It was Virginia that actually got off to a quick start. The Cavaliers took advantage of an extra man opportunity when Ian Laviano scored off an assist from Dox Aitken to give Virginia a 3-1 lead with 6:33 left in the first quarter.
But UVa began to struggle, particularly getting ground balls at the faceoff X, when midfielder Ryan Conrad left the game with a knee injury in the first. From there the Orange scored six goals, two each from Dordevic and Brett Kennedy, to close out the first half. A pair of second quarter scores out of the stick of Aitken helped keep Virginia close, but Syracuse still enjoyed a 7-5 lead at halftime.
“Syracuse was able to get us out of our rhythm the first three quarters,” Aitken said. “The bench kind of went quiet for a bit and I'm not sure we responded to it the way we should.”
Dordevic, a rookie from Oregon, finished with a game-high four goals as the Orange extended the lead to 9-5 heading into the final 15 minutes. Even when Virginia managed to get a good look in the third quarter, senior goalie Dom Madonna (10 saves) was there to come up with the big save.
Mike D’Amario scored three-straight goals for the Cavaliers in the fourth quarter as his team rallied to make it close and Jared Conners scored to tie the game with 1:41 left.
But the Orange got the shot it needed to win, with Dordevic beating fellow freshman Alex Rode, who finished with 15 saves.
“It's always fun to beat them,” Dordevic said. “I don't think they have won an ACC game in a while and it's fun to keep that going.”