Syracuse Lacrosse Remains No. 1 After Holding Off Georgetown

It wasn't pretty and it wasn't ideal but Syracuse held off Georgetown on Saturday with a 9-8 overtime win in the FaceOff Classic.

Stephen Keogh, thy name is hero.

His hard right-handed bounce shot ripped through the legs of Georgetown goalie Jack Davis with 2 minutes, 19 seconds left in the first sudden-death overtime period and lifted Syracuse to a 9-8 victory in the Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium. Total attendance for the triple-header, which also featured Virginia-Cornell and Johns Hopkins-UMBC, was 17,057.

"I pretty much just let it rip," said Keogh, the game’s MVP with four goals and an assist. "Me and Galloway are out there every day. I pretty much know where the spots are."

The game-winner was Keogh's 14th career goal against Georgetown. Watch game highlights here.

With the win the Orange maintain their spot atop the rankings as the No. 1 team in the land.

Over in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll the Orange received every first-place vote. Virginia, Notre Dame, Hofstra and Stony Brook round out the top five.

In the USILA Division I Coaches Poll, Syracuse is also No. 1. I was ready to go apoplectic when I saw someone gave Virginia a No. 1 vote until I realized it was probably Coach Desko. The same four teams followed up the Orange in the top five.

The Big East has three ranked teams this week (No. 1 SU, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 18/15 Villanova).

Big East Standings

No. 1 Syracuse 4-0 (1-0)

No. 3 Notre Dame 4-0 (0-0)

Providence 3-0 (0-0)

No. 18 Villanova 5-1 (0-0)

Rutgers 4-1 (0-0)

Georgetown 2-3 (1-1)

St. John's 1-3 (0-1)

• Weird week preceding Georgetown game had Syracuse University lacrosse team "disheveled"...Dave Rahme
• Syracuse University lacrosse goalie John Galloway set record, but celebration will have to wait...Dave Rahme
• WHAT WE LEARNED FROM SYRACUSE-GEORGETOWN...Inside Lacrosse
• Postscript from Syracuse vs. Georgetown...Baltimore Sun