Orange escape with victory
In another close meeting of rivals, Blue Jays offense fails to put Syracuse away
Syracuse junior Brendan Bomberry scored on an assist from fellow midfielder Sergio Salcido with 2:58 left in the four-minute sudden-death overtime period as the No. 6 Orange defeated No. 14 Johns Hopkins, 8-7, before a crowd of nearly 3,000 on Saturday at Homewood Field.
Johns Hopkins had taken a 7-6 lead when long-stick midfielder Robert Kuhn scooped up a ground ball after a faceoff and ran down the middle of the field for a goal with 5:58 left in the game.
Kuhn’s goal was the third in a row for the Blue Jays, who seemed to have captured the momentum of the game. But with 33.4 seconds left in regulation, Syracuse midfielder Nick Mariano delivered an over-the-shoulder goal, one that the Orange have made famous through the years, to tie the game.
The next goal came from Bomberry. As Salcido drove down the left alley, the Blue Jays slid over to defend him and he slipped a high pass to Bomberry, who looked like a power forward delivering a tap-in for the goal a few yards outside the crease.
On each of Syracuse’s last two goals, Hopkins slid hard and paid for it.
“In the last two games, we didn’t play with great intensity or effort,” Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said. “I will take the effort we had today; now we just have to package it together for the next game.
“Give Syracuse credit, they played well, gave a great effort and made one more play than we did. Defensively I thought we did a good job, held this team to seven goals for four quarters. But we have to make plays when the pressure is on. We didn’t overslide during the entire game, but we did during their last two goals.”
The game-winning goal set off a wild celebration for Syracuse, which has been involved in five one-goal games this season, winning four.
The Syracuse-Hopkins series is one of the greatest rivalries in college athletics. It was a sloppy offensive game for both teams for most of three quarters, but it turned out to be another fiercely competitive contest. The teams have played 14 one-goal games in their past 29 meetings, seven one-goal games since 2005 and three in a row.
Hopkins (4-3) has lost three straight since a 4-0 start.
The Blue Jays were led in scoring by Kuhn and attackman Wilkins Dismuke, who each scored two goals, but the team still has to find some offense. The Jays appear to be out of kilter and they’re trying to manufacture goals because they don’t have a dominant playmaker.
Syracuse took a 3-2 lead into halftime with Salcido’s extra-man goal with 1:33 left in the second period.
The Blue Jays were penalized 30 seconds for interference with 1:49 remaining and Salcido placed a high, hard shot into the right side of the goal.
The teams were tied at 2 at the end of the first quarter.
Hopkins scored first on an extra-man goal by Dismuke with 8:57 left in the first, but the Orange tied the game almost three minutes later on a goal by attackman Nate Solomon.
Syracuse outshot Hopkins 32-31, and the Blue Jays finished with a 27-22 ground-ball advantage. Syracuse J. Hopkins Goals: S—Mariano 2, Solomon 2, Bomberry, Cifferi, Dearth, Salcido; JH—Dismuke 2, Kuhn 2, Concannon, Marr, Tinney. Assists: S—Salcido 2, Evans, Molloy, Simmons, Trimboli; JH—Marr 2, Fraser, Moreland, Stanwick. Saves: S—Molloy 7; JH—Logan 10.