Maryland Lacrosse Team Edges Syracuse 6-5 In OT At Gillette
FOXBOROUGH (AP) - Unseeded Maryland beat top-seeded Syracuse 6-5 to advance in the NCAA lacrosse tournament Sunday, gaining the semifinals when Grant Catalino took a pass from Ryan Young behind the net and beat Orange goalie John Galloway with 32 seconds left in overtime.
"It was a setup play we had put in earlier in the week," said Catalino, a 6-foot-5, 225-pound attacker from Webster, N.Y. "We had run it several times earlier in the game."
The Terrapins will play the winner of Sunday's second quarterfinal between Duke and Notre Dame in a semifinal at M&T Bank
Stadium in Baltimore on Saturday.
Maryland midfielder Scott LaRue scored his second goal of the game with 1 second left in the third quarter to put Maryland ahead 5-3, but Syracuse battled back in the final period to tie it on goals by Jeremy Thompson and Jovan Miller.
It was Syracuse's first loss on at Gillette Stadium, where the 11-time NCAA champions won the 2008 and 2009 national titles. The
Orange were making their 29th appearance in the national quarterfinals.
"I'm really happy for our players," Maryland Coach John Tillman said. "We knew what we were staring down when we saw the seeding -- it's going to be a hard road, but we're used to it."
Maryland's strategy of holding the ball for long periods led to 10 stall warnings, but also limited the number of possessions for the Orange (15-2). Tillman credited midfielder Curtis Holmes with winning the key faceoffs that allowed Maryland (12-4) to play keep away with the Syracuse defense.
"At one point, I looked up in the third quarter, and there was 9:30 left and we hadn't had a possession yet," Syracuse Coach John
Desko said.
With the score tied 5-5 early in overtime, Syracuse had a fast-break opportunity, but midfielder Kevin Drew, with a clear field ahead, overshot the goal and the Orangemen lost possession.
"I'm not calling a timeout when there's only been five goals scored in the game," said Desko.
Thompson split a pair of Maryland defenders to score an unassisted goal with 3:03 left in the first quarter to give Syracuse a 1-0 lead and Miller launched a scorching overhead shot from 15 yards with 4:45 left in the second quarter that beat Maryland goalie Niko Amato to make it 2-0.
Maryland got on the board with 3:58 left in the half when Drew Snider took a pass from Young right in front of the goal and beat Galloway. The Terps' LaRue took it all the way in by himself and his high shot with 2:03 left in the half to tie it 2-2.
Jake Bernhardt took a pass from behind the goal from Travis Reed and scored with 9:37 left in the third to give Maryland a 3-2 lead, and Reed then blistered a low shot past Galloway two minutes later for a 4-2 lead.
A Great individual effort by Syracuse's JoJo Marasco closed it to 4-3 before Maryland took possession late in the third quarter after a stalling penalty on Syracuse. LaRue's shot beat the clock, giving Maryland a 5-3 lead after three quarters.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
