No. 12/13 Cornell Clips No. 4/4 Syracuse In Double OT

Tuesday, April 2

Ithaca, N.Y.

7 p.m.

Syracuse University

9-4 (1-1ACC)

Cornell

6-3 (2-1Ivy)

OT 1

Syracuse

CORNELL

No. 12/13 Cornell Clips No. 4/4 Syracuse In Double OT

4/2/2024 10:06:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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ITHACA, N.Y. – A double-overtime thriller in the century-long series between Syracuse men's lacrosse and Cornell (5-4) resulted in a Big Red victory, 18-17, on Tuesday night at Schoellkopf Field.

After Cornell scored two goals in the final 20 seconds to take a one-goal lead, Syracuse (9-4) midfielder Jake Stevens scooped the ball off the face and found Sam English, who powered towards the goal and scored with one second to go, sending the game into overtime. Each side had opportunities to close it, but it was CJ Kirst who finished the game-ending shot with 47 seconds left in the second overtime.

Joey Spallina quarterbacked the Orange offense with three goals and four assists for a team-high seven points. English (3g) and Owen Hiltz (3g, 2a) each produced hat tricks in the high-scoring affair. Jake Stevens tallied a career-best four assists. Michael Leo (2g), Luke Rhoa (2g), Finn Thomson (2g), Mason Kohn (1g, 1a) and Christian Mulé were the other Orange performers to contribute multi-point games.

Michael Long and CJ Kirst had five goals each to lead the Big Red. Long added four assists for a game-leading nine points.

Tonight's result marks the second time in as many games that Cornell has defeated Syracuse in overtime. The Orange lost to the Big Red in overtime, 16-15, on April 11, 2022. The last 10 games in the series are evenly split, each squad with five wins.

How It Happened

The Orange scored seven straight goals in the first 10:20 of the affair, their fifth run of seven consecutive goals this season.
During the stretch, Hiltz bagged two goals and English, Leo, Spallina, Thomson and Billy Dwan each scored one. Hiltz and Spallina each picked up two assists during the rally.
Kirst netted the first goal for Cornell with 2:18 to go in the first quarter. Long put another on the board for the Big Red with 15 seconds left in the period.
Syracuse picked up two non-releasable penalties at the end of the first quarter that put them down two men for one minute, then man down for two more minutes. Cornell added two goals during the three-minute span, one from Kirst and one from Long.
The Orange responded with back-to-back goals in a 21-second time frame that increased their lead to 9-4 with 11:32 left in the first half. Spallina scored one on his own, then Kohn followed it up off an assist from Carter Rice.
Brendan Staub scored his first goal of the season for the Big Red with 7:35 left before halftime.
Hiltz and Luke Rhoa scored consecutive goals to give the Orange a six-goal lead, 11-5. After a goal from Cornell's AJ Nikolic, 'Cuse netted two more as Thomson and Leo each tallied goals.
The Big Red ended the first half on a 4-1 scoring run that brought the score to 14-10 in favor of Syracuse. During the rally, Spencer Wirtheim scored two goals and dished out an assist, Long added one goal and two assists, and Kirst tallied a man-up goal. English got the lone goal for the Orange in the run and the squads went into the break with 'Cuse ahead 14-10.
Although the first half saw a season-high 24 combined goals, the script flipped in the second half as only 10 goals were scored in the final 30 minutes of regulation.
Spallina got on the board with 9:02 to go in the third quarter. Rhoa followed it up with a goal off a dish from Spallina.
Cornell strung together a seven-goal run spanning from 1:53 in the third period until one second left in the fourth quarter. The 22:57 drought for the Orange was the longest time without a goal this season.
English netted one with one second to go to send the game into overtime. CJ Kirst delivered the dagger that gave Cornell the win.

Up Next
The Orange have finished their nonconference slate and are set to travel to North Carolina on Saturday, April 13. Faceoff is slated for 1 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra. Tickets for men's lacrosse home games can be found at cuse.com/tickets.