File this one under instant classic.
Sixth-seeded Syracuse erased a six-goal halftime deficit, mounted a furious fourth-quarter rally with five goals in 99 seconds, coughed up a one-goal lead with six seconds left and finally put away Harvard on Owen Hiltz’s goal in overtime to escape the first round of the NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse tournament with a 13-12 victory at the JMA Wireless Dome.
It was an unbelievable comeback that had the Dome roaring and left fans breathless like it was the 1990s — an appropriate sentiment considering the Orange’s next opponent.
Syracuse will meet third-seeded Princeton in the NCAA quarterfinals Saturday at Hofstra.
Harvard, which defeated the Orange during the regular season, had them on the ropes again. The Crimson led 8-2 at halftime and Jack Speidell scored twice early in the fourth quarter to stake Harvard to an 11-6 lead with 10:59 remaining.
The turning point came about a minute later. After Syracuse midfielder Luke Rhoa deposited his third goal of the game to make it 11-7 and John Mullen (24-for-28) won yet another faceoff, Harvard went man-down for a minute when defensive midfielder Owen Guest got flagged for a non-releasable cross-check penalty.
Syracuse scored three more times, as Mullen kept winning faceoffs and the Orange man-up unit kept converting. A pair of Trey Deere goals sandwiching a Chuck Kuczynski tally pulled Syracuse within one. Then Rhoa buried a pass from Michael Leo shortly after the penalty released to tie the game at 11 with 8:49 remaining.
The Orange went man-up once more and again made Harvard pay. Leo scored off a feed from Hiltz to put Syracuse ahead 12-11, grabbing its first lead of the game with 3:32 remaining.
It looked like the Orange would seal the comeback win in regulation when long pole Michael Grace dislodged the ball from Crimson midfielder Logan Ip, Syracuse defenseman Nick Caccamo scraped the ball off the turf and Harvard midfielder Andrew Perry pushed him from behind for another penalty with 1:06 remaining.
But Syracuse salting away the clock would be too anticlimactic for this game. Instead, Crimson defenseman got midfielder Sam English to cough up the ball on a double-team with 26 seconds left. Harvard cleared up the field and tied it with six seconds left on a low bouncer by Owen Gaffney from just inside the restraining line.
But Mullen kept winning faceoffs, including the crucial draw in overtime. The ball got to attackman Joey Spallina on the left wing. He fed Hiltz cutting off a screen inside the hash marks and Hiltz buried the lefty bounce shot to win it.
