No. 10 UVA Upends No. 14 Syracuse in Overtime, 15-14
The No. 10 Virginia Cavaliers (3-2, 1-0 ACC) used a 6-1 run to overcome a four-goal deficit in the fourth quarter, upending the No. 14 Syracuse Orange (2-2, 0-1 ACC) in overtime Saturday afternoon, 15-14, inside the Carrier Dome.
Box Score | Video Highlights | Boxscore
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The No. 10 Virginia Cavaliers (3-2, 1-0 ACC) used a 6-1 run to overcome a four-goal deficit in the fourth quarter, upending the No. 14 Syracuse Orange (2-2, 0-1 ACC) in overtime Saturday afternoon, 15-14, inside the Carrier Dome.
Virginia won the overtime faceoff and with 1:31 left in the extra fame Mike Herring scored his first goal of the season after Michael Kraus found the senior five yards out. It was Herring’s only shot of the day and Kraus’ third assist of the game.
The win is the first by the Cavaliers at the Carrier Dome since a 13-12 triumph in 2009. After winning in overtime last week at then-No. 19 Princeton, UVA won an overtime in back-to-back games for the first time since 2004 when they won at Towson, followed by a home win over Johns Hopkins.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Syracuse went up 13-9 with 10:02 left in the game after Stephen Rehfuss capped a 4-1 Orange run. Dox Aitken responded with a goal with 9:00 left in the game, jumpstarting a 6-1 UVA sprint to close the day. During the run six different Cavaliers scored. Matt Moore scored an EMO goal, followed by a Ryan Conrad score with 5:36 left. Conrad’s goal capped a 3-0 UVA run and brought the score to 13-12, advantage Syracuse.
Bradley Voight scored a man-down goal for the Orange with 3:45 on a fast break, pushing the Cuse lead back to two goals, 14-12. Jared Conners scored a clutch long-pole goal on a Kraus helper at 2:09 as the junior was camped on the crease. Kraus followed at 1:12 with the game-tying score from five yards out.
Syracuse won the ensuing faceoff, but a big save from UVA goalie Alex Rode with two seconds left sent the game into overtime, setting up Herring’s heroics.
May Lacrosse in March!!! Here is the overtime winner by Mikey Herring!!!! UVA improves to 3-2. #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/g1KFTuTa66
— Virginia Men’s Lacrosse (@UVAMensLax) March 2, 2019
UVA STAT LEADERS
• A Michael Kraus
3 goals, 3 assists
• M Dox Aitken
3 goals
• A Ian Laviano
2 goals, 1 assist
• M Ryan Conrad
2 goals, 7 ground balls
NOTES
• UVA defeated back-to-back ranked opponents on the road for the first time since 2012.
• Michael Kraus extends his streak of games with at least one point to 37, which ranked No. 4 in the nation entering the weekend among active streaks.
• With three goals, Dox Aitken moved past Jay Jalbert (78) for No. 7 all-time at UVA in career goals by a midfielder. Aitken now has 80.
• UVA won its ACC opener for the first time since beating Syracuse at home in 2014.
FROM THE LOCKER ROOM
“Another fantastic game between two traditional powers. Statistically this game was pretty balanced. We had an offensive flurry there in the end and I am really proud of our men to stay positive down four with 10 minutes to go. In the second half it started with Ryan Conrad as he was not be denied on those ground balls off the faceoff wing, especially in the fourth quarter. I told him ‘this is a good time to be selfish Ryan, every ground ball is yours.’ I was amazed at what Conrad was doing with his faceoff wing play because those were 50-50 balls and Syracuse has some great wings that come in. For Ryan to deal with those good Syracuse wing players and get those ground balls is what set us up to go on that run late in the game. Syracuse did a really nice job defending us one-on-one. They did not want to slide. We wanted to continue to exploit that. They were willing to switch on matchups and not willing to slide, so we were able to create some one-on-one situations that paid off for us throughout the game.” – Lars Tiffany
UP NEXT
Virginia returns home on Sun., March 10 when Ivy League foe Brown comes to Klöckner Stadium. Faceoff is slated for 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra.