Dordevic Lifts 'Cuse Past #5 UVA

Sunday, March 4

Charlottesville, VA

3 PM

Syracuse University

3-1, 1-0ACC

Virginia

4-1, 0-1ACC

Syracuse

Virginia

Photo by: Brian McWalters

3/4/2018 5:59:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Highlights Press Conference

The No. 12 Syracuse men's lacrosse team (3-1, 1-0 ACC) held off a furious late comeback from No. 5 Virginia (4-1, 0-1 ACC) on Sunday afternoon, allowing freshman Tucker Dordevic to net the game-winner with 12 seconds left.

After taking a 10-5 lead into the final-10 minutes, the Hoos rallied back to knot things at 11. Dordevic wouldn't be denied, though. Spinning his way to get space and firing the game-winning goal. Dordevic scored four times in the win, with Brett Kennedy notching his first and second collegiate goals in the game as well. Bradley Voigt and Jamie Trimboli also notched multi-goal games.

Thirteen of the Orange's last-19 games have now been decided by one goal, with 'Cuse coming away victorious in 11 of those one-goal contests.

Tyler Ford got the Orange started with a transition goal, when he took a pass from Peter Dearth and netted the game's opener. Ford's goal ignited an eight-goal first quarter with Voigt, Dordevic and Stephen Rehfuss each scoring in the frame for the Orange. Ryan Conrad, Michael Kraus, Ian Laviano and Dox Aitken.

Kennedy then scored back-to-back goals to open the second in transition. Aitken scored his second of the day with 8:42 remaining before halftime, but Dordevic answered with 3:15 left before intermission to give the Orange a 7-5 halftime lead.

The third quarter was all 'Cuse, with Dordevic and Voigt notching the only goals in the frame, before Jamie Trimboli scored his first of the day to open up Syracuse's largest lead with 12:54 remaining in regulation.

That's when Virginia made its run, scoring six of the next-seven goals. Mike D'Amario scored three in a row and Jared Conners evened things up with 1:41 remaining, the first time it was equal since the end of the first quarter.

Danny Varello won the ensuing faceoff, one of his 16 wins on the day in 26 attempts, and the Orange cleared the ball into the offensive end. David Lipka nearly netted the winner, but 'Cuse had called timeout as he scooped the ground ball. With 13 seconds left, Dordevic rolled to create space and fired a hard shot which turned into the eventual game-winner, beating Alex Rode.

Rode made 15 saves in the contest, with Dom Madonna turning in 10 saves for the Orange.

Syracuse out-shot UVA 43-30 and made just eight saves to the Hoos' 19. 'Cuse was also 19-of-20 on the clear.

Next, Syracuse will return to the Carrier Dome to host longtime rival Johns Hopkins on March 10 at 1 p.m. The game will feature a special celebration, where the 1988 and 2008 NCAA Championship teams will be honored.

GAME NOTES: Dordevic's four goals were the most by a Syracuse true freshman since Mike Leveille in 2005 ... Brett Kennedy's two goals were the first and second of his collegiate career ... The win is the sixth-straight win in a true road game for the Orange ... The win was the 898th win in program history for Syracuse, second-most all time behind Johns Hopkins (973) ... Syracuse has now won eight-of-nine conference openers, since first joining the BIG EAST in 2010 ... The one-goal game is the 15th one-goal game in the 34 game series between Syracuse and Virginia. The Orange have now scored 442 goals, UVA 440 in the series ... Brett Kennedy collected five ground balls for the second game in a row ... Jared Fernandez grabbed a career-best five ground balls as well ... 11 different players caused a turnover in the game.