March 14, 2009

Box Score

SYRACUSE, NY - The second-ranked Syracuse men's lacrosse team used a 6-0 first-half run and a 5-1 second half run to pull away from visiting Johns Hopkins en route to a 14-11 victory in front of 9,197 fans at the Carrier Dome Saturday afternoon. The win is the third straight for Syracuse against the Blue Jays and improves the Orange to 4-1 on the year. Johns Hopkins slips to 3-2 with the loss.

Hopkins jumped out to a 3-1 lead less than six minutes into the game as the Blue Jays scored on each of their first three shots. A Brian Christopher goal at the 11:30 mark was answered just over a minute later by Dan Hardy, but it took just 62 seconds for the Blue Jays to take the 3-1 lead as Steven Boyle scored on a sneaky shot after working from behind the goal and Kyle Wharton scored off the ensuing faceoff as Matt Dolente won the draw cleanly and fed Boyle, who found Wharton on the backside for the easy goal.

The Orange answered with the 6-0 run that turned the 3-1 deficit into a 7-3 lead. Jeff Gilbert, Josh Amidon and Pat Perritt all scored before the end of the first quarter to give the Orange a 4-3 lead. Scott Kahoe assisted on the first two of the goals by Gilbert and Amidon. The deficit could have been worse for the Blue Jays at the end of the first period as the Orange held a 19-3 advantage in shots, but junior Michael Gvozden posted six first-quarter saves to keep it close.

Syracuse needed just over three minutes of the second quarter to push the lead out to 7-3 as the Orange excelled in transition and fed off the crowd. Senior Kenny Nims was on the back-end of a nice hesitation dodge by Perritt, who found him alone two yards from the crease to make it 5-3 and Matt Abbott pushed the lead to 6-3 with a nice ally dodge, hesitation and go just over a minute after Nims' goal. When Nims found Tim Dekso alone on the doorstep 18 seconds later the Orange had their biggest lead of the first half.

The Blue Jays halted the run and hopped back into the game as Wharton and Christopher scored back-to-back goals in a two-minute span midway through the second quarter to cut the deficit to 7-5. Wharton scored in transition after a Gvozden save and Christopher swept across the field 12 yards in front of the goal and blew a 12-yarder past John Galloway.

Nims collected his third assist of the first half when he found Spencer Van Shaack four yards in front of the goal in an unsettled situation to push the lead to 8-5 at the half.

The Blue Jays won the opening faceoff of the third quarter and had four shots before Galloway robbed Chris Boland on the doorstep to end a long JHU possession. That would prove to be a turning point as Syracuse would score two goals in a span of just over two minutes to stretch the lead to 10-5. Amidon and Abbott scored the goals for Syracuse before Boland found junior Mike Kimmel alone on the side of the goal and Kimmel beat Galloway from in tight to make it 10-6 at the end of the third.

Any hopes for a Blue Jay comeback were dashed in the first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter as Syracuse cashed in three times before Hopkins rallied late to account for the 14-11 final.

Abbott found Perritt alone behind the defense with a crossfield pass and Perritt dropped down and beat a defenseless Gvozden with a low-to-high shot from a tough angle. Stephen Keogh then scored back-to-back goals, including one while the Orange had the extra man, to stretch the lead out to a 13-6.

The Blue Jays made a late run with five goals in the final 4:04. Boland and senior Mark Bryan scored from in tight - both on assists from Wharton - in a 27-second span to make it 13-8 and Boyle, Boland and senior Austin Walker answered another Amidon tally in the final 1:30.

Amidon led the Orange with his three goals, while Abbott (2g, 2a), Nims (1g, 3a), Keogh (2g) and Perritt (2g) helped lead an offense that fired 45 shots and featured nine different goal-scorers. Galloway posted five saves in goal for Syracuse, including three in the third quarter that helped Syracuse maintain then build on its 8-5 halftime lead.

The loss overshadowed the efforts of Govzen and sophomore Matt Dolente, who defied all odds by playing in the game less than two weeks after suffering what was thought to be an injury that would keep him out at least a month. Gvozden posted 15 saves, the fifth-highest total of his career, while Dolente's gutty effort included a 15-of-24 showing on faceoffs with six ground balls. His 15 faceoff wins are a career-high.

Wharton matched his career-high with five points on two goals and a personal-best three assists. Boland (2g, 2a), Boyle (2g) and Christopher (2g, 1a) were JHU's other multi-point scorers, but the Blue Jays couldn't overcome Syracuse's balanced attack and advantage on ground balls (30-22).

The road doesn't get any easier for the Blue Jays, who host top-ranked and undefeated Virginia next Saturday at Homewood Field.