Orange Post Statement Win Over #3 Virginia

Saturday, February 27

Syracuse, NY

6 PM

Syracuse University

1-1, 1-0ACC

Virginia

3-1, 0-1ACC

Virginia

Syracuse

2/27/2021 9:26:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Highlights Desko Press Conference Photo Gallery

Coming into Saturday night, the Syracuse-Virginia series was tied 18-18, the goals were even at 466 series all-time. Syracuse put an end to that on Saturday night with an emphatic 20-10 victory, besting the 1938 matchup for the largest margin of victory for either team in the series.

Brendan Curry notched seven points (4-3), Stephen Rehfuss added six (3-3) and freshman Owen Hiltz announced his presence in a big way, with three goals and two assists in his first collegiate start. Drake Porter made 13 saves in net and Jakob Phaup dominated the X, winning 22-of-33 restarts in the win.

No. 10 Syracuse moved to 1-1 and 1-0 in the ACC on the year, while the No. 3 Cavaliers fell to 3-1, 0-1 ACC.

Yup. pic.twitter.com/7IqKtHp2mV
— Syracuse Lacrosse (@CuseMLAX) February 28, 2021

"Obviously after last week it was great to come out and have a whole team effort," said head coach John Desko. "I thought the guys did a great job making adjustments and the coaches did a great job preparing them. The game starts with the faceoff and I thought Jakob Phaup did an outstanding job.

"I thought Drake Porter made some great saves. When Virginia had a run in the third quarter he made big saves for us. I thought it was a great team effort, both offensively and defensively today."

The game started as a typical back-and-forth 'Cuse-Virginia contest, with the Orange scoring two early goals, one by Lucas Quinn and a second by Chase Scanlan in the game's first-five minutes.

The 'Hoos responded with four-straight goals to take a 4-2 lead midway through the first quarter, but Syracuse tightened up defensively and allowed just six goals over the final-52:19 of game play and outscored Virginia 18-4 the rest of the way.

Quinn notched a second goal midway through the first to halt the Cavalier run. After Charlie Betrand answered back, 'Cuse followed with a 4-0 run on goals from Curry, Tucker Dordevic, Owen Seebold and Jamie Trimboli to give Syracuse a 7-5 advantage.

Seebold scored two goals on the day, a nice present on his birthday.

Payton Cormier and Ian Laviano notched back-to-back goals in less than 30 seconds to pull even again at 7 with five minutes to go before the half, but Seebold and Rehfuss scored late in the frame to send 'Cuse to the locker room with a 9-7 lead.

The second half was all-SU. Hiltz finished a Rehfuss feed to open the third quarter, just 13 seconds in. Rehfuss then found the back of the net himself with 11:07 left in the third.

Curry, Dordevic (twice), Hiltz (twice), Rehfuss, and Brett Kennedy all found the back of the net in a seven goal third quarter.

Jamie Trimboli put the exclamation point on to start the fourth with a highlight-reel goal, with Rehfuss, Curry and Hiltz each adding on one more for good measure, ending the game on a 7-0 run.

#SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/Go2OkQHG1Q
— Syracuse Lacrosse (@CuseMLAX) February 28, 2021

The Orange were also stout defensively, as Scanlan caused three turnovers on the ride and Mitch Wykoff caused two in his first action for the Orange after missing the opener due to injury.

'Cuse out-shot Virginia 55-39 and won the ground-ball battle 35-30.

Next up, Syracuse will host Vermont on Saturday at 1 p.m. on ACCNX.

GAME NOTES: Saturday's win snapped a five-game streak of one-goal games between the two sides and was the largest margin of victory for either team in the all-time series … The prior high came all the way back in 1938, when Syracuse beat UVA 13-4 in the season opener … Stephen Rehfuss moved into a tie with Dylan Donahue for 14th on the career assists list at Syracuse. He passed 2008 Tewaaraton Award winner Mike Leveille (83), Kenny Nims (82) and Jeff Davis (81) in the process today. Rehfuss' next assist will tie Paul Gait and Tom Nelson for 12th. Two more will tie Liam Banks (86) for 11th, and three more will tie JoJo Marasco (87) for 10th all-time at Syracuse.