Orange Men Hold On To Topple Army West Point 9-8

By James Anderson

Photos by Kerry Bretti

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse men’s lacrosse team got all it could handle Sunday afternoon, but hung on to a 9-8 victory over Army West Point at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse goalie William Hill made the difference in the closing seconds, getting a piece of a Cole Johnson screamer, a last chance attempt for the Black Knights to tie it and send it to overtime. Instead, Hill’s deflection, and the post, kept a tying goal off the board and sealed the victory for the Orange.

"I actually felt it hit off the tip of my stick, but as soon as i heard it hit off the pipe, I got scared for a second there." said Hill. "But it popped out and luckily it didn't go in." Asked to clarify if it hit his stick first, he added, "Yeah, it just nicked off the top...yeah, it was the best feeling ever."

Hill had ten saves on the day for No. 3 Syracuse, with Derek DeJoe and Sergio Salcido both recording two goals for the Orange. Connor Cook led the goal charge for Army West Point with two. It was Tim Barber’s fourth goal of the season that was the difference maker with 3:27 left, putting the Orange back into the lead and starting off the finishing sequence, with Syracuse trying to hang on and the Black Knights furiously attacking. Army scooped a ground ball with two minutes to go, and unleashed two shot attempts, before turning it over at :49 to Syracuse. The Orange could not run out the clock, and led to a frenetic final 20 seconds.

Army Starts Off Strong, But Syracuse Locks Down 2^nd Quarter

The Black Knights jumped out to the early 3-1 advantage, with goals from Johnson, Cook and Tim Coll pacing them in the first quarter. DeJoe and Dylan Donahue countered with goals for Syracuse, but trailed 3-2 at the end of the period.

"It took us a little while to adjust to that, fortunately, some of these guys made some big plays and made some good shots, enough of them anyways, to put us in position to win the game." Syracuse head coach John Desko said. 

The second quarter belonged to the Orange, however. Hill locked down with three of his ten saves on the day in the period, and Syracuse ripped off three goals to swoop in front of the Black Knights. Nick Mariano, DeJoe and Salcido notched the scores, and the Orange went into halftime having adjusting to Army and taking command.

Up and Down 3^rd Quarter Leads To Stalemate

Syracuse carried that momentum directly into the second half, extending to its biggest lead of four with Salcido and Nate Solomon connecting in the first minute of play. Army stayed resilient, and started up a run of its own. Strikes from Jimbo Moore, Conor Glancy and Ted Glesener narrowed the deficit to one, 7-6, at 8:25 in the third. It led to a drought of nearly eight minutes until Jordan Evans of Syracuse broke through with a tally to put the Orange back up two at the end of 3. All told, both teams ended up with three goals each in the period after runs from both squads.

"As we knew, they were gonna keep playing in the 2nd half," Desko said. "We became a little bit comfortable, being up by four goals in the third period, and as expected Army crawled back into the game and ending up tying it up and turning it into a game that could have gone either way." 

Photo Finish

Army’s Cook and Nate Jones got into the action and tied up the contest with goals, setting the stage for the final few minutes and the tight finish. For Syracuse, it was a completely different offensive output than against Albany the week prior; Syracuse outshot the Great Danes 59-25; however, it was the Black Knights outshooting the Orange 34-30. But the four extra shots from Army West Point were not enough, especially the last shot of the 34, bouncing off of Hill and the post and sailing away.

Notes

Syracuse and Army West Point have a long history with each other, dating back to their first matchup in 1921. In fact, the Black Knights lead the series against the Orange 39-24, including Sunday’s Syracuse victory. And the winner of that first matchup in ’21 was Syracuse, 6-5.

Syracuse improved to 3-0 for the young season, as Army West Point evened out to 2-2. It is a slightly shorter week for the Orange men, as they host travel to Charlottesville to take on ACC foe Virginia at 5:30 Friday.