Late Surge Powers Navy Past 'Cuse

Saturday, April 21

Syracuse, N.Y.

2 PM

Syracuse University

Navy

4/21/2018 4:43:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Highlights Press Conference Photo Gallery

Mids score twice in the final-nine seconds.

Tucker Dordevic scored with 58 seconds remaining to give the No. 9 Syracuse men's lacrosse team (8-5) the lead, but No. 16 Navy (9-4) scored twice in the final nine seconds of regulation to snatch victory at the Carrier Dome.

Stephen Rehfuss scored a goal and contributed six assists, the most by a Syracuse player since Kevin Rice vs. Notre Dame in the 2014 ACC Tournament, to lead the offense. Nate Solomon (2-2), Brendan Bomberry (3-0), Ryan Simmons (2-0) and Brendan Curry also added multi-point days.

"Congratulations to Navy. to come in here, go behind by a couple of goals and then win it like they did, my hat's off to them," said head coach John Desko. "Joe [Varello] did a great job at the X and was rewarded late with a goal, so that's something he'll probably remember for a long time. I thought we made too many mistakes. I looked at the stats sheet and saw we had 14 turnovers. You don't want to have that many at this time of year, but we have to load up and get back on track and get ready for the ACC Tournament."

The game was tight the entire way. After the Midshipmen jumped out to an early 6-3 lead, the Orange scored three in a row with Bomberry, Simmons and Solomon scoring in succession to even the game at six heading into halftime.

Greyson Torain and Jack Ray scored the first two out of the break for the Mids, but the Orange then tallied five of the next six. Rehfuss scored his lone goal on the day before Curry scored on a low shot off a feed from Solomon.

Rehfuss then dished his fifth assist of the game, on a David Lipka goal to give Syracuse its first lead at 9-8 with 13:48 left in regulation. Torain evened the game once more at nine apiece four minutes later, but Bradley Voigt and Bomberry scored 50 seconds apart to give the Orange a two-goal lead with 5:36 left.

Following a Ryan Wade tally, Navy then tied the game again with 2:57 to go on a man-up tally.

Dordevic's goal with 58 seconds remaining put the Orange back on top, and Danny Varello won the ensuing faceoff to give the Orange the ball with under a minute to kill. However, the Mids forced a late turnover with 28 seconds remaining and Ray scored in transition with nine seconds to go to make it all even.

It was Joe Varello who then played hero for the Midshipmen, collecting the a loose ball in front of the cage and burying a shot top-left corner with 0.2 ticks left.

Danny Varello won 11-of-27 faceoffs against other brother Joe on the day, with Dom Madonna having another strong day in net, stopping 11 shots for the Orange.

'Cuse also won the ground ball battle, 36-33, thanks in part to five from both Brett Kennedy and Varello. Peter Dearth also snagged four. Kennedy also shined on the defensive end, causing three turnovers, which Tyson Bomberry matched. Nick Mellen caused two as well.

Next, the top-seed Orange will play fourth-seeded Virginia in the ACC Semifinals at Kolckner Stadium in Charlottesville. Faceoff will be at 8:30 p.m. on ESPNU