NCAA Lacrosse: Syracuse Tops Cornell in a Thriller

Cornell will forever be haunted by the No. 22 SU jersey.

On a sunny night in Ithaca, N.Y., the Syracuse University men's lacrosse team beat Cornell in their first meeting since last year’s championship game.

This game was reminiscent of that championship game as well. When Cornell seemed to have the game locked away, the Orange stormed from two goals down in the fourth quarter to steal a game from the Big Red.

The No. 2 Orange had a strong performance from Cody Jameison, No. 22 for SU, to beat the No. 10 Big Red. Jameison scored two goals in the fourth quarter to help tie the game at 7-7. Both those goals were almost identical to the one that brought home the Orange's 11th championship last year.

SU midfielder Jovan Miller had a very good game using his physical strength to hold back the Cornell defenders and get off his powerful shot.

Posted on the crease, Jameison rifled two shots past the Big Red's freshman goalie AJ Fiore. This time there was no field long sprint to embrace his friend Sid Smith, no this was not a championship game, but just a regular season thriller in which SU was battling to retain their No. 2 ranking.

Fiore, a true freshman, put up a career day. He stopped 20 shots, three with his foot, and proved that he could handle just about anything the Orange launched his way.

SU dominated in almost every category, they doubled up the Big Red in shots, taking 40 to Cornell’s 20, had 20 more ground balls, and won more of the faceoffs going 12 for 16.

Even with a commanding lead in all of the stats it still came down to the last second to squeak out a win against a very talented Cornell lacrosse team.

The Orange’s Joel White cleared the ball to midfield, passed it off, and seconds later it was in the competent hands of Jameison.

Jameison made a power move to the top of the crease past his defender, got his hands free, and fired a shot at the goal. Fiore, as he had done all night made a spectacular save with 10 seconds left. The rebound trickled out to a Cornell defenseman, but Daniello made a hard check on his stick.

The faithful Cornell fans, all 7,235 of them filed out of the stadium in stunned silence. SU attackman Chris Daniello had broken their hearts just as Cody Jameison had done last year. With less than a second left Daniello rifled a shot past Fiore and sealed another victory for the Orange.

When SU coach John Desko was asked about his team's tendencies to come from behind he only had this to say, "That’s pretty much our trademark".

I guess winning the close games is a good trademark to have.