May 29, 2004

Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. -- Syracuse graduate student Kevin Dougherty scored three of his game-high five goals during an 8-1 game-ending run and the fourth-seeded Orange out-scored top-seeded Johns Hopkins, 9-4 in the second half as Syracuse rolled past the Blue Jays, 15-9 in front of 46,923 in the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Semifinals Saturday afternoon. Syracuse advances to its fifth championship game in the last six years, where the Orange will meet second-seeded Navy, which beat Princeton, 8-7 in the other semifinals. Johns Hopkins had its eight-game winning streak snapped and ends the season at 13-2.

The Blue Jays, who had struggled to find a rhythm in the first half, appeared to have found their stride in the third quarter, when they scored three of the first four goals to turn a 6-5 deficit into an 8-7 lead on Greg Peyser's unassisted goal with 4:36 remaining in the period. It was the only Blue Jay lead of the game and it lasted just 80 seconds.

Greg Rommel scooped up a loose ball off a scramble in front of the Blue Jay bench and drove to the goal, where he beat JHU goalie Scott Smith to forge the seventh and final tie of the game as SU would score three times in the final 2:07 of the period to take what would prove to be an insurmountable 11-8 lead into the final period. Dougherty picked the far corner to open the three-goal spree and Brett Bucktooth made it 10-8 when he blew a shot past Smith after Syracuse senior attackman Mike Powell found him with stunning cross-field pass above the Blue Jay defense after beating a double team.

Powell and Dougherty both scored in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to all but seal the win for the Orange. Powell drove to the goal from the side and beat Smith with a quick flip inside the near post with a defender all over him at the 12:07 mark and Dougherty tallied 70 seconds later to make it 13-8. Kyle Harrison finally stopped the run with his second goal of the game at the 8:48 mark, but that would be the final goal of the season for JHU and Dougherty and Brain Nee would add goals in the final five minutes to account for the final scoring.

A back-and-forth first half saw Syracuse take a 6-5 lead into intermission. The Orange outshot the Blue Jays, 15-7 in the first quarter and led 4-2 after back-to-back goals by Nee in a span just over 90 seconds. The Blue Jays tied the game with back-to-back goals of their own midway through the second quarter as senior Conor Ford tallied an extra-man goal and junior midfielder Matt Rewkowski scored the second of his three goals with 5:48 remaining. Nee's third goal of the first half came 36 seconds after Rewkowski's and was the third extra-man goal of the first half for SU. Rewkowski answered with his second extra-man goal of the half with 1:42 remaining, but Powell found Dougherty on a nice cut and Dougherty found the net for the second time in the first half with 47 seconds left in the second quarter to give SU the 6-5 halftime lead. JHU outshot SU, 17-8 in the second quarter but outscored the Orange just 3-2 in the period.

In last season's semifinals the Blue Jays also trailed Syracuse by a goal at the half. A Harrison goal just 25 seconds into the third quarter ignited what would be a 13-1 scoring surge for JHU that lifted the Blue Jays to a 19-8 win. Today, Harrison needed just 24 seconds to tie the score as he came up with the loose ball of a long scramble on the faceoff and raced into the Syracuse zone, where he beat Orange goalie Jay Pfeifer from 10 yards out. Ford and Rommel then traded the next two goals to make it 7-7 before Peyser gave JHU its short-lived lead.

Dougherty (5 goals) and Nee (4 goals) led the goal-scoring barrage for Syracuse, which became the first team in 27 games to score more than 10 goals against Johns Hopkins (dating to a 15-14 SU win over the Blue Jays during the 2003 regular season). Powell added a goal and three assists and Rommel added the two goals. Freshman Danny Brennan had perhaps the biggest effect on the game as he won 16-of-26 faceoffs to repeatedly give SU possession. In Hopkins' 17-5 win over the Orange earlier this season the Blue Jays had won 20-of-24 faceoffs.

Rewkowski led the way for the Blue Jays with his three goals, while Ford and Harrison added two and senior Kevin Boland chipped with three assists. Smith registered 14 saves (one shy of his career) for the Blue Jays, but SU held a 45-37 advantage in shots, won the ground ball war, 34-32 and used Brennan's dominance on faceoffs to control the possession battle as well.

Ford's two goals give him 101 and he ends his career tied with Richie Hirsch (1974-77) for 11th on JHU's career goal-scoring charts. Boland's three assists give him a Johns Hopkins' record 21 in NCAA Tournament games. He had entered the game one behind Mike O'Neill (1975-78) on the all-time list.

#4 Syracuse (14-2) 4-2-5-4/15

#1 Johns Hopkins (13-2) 2-3-3-1/9

Goals: S: Dougherty-5, Nee-4, Rommel-2, Powell, Vallone, Lindsay, Bucktooth. J: Rewkowski-3, Harrison-2, Ford-2, Byrne, Peyser. Assists: S: Powell-3, Vallone-2, Lykudis. J: Boland-3, Erwin, LeSueur. Saves: S: Pfeifer-13, J: Smith-14. EMO: S: 3-for-6. J: 3-for-4. Attendance: 46,923.

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