'Cuse Tops Albany & Thompson Trio

Story and Photos by: Mason Walling

            The second ranked (Inside Lacrosse)Syracuse men's lacrosse team survived a thriller Sunday as downing number eleven Albany in overtime by a score of 17-16 at the Carrier Dome.

            “This could come down to whoever has the ball last, and fortunately we had the ball last,” Head Coach John Desko said.

            The victory is a bit of redemption for Syracuse, which lost to Albany a year ago in double overtime.

Henry Schoonmaker was the hero for the Orange as he scored the game-winning goal 28 seconds into the overtime period. Schoonmaker scored both the first and the last goal of the game, in what were his first two points of the season.

“I think this is my first time that I’ve got an overtime goal,” Schoonmaker said, “I’ve tied it up before, but never got the overtime.”

            In the first quarter, the Orange jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead behind goals from Schoonmaker, Matt Harris, Dylan Donahue, and two from Billy Ward.  However, it didn’t take long for the Thompson trio – brothers Miles and Lyle Thompson, along with cousin Ty Thompson – to bring the Great Danes back into the game.

 

            The two teams traded goals until Donahue scored with 6:30 remaining in the first half to put Syracuse up 8-5.  The Danes would go on to score four goals unanswered to take the lead 9-8.  Randy Staats ended the night with five goals for SU, one of which came just seconds before halftime knotting the game up at nine a piece.

            The second half saw more of the same back and forth, as the game was tied at eleven midway through the third.  From that point, Syracuse went on a five goal tear capped off by a Staats hidden ball trick score.

            Just as the crowd thought the Orange had secured a win, the Great Danes came storming back with five goals of their own.  Ty Thompson scored the fourth goal while the Great Danes were playing a man down to bring Albany within one, and John Maloney fired the shot that tied the game at 16.

            With inside a minute to play and Albany on offense, Miles Thompson got off a shot that was saved by Bobby Wardwell and scooped up by Tom Grimm.  Syracuse called a timeout with twelve seconds left in the contest, but failed to get a shot off on a designed isolation play for Hakeem Lecky.

     “We had ten one-goal games last year,” Coach Desko added, “And if you are watching the basketball team, we aren’t trying to mimic them.”

            For the Great Danes, Ty Thompson finished with five goals, while Lyle and Miles each scored one goal and had five and two assists, respectively.  John Maloney added three goals, and Ryan Feuerstein ended with two.

            The Orange were led by Staats’ five goals, followed by three apiece for Donahue and Ward, and two for Schoonmaker and Scott Loy.

            Syracuse improves to 2-0 on the season and will kick off ACC competition by hosting Maryland on Saturday, February 22^nd.

For highlights and post-game, click here!