CHARLOTTE, NC – Ninth-ranked Syracuse used a four-goal run in a four-minute span that bridged the third and fourth quarters to turn an 8-8 tie into a 12-8 lead and the Orange held off a furious rally by fourth-ranked Johns Hopkins to pull out a 14-13 victory in the Crown Lacrosse Classic Saturday evening.  The win improves the Orange to 6-2 on the year, while the Blue Jays slip to 5-2.
 
Syracuse had used a 5-1 third-quarter-opening run to turn a 4-3 halftime deficit into an 8-5 lead midway through the period, only to have the Blue Jays pull even on strikes from Dylan Bauer, Garrett Degnon and Jimmy Ayers in a span of less than four minutes. 

The Orange jump-started the four-goal run that gave them the lead for good one minute after Ayers' goal as Luke Rhoa scored with a flag down to ignite the spree.  The 9-8 lead was 11-8 by the end of the period after Finn Thomson and Michael Leo scored in the final 1:38 – the final three goals of the period were all assisted by Joey Spallina.
 
The Orange had the only four-goal lead of the game at 12-8 just 56 seconds into the fourth quarter as Sam English dodged hard from the wing and scored from in tight to cap the four-goal spurt.
 
As quickly as the lead jumped to four, it was cut in half as a Hunter Jaronski goal at the 11:19 mark was followed by the fourth of the game from Degnon 42 seconds later off a nice skip pass from Jacob Angelus.
 
The goals from Jaronski and Degnon were the first two of five that would be scored in a wild 83-second span as Jake Stevens answered Degnon's tally in just nine seconds, only to have Bauer score off the ensuing faceoff off a feed from freshman Quintan Kilrain.
 
A crucial faceoff violation penalty on the Blue Jays after Bauer's goal gave the Orange a 30-second extra-man opportunity and Stevens cashed in 28 seconds later to give the Orange a 14-11 lead with 9:46 on the clock.
 
The pace slowed after the five-goal flurry and the three-goal Syracuse lead held for six minutes before Degnon got his hands free on the wing and fired home his fifth of the game with 3:46 remaining.  The Blue Jays would win the ensuing faceoff and draw a slashing penalty with 2:40 to play and then trim the deficit to 14-13 on a Matt Collison extra-man goal with 2:31 to play.

Syracuse won the ensuing faceoff and ran the clock down before getting a shot clock reset on a shot off the post.  The Blue Jays would eventually force a shot clock violation in the final 15 seconds, but a turnover near midfield as time was winding down sealed the win for the Orange.
 
A first half that saw the teams combine for 41 shots netted just seven goals with the Blue Jays carrying a 4-3 lead into the break.  The Orange led 3-1 late in the first quarter, but the Blue Jay defense would hold the Orange scoreless for the remainder of the half and Degnon wrapped his first two goals of the game around a Hunter Chauvette goal to account for the 4-3 halftime score.
 
Goals from Spallina and Mule in a 31-second span early in the third quarter jump-started the 5-1 half-opening run for the Orange.  As it turned out, those were the first two of 20 second-half goals the teams would combine for in what would eventually become the 15^th one-goal game the teams have played since 1995.
 
Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• Degnon's five goals were one shy of his career high and extended his goal-scoring streak to 37 games.  The 37 game-run is tied for the longest in school history (Terry Riordan (1992-95) & Ryan Brown (2013-16)).  His five-point night also pushed him past the 150-point mark in his career (136g + 18a = 154 points).
• Collison (2g, 1a), Bauer (2g, 1a) and Jacob Angelus (3a) all added three-point nights and 10 different Blue Jays would net at least one point in the game.
• Chayse Ierlan posted 15 saves in goal – this is his second straight game with 15+ saves.
 
Inside the Box Score – Syracuse
• Mason Kohn was 18-of-25 on faceoffs and had a game-high 11 ground balls.
• Spallina led the Orange with two goals and four assists for six points, while Owen Hiltz (2g, 3a) and Mule (3g) teamed with him on attack to combine for seven goals and seven assists.
• The Orange outshot the Blue Jays 46-36 and won the ground ball battle 33-25.
 
Up Next
Johns Hopkins will return to Homewood Field for the first time since February 17 as the Blue Jays welcome Navy to Homewood Field on Friday, March 15 (7 pm).