March 18, 2005

Box Score

SYRACUSE, NY - Junior midfielder Greg Peyser scored his third goal of the game 2:26 into overtime to lift the top-ranked Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team to a stunning, 12-11 win over host Syracuse Friday night. The Blue Jays scored the final two goals of regulation and then got Peyser's game-winner to complete their biggest comeback since the 1999 season-opener.

A game-winning goal appeared to be the last thing JHU would get as the Orange dominated the first half and sprinted out to a 7-1 lead late in the second quarter. Freshman Mike Leveille scored three of his game-high five goals during the opening spree for SU, which outshot the Blue Jays, 19-4 in the first quarter and 29-16 in the first half.

Freshman Paul Rabil started the Blue Jays on the comeback trail with the first two of his career-high four goals in a span of just over a minute late in the second quarter to trim the deficit to 7-3 at the half.

Rabil pulled the Blue Jays to within 7-4 with his third consecutive goal at the 5:40 mark of the third quarter and Peyser netted the first of his three goals 59 seconds later to make it 7-5. Greg Rommel stopped the run with his second goal of the game with 3:43 remaining in the third quarter, but Kyle Harrison and Jake Byrne both scored in the final 2:25 of the period to make it 8-7 Syracuse entering the fourth quarter.

Leveille sandwiched a pair of goals around another Harrison tally before the fourth quarter was four minutes old to make it 10-8 before Hopkins senior Joe Malo scored his first career goal with 7:44 remaining to make it 10-9.

Jarett Park scored what proved to be the final goal of the game for Syracuse with 6:37 remaining after splitting through three defenders and bouncing a shot past Hopkins goal Jesse Schwartzman.

Peyser again made it a one-goal game with 5:11 remaining as he drove to the goal, spun and picked the corner with a left-handed shot that eluded Syracuse goalie Jay Pfeifer. Rabil forced the extra session with his fourth goal of the game as he drove in from the side and beat Pfeifer up high.

Hopkins won the opening faceoff of overtime, but Pfeifer stuffed Harrison in close. Schwartzman came up with his best save of the game a minute later as Brett Bucktooth had an open shot from 12 yards that was ticketed for the lower corner stick side. After the Blue Jays called timeout to set up a play, Peyser worked his way to Pfeifer's right, where he fired one just inside the post for the game-winner.

Hopkins, which last erased a six-goal defecit to win in the 1999 season-opener against Princeton (trailed 9-3, won 12-11), was led by Rabil (4 goals), Peyser (3g) and Harrison (2g, 3a). Schwartzman posted nine saves for the Blue Jays, who won 14-of-27 faceoffs.

Leveille's five goals are a career-high and led the Orange, while Rommel added two goals and one assist. Pfeifer posted 14 saves for Syracuse, which outshot the Blue Jays, 44-39.

The game was the sixth straight between Johns Hopkins and Syracuse at the Carrier Dome that has been decided by one goal. The teams have split those six games with JHU winning two of the last three.

Johns Hopkins will return to action next Saturday when the Blue Jays host second-ranked Virginia at 1:00 pm.