Sweet Repeat
The same question was posed to Syracuse head coach John Desko every step of the way - how do you go about defending the 2008 national championship? He always had the same answer.“We’re not defending anything,” he said. “It’s always going to be ours. We want to go out and win the 2009 national championship.”
That’s exactly what his team did, staging a thrilling comeback to defeat Cornell in overtime to win its second consecutive national championship and the program’s NCAA-record 11th title overall. The championship was the Orange’s fifth since the turn of the century and solidified its claim as the team of the decade.
The Big Red nearly spoiled the coronation, frustrating the Orange for the better part of the NCAA title tilt. But Syracuse scored one of the most unlikely goals in lacrosse history to tie the game in the final seconds, and scored on its first possession of overtime to become the first repeat national champion since Princeton in the 1990s.
The Orange finished the 2009 campaign with its second straight 16-2 overall record, matching the school season record for wins. In addition, Syracuse ended the year on a nine-game winning streak, the longest active streak in the nation.
Along the way, seven players were rewarded with All-America honors. Senior attackman Kenny Nims and senior midfielder Matt Abbott highlighted the group by being selected to the first team. Nims was also recognized as the NCAA Championship’s Most Outstanding Player, and he finished second nationally in scoring at 4.11 points per game. Abbott was a Tewaaraton Trophy finalist and established himself as one of the best two-way middies in the game with a team-leading 77 ground balls, in addition to his 12 goals and 23 points.
SUPERIOR OFFENSE AND DEFENSE
The Orange’s quest to repeat began with a resounding 22-3 victory against Providence on Feb. 15 at the Carrier Dome. The 22 goals were the most for an SU squad in a season opener since 1997, and the performance was an early indicator of what was to come, as Syracuse finished the year second nationally in goals per game (12.94) and scored at least 10 goals in 16 of its 18 contests. Nims and sophomore Stephen Keogh led the way, combining for 81 goals and 129 points during the year. Keogh led the squad with 49 goals, tying former standouts Mike Leveille and Matt Riter for seventh on the SU season record list.
Defensively, the Orange listed fourth nationally in scoring defense at 7.39 goals per game. It was the team’s highest defensive ranking since the NCAA began tracking the national leaders in 1996. Syracuse held 12 of its 18 opponents to fewer than 10 goals and set a school postseason record with a 6.5 goals-against average in the NCAA Tournament.
Second-team All-American Sid Smith anchored the close defense and John Galloway became the only starting goalie in NCAA history to win the national championship as a freshman and a sophomore. Galloway posted a 7.64 individual goals-against average, which ranked seventh nationally.
THE REGULAR SEASON
Following its season-opening win against the Friars, Syracuse posted a 17-6 victory against Army on to set the stage for one of the most anticipated matchups of the season as the top-ranked Orange hosted second-ranked Virginia in front of 16,595 fans at the Dome. The Cavaliers led by five in the fourth quarter, but the Orange tallied four goals in the last five minutes to get within one before a turnover on the its last possession sealed a 13-12 win for the Cavaliers.
Syracuse responded to its first loss of the year by reeling off a five-game winning streak starting with an 8-5 win at Georgetown. The stretch featured a 14-11 win against Johns Hopkins in a rematch of the 2008 NCAA title game, as well home wins against Binghamton and Hobart and a road triumph at Loyola. Superior defense keyed the Binghamton and Hobart victories as SU didn’t allow a goal for more than 57 straight minutes in the course of the two games. The Orange shut out Binghamton for the final 28:33 of the contest then blanked the Statesman for the first 28:36 of a 13-4 victory three days later.
Against Loyola, the Orange proved to the college lacrosse world that it was never out of a game. Trailing 12-8 in the fourth quarter, Syracuse outscored the Greyhounds, 6-1, in the final 8:06 to extend its winning streak to five. Senior Dan Hardy scored three times during the rally, including the game-winner with 1:17 left to play.
The following weekend, Syracuse traveled to Giants Stadium to take part in the inaugural Big City Classic presented by Inside Lacrosse. The Orange faced Princeton in the centerpiece of a tripleheader that set an NCAA regular-season attendance record for a lacrosse-only event (22,308). Unfortunately, the Orange couldn’t get anything going on offense and lost to the Tigers, 12-8.
The defeat served as a wake-up call and the Orange responded by winning its final five regular-season games against Cornell, Rutgers, Albany, Massachusetts and Colgate. Highlights of the streak included surviving a furious third-quarter rally against Albany in which the Great Danes outscored the Orange 8-1 before SU tallied four goals in the fourth quarter to secure a 15-13 victory.
The following weekend, Syracuse dialed up a 10-3 win at Massachusetts for its first road win against the Minutemen since 2001. Highly-touted junior college transfer Cody Jamieson made his Orange debut in the game, entering the contest late in the fourth quarter. Jamieson had a goal waved off in the waning seconds after an explosive dodge to the cage. Although the goal didn’t count because of a crease violation, the play was a glimpse of his offensive potential.
Jamieson proved to be the final piece for a balanced Orange offense that kept opponents guessing all season. The team’s array of offensive weapons was never more evident than in the regular-season finale against Colgate. The Orange featured 11 different goal scorers, including Jamieson, in a 13-7 triumph versus the Raiders.
ON TO THE PLAYOFFS
Syracuse concluded the regular year with a 12-2 record and earned the NCAA Tournament’s No. 2 seed. In the first round, SU hosted MAAC champion Siena in the Carrier Dome. The overmatched Saints didn’t find the cage until the 3:11 mark of the third quarter. By then they were behind 5-0 and the Orange cruised to an 11-4 victory.
The win set up a quarterfinal showdown with Maryland at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium. With Galloway battling the flu, junior Al Cavalieri made his first start in the cage and stopped 14 shots to lead the Orange past the Terps, 11-6, securing a return trip to Gillette Stadium and a berth in the Final Four. For Syracuse, it was the 26th time it reached the national semifinals and the first time since 2003 and 2004 it did so in back-to-back seasons.
First up for Syracuse on championship weekend was the third-seeded Duke Blue Devils. The Orange rode the hot hands of Nims and Pat Perritt to a resounding 17-7 win. Nims and Perritt recorded four goals and one assist each, and nine different players scored for the Orange in the victory. Syracuse broke the game open late, scoring seven of the last eight goals to earn its 16th trip to the NCAA title game.
Senior Jake Moulton was the team’s unsung hero against Duke, winning a career-high 10 faceoffs as the Orange ended the Blue Devils’ nine-game winning streak.
In the day’s second semifinal, No. 5 seed Cornell upset top-seeded Virginia to set up a Central New York rematch to decide the national championship. The Orange handed Cornell a 15-10 defeat back on April 7, but this wasn’t the same Big Red team Syracuse faced in the regular season. Cornell’s defense had come into its own evidenced by its
15-6 semifinal win against the high-scoring Cavaliers.
The Orange got an up-close look at the revamped Big Red in the title game as Cornell shut down SU’s potent offense for most of the contest and led 9-6 with 5:31 left. But as the Orange proved at Loyola, it could put a bunch of goals on the board in a short amount of time and that’s exactly what happened.
Following a timeout, Keogh scored his second goal of the game to bring the Orange within two, 9-7, with 3:37 remaining. Jamieson narrowed the gap to 9-8 with less than three minutes to play and Syracuse had the ball again with an opportunity to tie the game, but an errant pass gave Cornell possession with 30 seconds left.
All the Big Red had to do was clear the ball and run out the clock and it would break the stranglehold Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Princeton and Virginia had on the NCAA Championship since 1992. But as long as there was time on the clock, Syracuse had a chance and that’s when the program’s mystique took over.
Nims rode hard and forced a loose ball on the ensuing Cornell clear. After a mad scramble, Keogh recovered the ground ball and threw an over-the-head pass to Abbott. Abbott streaked into the box, and while being checked by two Cornell defenders, managed to get off a circus pass to Nims, who found the back of the net on a diving shot with 4.5 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at nine and force overtime.
Despite the huge shift in momentum, Cornell won the faceoff in the extra session, but the Big Red never got off a shot as Smith stripped Ryan Hurley to gain possession for the Orange. On the ensuing possession, Hardy fired a low pass to Jamieson, who scored with 2:40 left in overtime to secure a 10-9 victory.
It was a magical ending to an equally spectacular season that started with the Orange facing the question of how it would defend its 2008 NCAA title. The answer: a balanced offense, a strong defense, a little bit of luck, and one of the most fantastic goals in college lacrosse history.
