Syracuse Foils Cornell Again on Last-Second Goal
by Brian Delaney | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online | Game Blog
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Chris Daniello's putback as time expired lifted No. 2 Syracuse to an 8-7 comeback win Tuesday over No. 10 Cornell in a rematch of the 2009 NCAA Division I championship game. © Greg Wall |
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Once again, Syracuse dealt
Cornell a crushing blow. Once again, a defensive takeaway led to
the winning goal.
Senior Chris Daniello scored with less than a second remaining in
Tuesday night’s non-league men’s lacrosse game at
Schoellkopf Field, giving the second-ranked Orange a remarkable 8-7
victory over their Upstate New York rivals.
The game ended in an eerily similar fashion to last May’s
national championship game, when Kenny Nims forced overtime with a
goal with 4.5 seconds left before Cody Jamieson won it, 10-9, in
the extra session.
Cornell, which led 7-5 early in the fourth quarter, had possession
and a chance to win with under two minutes left Tuesday, but Scott
Austin’s pass to Rob Pannell behind the cage was knocked to
the ground by John Lade with about 30 seconds remaining, and the
Orange – as they and few others can do – raced the
other way.
“We decided not to take a timeout because we had their
offensive middies on defense, and we’re pretty good in
scramble situations so we just let it play,” Syracuse coach
John Desko said.
Good move.
Cody Jamieson had first crack at the game-winner, but his shot
in-tight was stoned by Cornell freshman A.J. Fiore – his 20th
save of the night – with about 4 seconds left. But Daniello
alertly picked up the loose ball, rolled two steps toward the
middle and fired high to win it.
Fiore nearly neutralized Syracuse’s shot advantage (40-20),
ground ball edge (45-25) and faceoff cushion (12-18). But in the
end, Syracuse won because its defense stifled its second
consecutive top-10, and Ivy League, opponent. The Orange had beaten
Princeton 13-4 on Saturday.
“We did have to grind it out,” Desko said.
Lade was pitted against attackman Rob Pannell throughout. Pannell
set up three goals, and now has 54 points on the season, but
couldn’t get the ball back in his stick when Cornell needed
it most – because of Lade.
“Looking back, I maybe should have held on to it, just held
on to it for a minute and a half,” Pannell said. “Stood
back there by myself, which I know I’m capable of but I gave
it up and let some other guys kill some time. They were trying to
get me the ball and the pass got knocked down.”
Cornell’s leading goalscorer, Ryan Hurley, was held
scoreless after a first-period goal knotted the score at 1-1.
Longstick midfielder Joel White was everywhere, finishing with
nine ground balls and three caused turnovers, and Galloway was
particularly big in the first quarter. He made five saves, when
Cornell had its best scoring opportunities. He made three saves
over the final 45 minutes, but Cornell got only 12 shots off during
that span.
Fiore’s brilliance drew the most attention afterward, but
Syracuse’s defense was a key component of the team’s
ninth win in 10 games. It was championship caliber.
“Both defenses were really good,” midfielder Jovan
Miller said. “I know that Cornell, their defense kind of sets
up their offense. We came into this one kind of expecting that they
were going to slow the ball down and play good defense.”
