March 15, 2008

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Senior midfielder Steven Brooks' (Libertyville, IL/Libertyville) fourth goal of the game 37 seconds into overtime capped a wild comeback for the fifth-ranked Syracuse men's lacrosse team as the Orange stunned fourth-ranked Johns Hopkins 14-13 at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. Syracuse, which scored the final four goals of the game after the Blue Jays took a 13-10 lead midway through the fourth quarter and won at Homewood Field for the first time since 1998, improves to 4-1 with the victory while the Blue Jays dropped their second straight and slip to 3-2.

The Blue Jays led 12-9 with 11:51 remaining after a George Castle (Glenside, PA/Penn Charter) goal and still held a three-goal lead at 13-10 after Stephen Peyser (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Cold Spring Harbor) scored on an ally dodge with 8:01 remaining, but the Orange needed just 12 seconds to answer Peyser's goal and Hopkins never scored again. Junior Matt Abbott (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham) scored off the faceoff after Peyser's goal and Dan Hardy (Tully, NY/Tully) punched one home from in tight less than two minutes later to make it a 13-12 game with 6:01 remaining. That lead held for just under four minutes when the Orange made the Blue Jays pay for one of their 14 turnovers. Freshman Joel White (Cortland, NY/Cortland) stripped Paul Rabil (Gaithersburg, MD/DeMatha) of the ball and John Carrozza (Katonah, NY/John Jay) started a fast-break the other way. Carrozza carried into the Blue Jay zone and found junior Kenny Nims (Watertown, NY/Watertown), who beat Blue Jay goalie Michael Gvozden (Millersville, MD/Severna Park) up high with the equalizer.

Syracuse faceoff specialist Danny Brennan (Farmingdale, NY/Farmingdale) won the opening faceoff in overtime and the Orange worked the ball to Brooks at the top of the box. After starting to his right, he worked back to his left and bounced a shot past Gvozden from 10 yards out for the game-winner. Just like last week's loss at Hofstra, the Blue Jays never had an offensive possession in overtime.

Brooks scored the first two Syracuse goals of the game as he answered tallies by Steven Boyle (Derry, NH/Pinkerton Academy) and Michael Kimmel (Towson, MD/Loyola) in the opening eight minutes. His second goal with 7:20 remaining in the opening quarter would be the last the Orange would score for nearly 20 minutes as the Blue Jays built a 6-2 lead with a 4-0 run. Back-to-back unassisted goals by second-line midfielders Austin Walker (Dix Hills, NY/Half Hollow Hills West) and Brian Christopher (Springfield, PA/Springfield) in a three-minute span early in the second quarter made it 4-2 and Kevin Huntley (Towson, MD/Calvert Hall) and Rabil added goals in a five-minute span to give the Blue Jays the four-goal lead late in the quarter.

The Orange needed just over two minutes to fire off a three-goal run to pull within 6-5 at the half. Back-to-back unassisted goals by Mike Leveille (Delmar, NY/Albany Academy) 66 seconds apart and a Greg Niewieroski (Watertown, NY/Watertown) tally off an assist from Leveille with just 41 seconds left in the second quarter made it a one-goal game at intermission. The score could have been higher at the half if not the play for Gvozden and Syracuse goalie John Galloway (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee). Gvozden made six save before the half and Galloway made eight stops in the opening two quarters.

The one-goal lead for the Blue Jays held at the end of the third quarter as both teams scored four times in the period. Again, each rally by the Blue Jays was answered by Syracuse. Hopkins scored three of the first four goals in the second half as Huntley scored twice and freshman Kyle Wharton (Boothwyn, NY/Haverford School) added an extra-man goal with 10:48 remaining with only a Jovan Miller (Syracuse, NY/Christian Brothers Academy) goal in that time for the Orange as the Blue Jays pushed out to a 9-6 lead. SU trimmed the deficit to 9-8 with back-to-back goals by Brendan Loftus (Watertown, NY/Immaculate Heart Central) and Brooks, but a Boyle steal off a clear attempt led to another Huntley goal with 1:07 remaining to make it 10-8. That lead held until just 12 seconds remained in the period when Miller was on the backside of a misfired pass inside from Leveille and Miller beat Gvozden from eight yards out.

Again the Blue Jays would score three of the first four goals in a period as Peyser book-ended a 3-1 run to open the period with a 12-yard laser 41 seconds into the fourth quarter and the ally dodge six minutes later. Castle and Leveille traded goals between the two Peyser tallies and that set the stage for Abbott's goal that ignited the late-game Syracuse rally.

Leveille paced the Orange with six points on three goals and three assists and Brooks added the four goals to help lead the way for Syracuse. Galloway posted 10 saves in goal for Syracuse, which got another standout performance from Brennan on faceoffs. Brennan entered the game as the nation's top faceoff specialist and didn't disappoint as he won 18-of-27 with three ground balls.

Huntley scored four goals (on four shots) and added an assist, while Kimmel had the one goal and tied his career with three assists. Peyser scored two goals, won 9-of-22 faceoffs and grabbed a game-high 10 ground balls. Boyle, Rabil and Christopher all added one goal and one assist for the Blue Jays, who won the ground ball battle (38-34), but were outshot 40-33 and lost 19-of-31 faceoffs. Gvozden posted 11 saves in goal for Hopkins.

The Blue Jays return to action next Saturday at Virginia, while Syracuse hosts Binghamton next Saturday.

#5 Syracuse (4-1) 2-3-4-4-1/14
#4 Johns Hopkins (3-2) 2-4-4-3-0/13

Goals: S: Brooks-4, Leveille-3, Miller-2, Loftus, Hardy, Abbott, Nims, Niewieroski. J: Huntley-4, Peyser-2, Kimmel, Rabil, Boyle, Christopher, Walker, Wharton, Castle. Assists: S: Leveille-3, Carrozza, Hardy, Loftus, Perritt. J: Kimmel-3, Boyle, Christopher, Huntley, Rabil. Saves: S: Galloway-10. J: Gvozden-11. Shots: S-40. J-33. EMO: S: 1-for-2. J: 2-for-2. Attendance: 3,563.

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