought with seven seconds left in the third when Mariano found him wide open near the doorstep.

Duffy pulled the Johnnies back within a goal with 13:34 remaining, but back-to-back goals from Voigt and Bomberry gave 'Cuse it's largest lead since the first quarter with 5:25 to play.

St. John's added two more off the stick of Heller and Jackson O'Leary, but stingy defense on the last possession of the game allowed the Orange to hold off the comeback and pick up their fourth win of the season.

Syracuse will next continue its storied rivalry with Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field on Saturday, March 18 at 4 p.m. That game will be broadcast on ESPN3 and TK99/105.