Syracuse's Season Comes to an End vs. Cornell

Sunday, May 13

Syracuse, N.Y.

7:15 p.m.

Syracuse University

8-7

Cornell

13-4

Cornell

Syracuse

5/13/2018 10:22:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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The Orange defense held one of the nation's top scorers off the board, and battled with Ivy League Champion Cornell until the clock hit zero, but it wasn't enough as 'Cuse lost its NCAA Tournament opener 10-9 to the Big Red.

Cornell's Colton Rupp scored the game winner on a man-up opportunity with 5:35 left to play to secure the win. Clarke Petterson scored a game-high five goals for Cornell. The Syracuse offense featured a balanced scoring attack. Tucker Dordevic, Jamie Trimboli and Brendan Bomberry each scored two, while Brendan Curry, Nate Solomon and Stephen Rehfuss added one goal apiece.

"It's a tough one," said head coach John Desko. "I think that it was a great college game, they really stuck with it. I thought we played a decent second half. We hit some pipes and had decent opportunities to score, but credit to their defense for not allowing that to happen.

"I thought our goalie played like he didn't want it to be his last game, and it showed, he made a lot of saves for us. I also think Nick [Mellen] did a great job on [Jeff] Teat. I think if you look at the stats, holding Teat to just one assist and the ground balls and shots, I think you'd think we'd have won."

In the first quarter, the teams traded goals and were tied at three after the first 15 minutes. Less than one minute into the game, Syracuse's Tucker Dordevic opened the scoring with his 14^th goal of the season. After Cornell tied the game at one on a goal by Jordan Dowiak with 11:32 left in the first quarter, Brendan Bomberry gave the Orange a 2-1 advantage with 9:59 remaining. Less than three minutes later, Clarke Petterson scored his 38^th goal of the season to tie the game at two.

Dordevic netted his second goal of the game with 6:23 left in the first quarter to put the Orange ahead, 3-2. Cornell's Cooper Telesco tied the game at three 45 seconds later.

In the second quarter, the Orange opened up a three-goal lead, 7-4, with 5:57 left in the second quarter when Nate Solomon scored. Cornell responded with a three-goal run to tie the game at seven with 6:52 remaining in the third quarter when McCulloch scored his second goal of the game.

Syracuse scored first in the second quarter when Rehfuss picked off an errant pass from Cornell goaltender Christian Knight behind the net and raced around the empty cage to score and give Syracuse a 4-3 lead with 11:51 left in the quarter. Less than 30 seconds later Trimboli scored another 'Cuse goal and then one minute later he found the back of the net again to stretch the Syracuse lead to 6-3 with 10:27 left in the second quarter and forcing a Cornell timeout.

A man-up goal by Cornell's Petterson with 6:13 left in the second quarter cut the 'Cuse lead to 6-4, but the Orange answered right back with a goal by Nate Solomon 16 seconds later to make the score 7-4. Cornell's Jake McCulloch fired a shot past Dom Madonna to bring Cornell within two, 7-5, with 4:20 left in the second quarter.

In the third quarter, Cornell took advantage of a man-up situation to cut the 'Cuse lead to one, 7-6, with 10:25 remaining in the third quarter when Petterson scored his third goal of the game. After McCulloch tied the game at seven with a goal at the 6:52 mark in the third quarter, Syracuse responded less than a minute later to regain the lead, 8-7, on a goal by freshman Brendan Curry at the 5:40 mark before Petterson scored back to back goals to tie the score at eight and then give Cornell the lead, 9-8, 11:47 left to play and set up the win for the Big Red.

After the teams traded goals, Petterson gave the Big Red its first lead of the game, 9-8, when he picked up a loose ball in front of the Syracuse goal and netted his fifth goal of the game with 11:47 remaining in the game. Cornell's lead was short-lived. Syracuse's Bomberry tied the game at nine with his second goal of the game at the 9:05 mark in the fourth quarter. Four minutes later, Rupp gave the Big Red the lead for good with his man-up goal.

The Orange finish the year 8-7, but return the bulk of their roster for 2019, losing just five players in their final year of eligibility.

GAME NOTES: Trimboli tied his career-high for points with three against the Big Red for his seventh, three-point game of the season…Nate Solomon extended his point-streak to a team-best 15 games with his second quarter goal…Brett Kennedy snagged six ground balls, a new career-high for the freshman…Stephen Rehfuss tallied his 14th multi-point game of the season…Dom Madonna recorded his eighth game with 10 or more saves … The NCAA first round game is the sixth in a row and the 13^th since the tournament began this structure in 2003 … Syracuse is 29-4 in the Dome in the postseason and 10-3 in first round matchups … This is the second-straight season 'Cuse has drawn the Ivy League Champion in the first round … Tonight's game was the 104th meeting between Syracuse and Cornell, making it the fourth-longest running series in lacrosse history … The Orange own a series record of 65-38-1 all-time against Cornell, including a record of 35-17 at SU and a 15-6 mark in the Carrier Dome … Head coach has guided the Orange to 19 NCAA Tournaments in his 20 seasons, including five NCAA Championships (2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009) … His clubs have an overall record of 34-14 in NCAA Tournament play …Desko is third all-time with five NCAA Championships, one behind predecessor Roy Simmons Jr. and tied for third all-time with 33 NCAA Tournament wins with Simmons Jr.