Peyser's Overtime Goal Lifts No. 1 Johns Hopkins to 12-11 Men's Lacrosse Victory
3/18/2005 10:16:59 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Watch the video highlights
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Junior midfielder Greg Peyser scored an unassisted goal with 1:34 remaining in overtime to lift No. 1-ranked Johns Hopkins (4-0) to a 12-11 victory against seventh-ranked Syracuse (1-3) at the Carrier Dome. Peyser's game-winning goal gave Hopkins its first lead of the night.
The Orange were ahead the entire game, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter and building up to its largest margin of six goals (7-1) by 3:42 of the second period. Freshman attackman Mike Leveille (Delmar, N.Y.) had a hat trick by this point. He would go on to record a game-high five goals, with two more scores in the fourth quarter.
Hopkins had its own rookie rise to the occasion. Freshman midfielder Paul Rabil provided an answer with three-straight goals to cut the SU lead to 7-4 with 5:40 left in the third quarter. Peyser tallied his first goal of the night more than a minute later to bring Hopkins to within 7-5.
SU junior midfielder Greg Rommel (Syracuse, N.Y.) scored off a pass from junior attackman Brian Crockett (Yorktown, N.Y.) to push the Orange advantage back up to three goals, 8-5, with 3:43 left in the third quarter.
The Blue Jays recorded the final two goals of the third quarter to pull within 8-7 with 26 seconds remaining. Kyle Harrison and Jake Byrne capped off a 6-1 Hopkins run from the end of the second quarter until the end of the third.
Syracuse senior midfielder Jarett Park (Otisco, N.Y.) found Leveille camped out on the crease for the freshman's fourth goal of the night. The score gave the Orange a 9-7 lead at 13:44 of the fourth quarter. Harrison netted his second goal to keep the Jays hanging around, 9-8, but Leveille once again pushed it back to a two-goal game (10-8) when he caught his own rebound off a Jesse Schwartzman save and deposited his second chance safely into the goal with 11:24 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Hopkins would go on to score four of the game's next five goals. Peter LeSueur set up Joseph Malo at the 7:44 mark, but Park used a spin dodge in traffic to give Syracuse an 11-9 edge with 6:37 remaining in regulation. That would be the Orange's final goal of the night.
Peyser registered his second goal of the night at the 5:11 mark and Rabil notched his career-high fourth goal with 1:42 left in regulation to tie the game at 11-11.
Schwartzman played the entire game in goal and finished with nine saves. He stopped a Brett Bucktooth (Onondaga Nation, N.Y.) shot in overtime during Syracuse's only possession of the extra session.
Senior Jay Pfeifer (Towson, Md.) played every minute for the Orange and ended up with 14 saves.
This was the third-straight loss for Syracuse. The last time the Orange started a season with a 1-3 record was back during the 1975 campaign. The back-to-back home losses mark the first since 1995.
The Orange will look to get back on the winning track on Saturday, March 26, at 1 p.m. against No. 11-ranked Princeton. The game will be televised LIVE by CSTV: College Sports Television and aired locally by Time Warner Sports (Channel 26).
