Men's Lacrosse Downs Syracuse in 20-15 Thriller
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March 4, 2006
Charlottesville, Va. – Virginia used a 9-1 run to turn an early deficit into a five-goal lead and roll to a 20-15 win over Syracuse Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 4038 at Klöckner Stadium. The win is Virginia’s first home win over the Orange in 10 years and its second in a row in the series. The Cavaliers improve to 5-0 this season, while Syracuse falls to 1-1.
The win is also Virginia’s 15th in a row, which ties a school record. In addition, with losses by Johns Hopkins and Duke at home, the Cavaliers own the nation’s longest home winning streak.
Matt Poskay, Ben Rubeor, Drew Thompson and Matt Ward all scored three goals apiece to lead the Virginia offense as the Cavaliers reached the 20-goal mark for the second game in a row, the first time since 1997 that has occurred.
The visitors from upstate scored 46 seconds in as Dan Hardy found Brett Bucktooth alone in front for the game’s first score. Bucktooth’s goal on the game’s first shot gave an early glimpse of the high-scoring potential of both teams. Virginia’s Matt Ward answered for the Cavaliers less than a minute later. Joe Yevoli tallied the first of his three goals in the quarter to put the Orange ahead with less than five minutes gone.
The seesaw scoring continued the rest of the first quarter. Ben Rubeor returned to action after missing two games and scored the first of his three goals following Yevoli’s goal. Thompson’s first goal of the game gave UVa a 3-2 lead midway through the period. Syracuse came back by outscoring Virginia 5-1 and grab a 7-4 with two minutes to play in the quarter. During the run Yevoli netted two more, while John Carrozza, Nathan Kenney and Kenny Nims all scored once. Yevoli’s third goal of the first quarter came at the 2:13 mark and was a man down goal.
Kyle Dixon scored a big goal with five seconds remaining in the quarter to trim UVa’s deficit to 7-5. With Dixon’s goal, the momentum shifted to the homestanding Cavaliers, who dominated the next 15 minutes, outscoring the Orange 8-1 in the period to take a 13-8 lead to the locker room at halftime. Poskay got things started by scoring an extra-man goal on the Cavaliers’ first shot of the quarter. Freshman Garrett Billings added a second consecutive EMO goal at the 11:52 mark to tie the score at seven.
Rubeor put the Cavaliers in the lead for good at the 10-minute mark as he converted a nifty pass from Foster Gilbert into a goal. Billings scored UVa’s fifth consecutive goal and Ward scored seven minutes before halftime as the Virginia lead grew to 10-7.
Syracuse freshman Dan Hardy ended UVa’s streak with his first goal of the afternoon at the 4:54 mark, but Glading, Poskay and Ward scored in quick succession to close the half. In the second quarter the Cavaliers outshot Syracuse 16-3, while scoring eight times.
Patrick Perritt and Bucktooth scored to open the second half to pull Syracuse to within 13-10, but the Orange were never able to get closer than three.
Poskay, Rubeor and Dixon all scored to push UVa’s lead to 16-10 with 8:05 on the clock. Mike Leveille and Brian Crockett scored a minute-and-a-half apart to start Syracuse on another run. Neither team scored in the final four minutes of the third quarter, the game’s longest scoreless stretch to that point.
Leveille scored Syracuse’s third consecutive goal three minutes and 51 seconds into the fourth quarter to once again trim UVa’s lead to three at 16-13. Despite Leveille’s goal, Virginia reserve goalie Bud Petit had perhaps the biggest play of the quarter for the Cavaliers as he stuffed Yevoli’s point blank effort at 12:13 that provided the UVa defense a much needed lift. Petit replaced starter Kip Turner after halftime and finished with six saves, all in the fourth quarter.
Once again the teams traded goals as Drew Thompson’s third of the game was matched by Hardy with 6:03 left in the game. With Syracuse forced to take chances, defenseman Ricky Smith scored a man down goal following an uninterrupted run from his defensive half of the field. Jared Little scored from 20 yards away as reserve goalie Jake Myers was caught far from the goal line while trying to create a turnover. J.J. Morrissey scored the third goal in a row as the lead once again grew to six goals. Leveille’s goal with 33.7 seconds left closed the scoring.
Both starting goalies struggled in the first half and were replaced after halftime. Turner stopped two shots, while his counterpart, Peter Coluccini, saved seven. Myers, his replacement, finished with six saves.
The Cavaliers won 23 of 39 faceoffs and were able to gain and maintain possession consistently. Charlie Glazer won 14 of 24 attempts, both career-high figures.
Virginia travels to Princeton next Sunday (March 12) to face the Tigers at 2 pm. The game will be televised by nationwide by ESPNU.
#5 Syracuse 7-1-4-3--15 record: 1-1
#3 Virginia 5-8-3-4--20 record: 5-0
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Scoring (G-A)–V: Ben Rubeor 3-2, Matt Ward 3-2, Drew Thompson 3-1, Matt Poskay 3-0, Kyle Dixon 2-2, Garrett Billings 2-0, Danny Glading 1-1, Jared Little 1-0, J.J. Morrissey 1-0, Ricky Smith 1-0, Foster Gilbert 0-1. S: Mike Leveille 3-2, Joe Yevoli 3-1, Brett Bucktooth 2-2, Dan Hardy 2-1, Brian Crockett 1-1, John Carrozza 1-0, Nathan Kenney 1-0, Kenny Nims 1-0, Patrick Perritt 1-0.
Goalie Summary: V: Kip Turner 30:00 mins., 2 saves, 8 goals allowed; Bud Petit 20:00, 6 sv, 7 ga. S: Peter Coluccini 30:00 mins., 7 saves, 13 goals allowed; Jake Myers 30:00, 6 sv, 7 ga.
Shots: V–57, S–32
Ground Balls: V–47, S–33
Clearing: V–19×20, S–15×21
Faceoffs: V–23, S–16
Penalties: V–4-3:00, S–5-3:30
EMO: V–4×5, S–1×4