On a night when Syracuse could not win faceoffs nor contain Tewaaraton finalist Ben Reeves, the Orange needed a big game from goalie Evan Molloy, and the redshirt senior delivered. 

Molloy made 15 saves and Stephen Rehfuss scored the go-ahead goal with 2:09 remaining to lead second-seeded Syracuse to an 11-10 victory over Yale in an NCAA tournament first-round game at the Carrier Dome — another improbable one-goal win for Cardiac Cuse.

The Orange (13-2) improved to 9-2 in one-goal games this season despite possessing just four of 22 faceoffs as a result of Bulldogs junior Conor Mackie's dominance. Propelled by that possession imbalance, Yale outshot Syracuse 20-5 in the first quarter, but Molloy's six saves in the quarter kept the Bulldogs at bay, and a buzzer-beating goal by Sergio Salcido tied the game at 3.

After Nick Mariano scored to put Syracuse up 4-3 in the second quarter, Reeves got hot, scoring twice to ignite a four-goal Yale run.

The Orange  trailed 8-6 late in the third quarter, but sprung to life again with three unanswered goals in the waning minutes, including a last-second score by Jamie Trimboli that gave Syracuse a 9-8 lead.

Ryan Simmons made it 10-8, but Reeves scored twice in a span of 71 seconds to tie it with 6:01 remaining. The junior attackman surpassed National Lacrosse Hall of Famer Jon Reese (200 points) as Yale's all-time leading scorer.

After Rehfuss put the Orange back up by one, Molloy made perhaps the biggest play of the game, navigating in and out of a scrum in front of the goal with one minute remaining, surfacing with the ball. Molloy cleared it down the field to Jordan Evans, who wisely passed up a shot on goal. After a Syracuse timeout, the Orange held onto the ball to kill the clock.

Syracuse will play Towson in the NCAA quarterfinals next Sunday in Newark, Del.

LeClaire, Carey bail out turnover-prone Buckeyes

COLUMBUS — The play of one of the nation’s emerging talents combined with a hot goalkeeper helped the Ohio State men’s lacrosse team overcome what ailed it during the first round of the NCAA tournament Sunday.

Freshman Tre Leclaire, who had 41 goals during the regular season, scored three times as the third-seeded Buckeyes beat Loyola 7-4 in Ohio Stadium.

The fact that Ohio State committed 19 turnovers and was outshot 44-22 by the Greyhounds, though, reflected heavily on the play of goalkeeper Tom Carey.

The Buckeyes’ redshirt senior finished with 12 saves as his team improved to 14-4 and moves on to play Duke on May 20 in the next round.

“It definitely helped to get a few [saves] early,” Carey said. “That helps you get into a rhythm. Obviously we don’t want to give up a lot of shots, but we’ve just got to get better at communicating in those situations.”

Loyola, which finished 10-6, also has one of the nation’s top offensive players in sophomore attackman Pat Spencer.

He entered the game with 27 goals and 55 assists but was held to one goal by a Buckeyes defense that coach Nick Myers believes is back on track after giving up double-digit goals in each of its final four games of the regular season.

“I’m proud of the way our men adjusted and fought,” Myers said. “There are moments you need to hunker down. We never felt like we were out of the woods, but I’m really proud of our play from the defensive end of the field.

“All year we’ve done an incredible job of sharing the ball. I felt like we left several goals on the board as well, but I’m proud of being able to win in different ways.”

The Buckeyes led 2-0 heading into the second period after getting goals from Leclaire with 8:09 to go in the first quarter and Colin Chell with 3:44 left in the period.

The Greyhounds cut it to 2-1 with 11:49 left in the second quarter when Romar Dennis picked up rebound following a shot by Zack Sirico and threw it into the net.

After a goal by Ohio State’s Austin Shanks made it 3-1 with 10:23 to go before halftime, Loyola’s Jared Mintzlaff cut it to 3-2 with 7:01 left in the second quarter.

Both teams seemed on the verge of getting untracked early in the third quarter, but the Greyhounds never were able to get over the hump.

The Buckeyes made it 4-2 with 12:37 left in the third period on a goal by Eric Fannell.

Then with 10:29 to go in the third, Spencer scored his only goal on a wrap-around from eight yards out.

“We got a lot of good looks,” Spencer said. “We just didn’t bury them today. Most of the games we bury them, but today we ran into a hot goaltender.”

Leclaire made it 5-3 with 9:21 to go in the third off a pass from Jack Jasinski.

The Greyhounds cut it to 5-4 with 8:48 left in the third on a wrap-around goal by Zack Sirico but got no closer.

“We really try to push the ball in transition and [Carey] made some very good saves early on,” Loyola coach Charley Toomey said. “I don’t think we’re going to pull the reins back on our guys, but after [Carey] stuffed us a couple times, we just didn’t want them getting into an up-and-down game. But I don’t think they did anything we weren’t prepared for today. We got some pretty good looks in transition and I’d have a hard time telling them not to take those looks.”

— Jarrod Ulrey

Notre Dame mines depth to beat Marquette

With its top attackman and top midfielder nursing injuries, fourth-seeded Notre Dame found reserves Sunday, easily defeating Marquette 15-9 in an NCAA tournament first-round game at Arlotta Stadium in South Bend, Ind.

Brendan Gleason scored five goals and Brendan Collins added four, propelling the Irish to the NCAA quarterfinals for the eighth straight year, the longest active streak in the country. Notre Dame will play fifth-seeded Denver next Saturday in Hempstead, N.Y.

Attackman Ryder Garnsey (foot) and midfielder Sergio Perkovic (wrist) both suited up for the Irish despite lingering injuries. Garnsey had a goal and two assists, while Perkovic was limited to one assist, shooting 0-for-8.

Notre Dame scored twice in the final 57 seconds of the first half to pull ahead 7-4 and maintained a comfortable lead the rest of the way. Shane Doss made 12 saves for the Irish.

 

 

Division I First Round

(1) Maryland 13, Bryant 10 (Recap)
(2) Syracuse 11, Yale 10
(3) Ohio State 7, Loyola 4
(4) Notre Dame 15, Marquette 9

Division I Quarterfinals

Saturday (Hempstead, N.Y.)
(3) Ohio State vs. Duke - 12 p.m. (ESPNU)
(4) Notre Dame vs. (5) Denver - 2:30 p.m. (ESPNU)

Sunday (Newark, Del.)
(2) Syracuse vs. Towson - 12 p.m. (ESPN2)
(1) Maryland vs. (8) Albany - 2:30 p.m. (ESPN2)