Syracuse, N.Y. — The No. 6 seed Syracuse lacrosse team takes on the Harvard Crimson in the first round of the NCAA tournament at 5 p.m., Sunday in the JMA Wireless Dome.
The game will air on ESPNU.
See in-game team and individual stats here.
Note: Refresh this page throughout Syracuse’s game vs. Harvard to see the latest updates
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FINAL: Syracuse 13, Harvard 12 (OT)
The Syracuse University men’s lacrosse team pulled off an incredible comeback Sunday night at the JMA Wireless Dome, escaping a six-goal deficit at halftime to beat Harvard 13-12 in overtime.
Owen Hiltz scored the game-winning goal off a feed from Joey Spallina with 3:09 remaining in overtime.
Syracuse struggled to overcome Harvard’s physicality for three quarters, committing a season-high 20 turnovers on the day, but found its groove in the fourth-quarter, out-scoring the Crimson 7-3 in the final frame.
SU scored seven of the game’s last eight goals to claim the NCAA Tournament victory over the Crimson.
The Orange took full advantage of late penalties by Harvard as four of its goals scored in the fourth quarter came on man-up opportunities.
John Mullen won face-off after face-off down the stretch to give Syracuse the possessions it needed to pull off the comeback. Mullen finished 24-of-28 on face-offs for the day.
Luke Rhoa led Syracuse with four goals.
Syracuse moves on to face Princeton on Saturday at Hofstra University. A time will be announced later.
FOURTH QUARTER
:06 remaining: Syracuse 12, Harvard 12
Owen Gaffney rips home a shot with just six seconds remaining. A turnover gave Harvard life and they take advantage tie to the game.
3:32 remaining: Syracuse 12, Harvard 11
Michael Leo gives Syracuse the lead! Owen Hiltz flipped him the behind-the-back pass and Leo rips it home for the score.
It was the fourth man-up goal for SU in the fourth quarter and the sixth consecutive score for the Orange.
9:11 remaining: Harvard 11, Syracuse 11
Trey Deere scores to cut Harvard’s lead to one-goal and Luke Rhoa scores just seconds later to tie the game!
The Orange score five straight to tie the game.
What. A. Comeback.
SU has out-scored Harvard 6-2 in the fourth quarter. 3 of those goals were on the man-up.
9:50 remaining: Harvard 11, Syracuse 9
Nick Caccamo scores to cut Harvard’s lead to goal.
10:00 remaining: Harvard 11, Syracuse 8
Trey Deere scores on the man-up off a feed from Joey Spallina. Deere did a nice job staying out of the crease by scoring on one leg.
10:28 remaining: Harvard 11, Syracuse 7
Luke Rhoa scores his third goal of the day to cut Harvard’s lead down to four goals. A good response for SU, but the clock is ticking.
10:59 remaining: Harvard 11, Syracuse 6
Just as it has all day, Harvard squashes any hint of Orange momentum with a score just over a minute after English’s goal to build its lead back up to five goals.
12:03 remaining: Harvard 10, Syracuse 6
Sam English rips home a long-distance shot to cut Harvard’s lead down to four.
13:37 remaining: Harvard 10, Syracuse 5
Jack Speidell scores to give Harvard a five-goal lead. It’s do-or-die time for Syracuse to save its season.
THIRD QUARTER
2:24 remaining: Harvard 9, Syracuse 5
Joey Spallina scores his first goal of the day, charging to the cage and scoring the off-angle goal.
4:12 remaining: Harvard 9, Syracuse 4
Sam King beats Riley Figueiras to the net and rifles home the score.
6:38 remaining: Harvard 8, Syracuse 4
The Orange score just 10 seconds later as Nick Caccamo scores a long-pole goal right off the face-off.
6:48 remaining: Harvard 8, Syracuse 3
Payton Anderson comes out to score. He drives right and dodges back left for the score.
HALFTIME: Harvard 8, Syracuse 2
Just a disaster of a half for Syracuse, who were completely man-handled by Harvard. The Crimson lead the country in averaging 11.79 turnovers per game and SU committed 12 turnovers in the first half alone.
Harvard had 10 turnovers as well but looks much sharper than Syracuse in all aspects of the game short of face-offs, which SU won 9-3. But that stat has been made a moot point by all of the Orange turnovers.
SU goaltender Jimmy McCool made just one save. Frankly, the score could be worse than it is but McCool got some help from the pipes as well as Harvard rang it several times.
Teddy Malone and Logan Ip lead Harvard with two goals each.
Luke Rhoa had both goals for the Orange.
Second Quarter
4:26 remaining: Harvard 8, Syracuse 2
Just when SU had a flicker of momentum, Logan Ip drives to the net and scores less than a minute after SU’s goal to put Harvard up by 6.
5:15 remaining: Harvard 7, Syracuse 2
Luke Rhoa scores his second goal of the day unassisted as he charges to the net and bounces home the score.
7:06 remaining: Harvard 7, Syracuse 1
Owen Guest scores for the Crimson as Sam English turns it over for SU and Harvard gets another easy run at the cage.
English spent way too much time cradling and trying to beat his man to no avail.
The Orange are up to 9 turnovers on the day. Harvard leads the nation in caused turnovers per game (11.79).
8:36 remaining: Harvard 6, Syracuse 1
Miles Botkiss scores on the man-up to give Harvard a 5-goal lead.
Syracuse is just flat-out losing its composure, picking up three flags in one sequence. Chuck Kuczynski with a slash included with a hit to the head on Harvard’s Logan Ip. Riley Figueiras picks up a hold right after that.
SU is out of sorts right now
11:36 remaining: Harvard 5, Syracuse 1
Logan Ip scores for Harvard this time. The Crimson cleared the ball quickly after SU’s 7th turnover of the day and Ip had a clear path to the net.
12:34 remaining: Harvard 4, Syracuse 1
Teddy Malone scores his second goal of the day and it was nothing fancy. He just charged the net and best his man to put Harvard up by 3.
First Quarter
3:34 remaining: Harvard 3, Syracuse 1
A Luke Rhoa rocket puts SU on the board. Rhoa fired it past Graham Stevens from 15-yards out.
10:11 remaining: Harvard 3, Syracuse 0
John Aurandt charges the net and scores unassisted for the Crimson.
12:04 remaining: Harvard 2, Syracuse 0
Sam King scores for the Crimson. SU goalie Jimmy McCool initially made the save, but the ball trickled behind him and went in the net.
14:12 remaining: Harvard 1, Syracuse 0
Teddy Malone opens the scoring for the Crimson less than one minute into the game. Harvard won the opening face-off and cashed in early.
Pregame
Syracuse (11-5) enters Sunday’s NCAA tournament off an ACC championship, defeating Notre Dame and Duke in Charlotte, North Carolina last weekend.
Harvard (10-4) received an at-large bid out of the Ivy League.
Sunday’s matchup is a rematch from the regular season, a 15-14 win by Harvard over Syracuse at the dome on Feb. 22.
SU goalie Jimmy McCool had his worst game of the season against Harvard, making just five saves and eventually getting pulled from the game.
McCool had a bad day against Harvard but has been one of the best goalies nationally overall finishing 11th nationally in save percentage (.565). He was named ACC tournament MVP, making a combined 30 saves.
“You’re going to see a different look, a different game than you did that first time,” Syracuse coach Gary Gait said. “If we execute in all the areas, I think we’ll be in great shape.”
Harvard is led by attack Sam King, who has tallied 64 points (35 goals, 29 assists), earning Tewaaraton Award finalist status.
King will likely draw SU’s Riley Figueiras as his defender. Figueiras held Duke attack Eric Malever scoreless and Tewaaraton Award finalist Chris Kavanagh to just two goals in the ACC tournament.
A key matchup to watch in today’s game is faceoffs.
Syracuse’s John Mullen has been dominant at the face-off X, finishing second nationally with 234 wins.
Mullen was on an absolute heater in the ACC tournament, winning 34-of-43 (79%) of the face-offs he took against Notre Dame and Duke.
Harvard had the second-worst face-off percentage in Division I (.393).
That noted, Mullen won 28-of-31 face-offs against Harvard on Feb. 22 and SU still lost.
