Orange Runs Out of Time in 16-15 Loss to Hopkins

Sunday, May 17

Annapolis, MD

12 pm

Syracuse University

13-3

Johns Hopkins

11-6

Johns Hopkins

Syracuse

Photo by: Johns Hopkins Sports Information

Orange Runs Out of Time in 16-15 Loss to Hopkins

5/17/2015 3:06:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Syracuse's season ends in NCAA quarterfinals

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – No. 2 seed Syracuse (13-3) scored three goals in 33 seconds late in the fourth quarter to pull to within one, but ultimately ran out of time as Johns Hopkins (11-6) defeated the Orange, 16-15, at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Sunday, May 17 in the quarterfinal round of the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship.

In the 13th postseason matchup between the two most storied programs in college lacrosse it was fitting the game came down to the final seconds.

Trailing 16-12 with less than a minute left, SU's Kevin Rice and Henry Schoonmaker scored 22 seconds apart to close the gap to 16-14 with 34 seconds remaining.

Following Schoonmaker's goal, Hunter Moreland moved early on the faceoff. It was the Blue Jays' third faceoff violation of the half. The penalty resulted in an extra-man opportunity for the Orange, which Rice capitalized on to a make it 16-15 with 23 ticks left on the clock.

Moreland won the faceoff after Rice's man-up goal, but threw an errant pass. Brandon Mullins collected the loose ball for Syracuse with less than 10 seconds left, but the Orange could not generate another offensive opportunity before the buzzer sounded.

"My hat is off to the Blue Jays. I thought they played an excellent game today," Orange head coach John Desko said. "I'm proud of our guys for coming back the way they did. I think a lot of teams would have looked up at the scoreboard and said the game was over. There was 30 seconds to go or so and we still had a shot to tie it up. I thought we played with a lot of heart. That being said, we're obviously disappointed that we aren't playing next week."

Rice led all scorers with seven points on three goals and four assists, while teammates Dylan Donahue, Nicky Galasso and Randy Staats each had three goals. Donahue and Galasso both added two assists to finish with five points apiece.

Brothers Wells and Shack Stanwick both had four goals and two assists to pace the Blue Jays. Ryan Brown chipped in as well for Hopkins, scoring twice and passing out two assists.

It was Wells Stanwick that fueled the Blue Jays early. He scored three of the game's first four goals, but the Orange got consecutive tallies from Galasso and Staats 1:18 apart late in the first period to even game, 3-3, after the opening 15 minutes.

Joel Tinney and John Crawley both found the cage in the first three minutes of the second quarter to put the Blue Jays back in front before Donahue finished a Rice pass at the 10:22 mark.

Donahue's strike ignited a 4-1 Orange run that gave SU its only lead of the game, 7-6, at the half.

The Blue Jays responded by scoring the first four goals of the second half, including two by Shack Stanwick off passes from his brother, to open up a 10-7 advantage with seven minutes left in the third.

Then once again Donahue halted the Hopkins scoring spurt. The redshirt junior notched his third goal of the day, and 50th of the season, with 6:15 to go in the period to get SU back within two, 10-8.

After Donahue's score, Wells Stanwick stole the momentum back for the Blue Jays. The senior charged from the end line and stuffed the ball past Orange goalie Bobby Wardwell as time expired to push the lead back to three (11-8) heading into the fourth quarter.

Stanwick's goal sparked a 5-2 Hopkins run that resulted in a 15-10 advantage with 3:50 to play in regulation.

Galasso and Staats both scored unassisted goals for Syracuse before an empty-net goal by Brown at the 1:46 mark made the score 16-12 and set the stage for the frantic finish.

Wardwell tied his career high with 14 saves, while Hopkins goalie Eric Schneider finished with 15 stops. Schneider totaled nine saves in the first half to help the Blue Jays gain the lead.

Ben Williams won 22-of-34 (.642) faceoffs, including 11 of the 13 draws in the fourth quarter, to aid the Syracuse rally.

In addition to its advantage in faceoff wins, the Orange also outshot the Blue Jays (45-44) and picked up 34 ground balls to 28 for the Blue Jays.

Hopkins will face the winner of Sunday's second quarterfinal between Maryland and North Carolina in the national semifinals Saturday, May 23 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

Game Notes: Rice finished his career 12th on the SU all-time scoring with 222 points (96 goals, 126 assists) … Donahue became the fifth player in Orange history to record a 50-goal season, joining Gary Gait (2), Tom Korrie (2), Tom Abbott and Tom Marechek. Donahue's 50 goals are the most since Marechek had 53 in 1991 … Williams picked up 10 ground balls against the Blue Jays and finished second behind Sam Bassett (164 in 2000) on the Orange single-season record list with 153 ground balls … Syracuse is now 27-4 all-time in NCAA quarterfinal games.