Loftus' Heroics Lift Orange to 9-8 Win in Double Overtime

Sunday, March 9

Syracuse, NY

3:30 p.m.

Syracuse University

#12 Georgetown

Senior Brendan Loftus had a career-best four goals versus Georgetown, including the game-winner 46 seconds into the second overtime.

Loftus' Heroics Lift Orange to 9-8 Win in Double Overtime

3/9/2008 5:54:24 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Senior midfielder Brendan Loftus (Watertown, N.Y.) scored an unassisted goal with 3:14 left in the second overtime to lift the #5/7 Orange (3-1) to a 9-8 victory against #9/12 Georgetown (1-2) on Sunday, March 9 at the Carrier Dome. The score was Loftus’ fourth of the day and capped a furious rally that saw Syracuse overcome a 7-4 deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime.

The victory was SU’s second straight against the Hoyas and the 10^th in the last 12 meetings between the two teams. It also improved SU’s Carrier Dome record to 3-0 this season.

Trailing by three entering the final period, the Orange outscored the Hoyas 4-1 to send the game into OT. Loftus’ third goal, which came with 13:41 left in regulation, ignited a three-goal run over the next 7:30 that pulled the Orange even with Hoyas, 7-7, with 6:10 left.

After an unassisted goal by Max Seligmann pushed the Hoyas back in front with 1:42 to play, senior Steven Brooks (Libertyville, Ill.), who tallied the equalizer with 28 seconds left against Virginia last week to force overtime, seized the moment again, firing a low shot past Georgetown goaltender Miles Kass with two seconds left to tie the game at eight.

Brooks’ game-tying goal was set up by a cross-field pass from senior captain Mike Leveille (Delmar, N.Y.) after a Georgetown illegal procedure call in its end of the field. Leveille’s 20-yard strike hit Brooks in stride and he buried the shot to send the Orange faithful into hysterics.

In the first overtime, Syracuse controlled play as it launched five shots at the Georgetown cage on the period’s opening possession. Two missed the net, one hit the crossbar, and Kass was up to the challenge on the other two, including one save on junior Kenny Nims (Watertown, N.Y.) on the doorstep. Kass couldn’t control the rebound off Nims’ chance and it squirted to junior Greg Niewieroski (Watertown, N.Y.), who tried to whip it behind his back, but he couldn’t get off a clean shot.

In the second extra session, senior Danny Brennan (Farmingdale, N.Y.) won the draw again, his 16^th faceoff win of the day, to set up Loftus who dodged to the cage for the game-winner.

It was the first time Syracuse led all day as the resilient Orange trailed by three goals on five occasions during the contest before finally overcoming the Hoyas.

Loftus’ four goals marked a career-best and three of his tallies came in the second half or overtime.

Syracuse also got multiple points from Leveille and Nims. Leveille scored once and had two assists to extend his streak of consecutive games with a point to 43. The three-point showing also increased his career scoring total to 150 (92g, 58a). He is the 27^th SU player to reach that plateau.

In addition to assisting on Brooks’ goal, Leveille was also credited with a helper on freshman Stephen Keogh’s (Toronto, Ontario) goal that tied the game at seven.

Nims finished with two scores and leads the team with 11 goals on the season.

Despite its fantastic play down the stretch, the Orange started out slowly as the Hoyas built a 3-0 lead.

Georgetown midfielder Dan D’Agnes keyed the Hoyas’ success early. He opened the game’s scoring at the 8:23 mark with a goal off a pass from Brendan Cannon. He then assisted on Scott Kahoe’s tally with 3:59 left to put Georgetown in front, 2-0, after one period.

A goal by Andrew Baird at the start of the second quarter pushed the Hoyas’ lead to three before Nims intercepted a Georgetown pass and flung it into an empty net to put the Orange on the board with 12:55 left in the half.

The teams traded tallies for the remainder of the quarter and the Hoyas owned a 5-3 lead at the break.

Unassisted goals by Cannon and Andrew Brancaccio, sandwiched around a Loftus goal, set the stage for SU’s fourth-quarter comeback.

Brennan again was a key cog in SU’s success. He won 16-of-20 faceoffs, good for an .800 winning percentage. Overall, the Orange won 17 of the game’s 21 draws, including both faceoffs in overtime.

Kass faced 57 Syracuse shots and made 19 saves. His counterpart, Orange freshman John Galloway (Syracuse, N.Y.), finished with 10 stops to earn the win.

Cannon (1 goal, 1 assist), Brancaccio (2 goals), D’Agnes (1 goal, 1 assist) and Baird (2 goals) each had multiple points for Georgetown.

The Orange returns to action on Saturday, March 15 when it takes on archrival Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field. Faceoff is scheduled for 12 p.m. on ESPNU.