Last Minute Effort Not Enough, Syracuse Loses 16-15 to Johns Hopkins in NCAA Quarterfinals

Story & Photo By Robin Deehan

ANNAPOLIS, MD. -- The No. 1 Syracuse men’s lacrosse team beat No. 10 Johns Hopkins in shots, ground balls and face-offs, but missed where it really mattered.

“We won the score,” Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala said with a smile. “We got the saves that we needed to keep them to 15 [goals] and if we’re not getting ground balls and we’re not winning face-offs, we needed to have possession.”

Despite a late game scoring surge, the Orange men saw their season cut short at Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis on Sunday afternoon with a 16-15 loss to the Blue Jays in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.

"My hat is off to the Blue Jays," Syracuse head coach John Desko said. "I thought they played an excellent game today.

"I'm proud of our guys for coming back the way they did. I think a lot of teams would have looked up at the scoreboard and said the game was over. There was 30 seconds to go or so and we still had a shot to tie it up. I thought we played with a lot of heart. That being said, we're obviously disappointed that we aren't playing next week."

First Half: The Orange Fights for the Lead

Wells Stanwick started scoring off early and often for the Blue Jays, netting three goals in the first ten minutes of play.

But Henry Schoonmaker, Nicky Galasso, and Randy Staats each chipped in with one for Syracuse to close out first quarter scoring with the teams tied at three.

The Blue Jays opened up the second quarter taking the lead right back on goals from Joel Tinney and John Crawley.

Dylan Donahue took matters into his own hands, scoring off a Kevin Rice feed,  then found Ryan Simmons on the next play to even the score back up at five.

The Orange and Blue Jays traded goals before Donahue netted his second of the game making it 7-6 and giving Syracuse its first lead of the day.

Unfortunately for the Orange, that was the only lead it had all day.

Second Half Surge: Too Little Too Late

Hopkins opened the second half with four straight goals and outscored the Orange five to one in the third quarter, including an impressive sprint and diving shot from Wells Stanwick as time ran out.

As the ball crossed the line the scoreboard showed the time at 00:00 but the goal stood and Stanwick’s fourth of the game put Hopkins up 11-8 with the final 15 minutes still to play.

Rice found the back of the cage for the first time all game in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter on a feed from Galasso.

But goals from Holden Cattoni, Cody Radziewicz and Wells' younger brother Shack Stanwick saw the Blue Jays extend their lead to five with just under four minutes to play.

Galasso and Staats scored 29 seconds apart, chipping away at the Hopkins lead, but Ryan Brown scored on an empty net with what looked like the final dagger in the Orange with under two minutes to play.

A suddenly relentless Syracuse attack wasn’t done yet.

Rice and Schoonmaker scored 22 seconds apart to bring the Orange to within two.

On the ensuing face-off, Hopkins was called for a violation resulting in an extra man opportunity for Syracuse.

The Orange exploited the man-up and with just 23 seconds left to play Rice netted his third to make it a one-goal game.

But it would be the last goal either team would score, as Syracuse face-off specialist Ben Williams lost the final, and most important one.

Syracuse jarred the ball loose and SU's Brandon Mullins picked it up with eight second left but the Orange couldn't get it downfield for a shot. As time expired the Blue Jays stormed the field to celebrate advancing to the NCAA Final Four at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on May 23.

“We just needed that urgency earlier in the game,” Rice said.

Stanwick, Stanwick & Schneider

Brothers Wells and Shack Stanwick finished with six points apiece on four goals and two assists for Johns Hopkins.

Goalie Eric Schneider was sensational between the pipes for the Blue Jays making 15 saves, preventing the Orange from finding their usual stride.

The Blue Jay defense frustrated Syracuse for much of the game and Hopkins capitalized on 12 Orange turnovers.

“Probably a couple more [turnovers] than what you would like to get in a game like this,” Desko said. “Disappointed, a game like this, we know it’s going to be tight.”

  

Orange Playmakers

Rice, Galasso, Donahue and Staats finished with three goals apiece for Syracuse.

“You know what, we talk about it all the time is about defending the knowns,” Pietramala said. “The knowns were Rice, Donahue, Galasso and Staats, three, three, three and three. I guess we didn’t do a good job of defending the knowns today.”

Rice also dished out four assists and Donahue and Galasso chipped in with two each.

Schoonmaker finished with a pair of goals and Simmons had one.

Williams put forth a valiant effort at the X winning 22 of 34 face-offs and goalkeeper Bobby Wardwell finished with a career high 16 saves.

 

Up Next

The Orange finished the 2015 campaign with an ACC title and a record of 13-3.

Johns Hopkins (11-6) will take on Maryland next weekend in Philadelphia; the other bracket includes Notre Dame and Denver.

The winners play in the NCAA National Championship game on Memorial Day.