Cavaliers Down 'Cuse in OT

In another classic battle between No. 14 Syracuse (2-2, 0-1 ACC) and No. 10 Virginia (3-2, 1-0 ACC), overtime was needed to decide the winner. Unfortunately for 'Cuse, going man-down for the seventh time in the extra session would ultimately create a prolonged offensive possession for the Cavaliers, who won 15-14 in the extra session.

After the Orange took their largest lead early in the fourth quarter, the Hoos came roaring back, winning on a Mikey Herring shot that snuck past Drake Porter. Porter was otherwise strong in net once again, making 14 saves. Bradley Voigt and Jacob Buttermore each registered hat tricks, while Stephen Rehfuss (2-1) and Brendan Curry (1-2) also recorded a trio of points. The man-down unit did an exceptional job as well. The Orange were penalized 11 times to UVA's three, but the 'Cuse defense kept them to 2-of-9 on the extra-man.

"Obviously, we're not happy with the loss here in the Carrier Dome," said head coach John Desko. "I thought both teams played extremely hard and they had a little bit more offense than we did going down the stretch and I'm disappointed in that. We would like to have gotten that one today, but we didn't and now we've got to roll up our sleeves and get back to work next week because we've got the Blue Jays coming in a week from today."

Syracuse started the scoring off a goal from Jacob Buttermore five minutes in after a sloppy start to the game, but from there it was back and forth almost all afternoon. Virginia responded a few minutes later with a Matt Moore tally, then Syracuse added two more off the sticks of Buttermore and Nate Solomon. The goals made the score 3-1 with 2:41 left in the first quarter. That seemed to have ended the scoring in the opening frame, but Virginia pushed back within one as time expired in the period by Michael Kraus.

Virginia used the momentum of the last second goal to tack on two more – one from Ryan Conrad
and another from Kraus - giving Virginia its first lead of the afternoon with a 4-3 advantage. Syracuse responded with two of its own from the first midfield unit thanks to Jamie Trimboli and David Lipka, but the Cavaliers added another from a midfielder of their own to tie the game with 4:09 left. Dox Aitken scored on the man-up unit to equalize the game at five. Syracuse out-scored the Cavaliers 2-1 in the rest of the half to take a 7-6 lead into the break.

The teams traded goals for most of the third quarter, as the teams combined to tally seven goals in the period, four from Syracuse and three from Virginia.

Syracuse used two early goals in the fourth to extend its lead to 13-9 with only 10:02 left in the game. An Aitken goal with nine minutes to go cut the Orange lead to 13-10, and Virginia extended its scoring run to 3-0 with two more goals, cutting SU's lead down to one again. Voigt then found himself alone in front of the net on the man-down unit and slammed home a pass from Andrew Helmer to give Syracuse a two-goal cushion with 3:45 left. Virginia wouldn't be deterred, adding goals from Jared Conners with 2:09 to go and Kraus with 1:12 left in the period to force a overtime.

Virginia won the draw to start OT and immediately drew a penalty near the cage, causing nearly a three-minute possession. With 1:31 left on the OT clock, a shot from Mikey Herring found a lane past Porter, giving Virginia a 15-14 victory.

Syracuse is back in action next Saturday, as non-conference rival Johns Hopkins visits the Dome for a 1 p.m. faceoff. The game features the two winningest programs in college lacrosse history on ACC Network Extra.

GAME NOTES: This is the fifth-straight one-goal game between Syracuse and Virginia, evening the all-time series at 18 each … The all-time goals scored between the two is also even at 466 goals apiece in the 36 matchups … Nate Solomon's point streak sits at 21-games, 15th nationally … Buttermore's hat trick ties his career-high goal total from Colgate last season … The loss snaps a nine-game winning streak in regulation conference games.