The Syracuse Orange won a classic battle against he Army Black Knights on Sunday, 10-9 in the Carrier Dome. Luke Cometti scored the go-ahead goal with about seven minutes left and the Orange buckled down to stave off the Knights for the victory.
The game saw seven ties and four lead changes and the Orange overcame 25 turnovers and a scoreless second period to grab the victory and move to 2-0.
The surprise move of the game ended up being a key part of the win. After the half, starting goal Matt Lerman sat down and back-up Dominic Lamolinara played the rest of the game. Lamolinara took a shot off the helmet with three seconds left to play to seal up the victory.
Credit SU coach John Desko for sticking with his pregame plan to replace starter Matt Lerman with Lamolinara at the half even though the Orange was trailing 5-4. Lamolinara (6-foot-2) has four inches on Lerman (5-10), and that might have made the difference on the critical stop. But mostly credit Lamolinara, who put on his thinking cap and analyzed the situation when Army coach Joe Alberici called a timeout with 18 seconds left to set up the final play.
Oh and check out Tim Desko's one-hander...
It was a crazy weekend in college lacrosse as No. 2 Notre Dame followed up their impressive win over Duke with a shocking loss to Penn State. While they flopped all over in the media and coaches polls, the Orange remained at No. 6 in the media and surged to No. 3 in the coaches. Over at College Crosse, Glaude did a composite poll that shows the Orange are No. 4 overall.
Quint Kessenich isn't a believer in the Orange just yet, he's still got them at ninth.
The Orange topped Army, 10-9, on Sunday. Their win over Albany looked better on paper than it did on DVD. I liked what I saw from Hakeem Lecky, Ryan Barber, Joe Fazio and Matt Harris against the Great Danes, but the lack of transition and ball movement on offense is a long term concern.
Next up for the Orange is a bigtime showdown with the No. 1 Virginia Cavaliers on Sunday, March 4 on ESPN. We'll know everything we need to know about this Syracuse team after that one.