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Syracuse University
Hobart
3/28/2006 10:13:24 PM | Men's Lacrosse
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Senior goaltender Mike DeSantis recorded a career-high 16 saves for the third-straight game, while sophomore midfielder Sean Murphy tallied a personal-best five points (two goals, three assists) to lead unranked Hobart (4-3) to a 9-8 men's lacrosse victory at #13-ranked Syracuse. It was the first-ever Carrier Dome win for the Statesmen and just the second time Hobart has claimed the Kraus-Simmons Trophy in the 20-year existence of the tradition. The Kraus-Simmons Trophy is presented to the winner of the Syracuse vs. Hobart game in honor of legendary SU coach Roy Simmons Sr. and former Statesmen coach Babe Kraus. Hobart won the first Kraus-Simmons Trophy in 1986 with a 16-13 decision in Geneva. That was the last time the Orange lost to its Central New York neighbor from the west.
Both teams came into this contest anxious to snap three-game losing streaks, but neither team could find the back of the net in the first quarter. The goalies had something to do with that. DeSantis stopped five Syracuse shots in the opening 15 minutes, while redshirt freshman Pete Coluccini made three saves.
The action heated up in the second quarter with SU taking a 2-0 lead. Freshman midfielder Matt Abbott tallied the contest's first goal with a left-to-right drive up the left side of the cage at the 14:17 mark. Classmate Pat Perritt fed senior attackman Brett Bucktooth on an extra-man opportunity with 9:50 remaining to make it 2-0 in favor of the Orange.
Daryl Veltman scored the first of his two goals when Murphy spotted him wide open just 10 yards away from the Syracuse goal with 5:15 left in the second quarter. Patrick Meade tied the score at 2-2 after the Hobart offense wrestled the ball away from SU defenseman Steve Panarelli. Jeff Ryan fed Meade for the Statesmen's second goal.
Syracuse sophomore attackman Mike Leveille maneauvered for position on a groundball when it squirted out of the Hobart offensive end toward midfield. He turned and delivered a pass to fellow attackman Joe Yevoli who beat DeSantis one-on-one to give Syracuse a 3-2 advantage with 2:42 remaining in the first half.
Good ball movement resulted in the Statesmen's third goal of the night. Veltman netted his second marker off a pass from Alex Jessup with 1:30 remaining. Nick Currie buried a 15-yard blast off an assist from Murphy with 24 seconds remaining in the second quarter to give Hobart a 4-3 lead at halftime.
The Statesmen led by as many as two goals three different times in the third quarter (5-3, 6-4, 7-5), but Syracuse recorded two goals in the final four minutes of the period to tie it at 7-7. Perritt scored a career-high two goals in the third quarter for SU. Yevoli pulled the Orange to within 7-6 with 3:58 remaining when he finished off a transition play that started with Panarelli spinning his way out of a tough groundball and delivering a pass to sophomore middie Steve Babbles who ran up the middle of the field and dished off to Bucktooth, who found Yevoli. A Hobart turnover in the final three minutes led to a Syracuse possession in which Yevoli fed Leveille for SU's seventh goal of the night.
Hobart went ahead 9-7 when Murphy hit a cutting David O'Quinn at 10:44 and then Currie netted his second goal with 6:01 remaining in the contest.
The Orange made the most of a man-up opportunity when Andrew Narog was called for an illegal body check with 2:11 remaining. Brian Crockett's goal pulled SU to within one, 9-8, with 1:35 remaining.
Hobart won the ensuing faceoff, but Syracuse forced a turnover. The Orange gave the ball to Perritt, who worked from up top and got a good shot off, but DeSantis was there for the save.
Syracuse is 1-4 for the first time since 1975. It is the first time the Orange has lost four-straight games since the end of the 1981 campaign. SU has an opportunity to rebound this Saturday, April 1, when it hosts arv/#19 Loyola at 4 p.m.
