It took Cornell senior goalie Christian Knight five years to taste his first NCAA tournament victory, and the unseeded Big Red had to overcome a tough — and highly controversial — trip to the Carrier Dome to reach the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time since 2013.

With Sunday’s hard-earned 10-9 victory over eighth-seeded Syracuse in Cornell’s rearview mirror, interim head coach Peter Milliman is obviously pleased on many levels. The Big Red had missed the past two postseasons after suffering through back-to-back losing seasons, before Milliman was promoted to replace Matt Kerwick last year.

But the fact that Knight, the fifth-year senior and this year’s Ivy League tournament MVP, has overcome a season-ending injury and will be leading the Cornell defense on Sunday against top-seeded Maryland at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium is especially satisfying to Milliman.

“Christian is the type of goalie everybody wants on their team, and he’s a great guy who has been through a lot,” Milliman said. “He’s as level-headed and composed as a goalie can be, very athletic and sound fundamentally. He’s as patient as they come. He doesn’t guess.

“Aside from [sophomore star attackman] Jeff [Teat], Christian has been our best player this year, without question. Our defense really trusts him.”

A four-year starter at Cornell, Knight appeared headed for stardom after earning Ivy Rookie of the Year recognition in 2014, a year that ended with an 8-7 first-round tournament loss to Maryland. But the defense and Knight had an up-and-down year in 2015, which Albany ended by blowing out the Big Red in the first round 19-10.

The 2016 season never happened for Knight, thanks to torn right ankle ligaments that required reconstructive surgery and a lengthy rehab. The Big Red suffered through a 6-7 year and a 1-5 showing against the Ivy League. Last year’s 5-8 season, with Knight in the net, ended with another Ivy tournament miss.

“When Coach Milliman took over, we were not going to dwell on the past couple offseasons,” Knight said. “We were going to change our overall culture, go back to being that hustling, hard-working team that gets the little things right, like cleaning the locker room every day.”

Following its season-opening loss to Colgate, the Big Red showed they meant business at both ends of the field by winning 10 of their next 12 games, including hard-fought two-goal losses to Albany and Yale.

Led by Knight, who made 35 saves in the Ivy tournament two weekends ago, Cornell never trailed in the second half of the conference championship game, as it bested Yale 14-8 to clinch an automatic berth in the NCAAs.

On Sunday night, the Big Red (13-4) did not take their first lead until more than 48 minutes had elapsed. Cornell found a way to grind its way past a rough second quarter at the Carrier Dome, where the NCAA tournament selection committee saw fit to send Cornell.

Never mind the fact that Syracuse stumbled through an 8-6 regular season that included several blowout losses at the Dome, or that the Orange got out-classed in Ithaca on April 10, when the Big Red drilled Syracuse 13-8.

Never mind that these two teams simply deserved to face other in Ithaca. The committee essentially decided (for no financial reasons, wink wink) that because Syracuse beat Colgate in its regular-season finale — while Cornell lost its season opener nearly three months ago to Colgate 14-11 — the Orange deserved to host another first-round game.

“Winning a playoff game is special anytime, anywhere. It is super-satisfying,” Knight said.

“The Carrier Dome is a unique place to play. It’s loud, it’s hot, it takes time to adjust to,” Knight added. “Syracuse enjoys a nice advantage there. We just had to settle down and go back to being the hardest-working team we try to be every day.”

Knight wasn’t the only Cornell player rattled early in the second quarter, when Syracuse took a 6-3 lead by scoring three straight goals during a strange 90-second sequence.

Knight’s poorly underthrown clearing pass behind the net turned into an easy Orange goal by Stephen Rehfuss that gave Syracuse a 4-3 edge with 11:51 left in the quarter. The Orange won the ensuing faceoff and Jamie Tromboli scored 23 seconds later to make it 5-3.

After the Orange won the next possession on a faceoff violation, Knight committed a slashing foul behind the cage then gave up another goal by Tromboli with 10:27 to go in the first half.

Milliman called timeout and was forced to replace Knight with sophomore goalie Caelahn Bullen (TV announcers mistakenly questioned Milliman’s decision to pull his goalie, unaware that Knight had been flagged).

Knight spent several minutes on the sideline, during which he watched Cornell attackman Clarke Petterson score the second of his game-high five goals to cut the Syracuse lead to 6-4. Then, shortly after Knight had subbed back in on the fly, he failed to stop a Nate Solomon shot that gave the Orange a 7-4 advantage with 5:54 left in the half.

And that was pretty much it for the Syracuse offense, which scored twice over the game’s final 36 minutes.

Meanwhile, the Big Red offense fed off of Syracuse turnovers (15) and capitalized on the Orange’s four penalties by scoring three extra-man goals that ultimately decided the game, as Colton Rupp tallied the eventual game-winner with 5:35 left.

Cornell also fought through the effective shutoff of Teat (one assist, one shot taken) by Syracuse defenseman Nick Mellen.

Through it all, the Big Red overcame a 16-6 faceoff domination by the Orange, while Knight stood tall by making six of his eight saves in a second half the Big Red won 5-2. Knight made two great saves in the final five minutes to preserve the 10-9 lead.

It was quite a night of drama for Knight, who is playing with a thigh contusion on his heavily wrapped right leg that he suffered during a 20-13 rout at Penn on March 24. That caused Knight to miss four of the next five games, a stretch that included most of the Harvard game he started before exiting early on April 7.

With nearly 10 minutes left on Sunday night, Knight took an awkward step around the crease and appeared to be in pain, as he staggered. Milliman called timeout with a 9-8 lead to check on his goalie (TV announcers unfairly criticized Milliman for burning a timeout too early).

In the end, Milliman, Knight and the rest of the Big Red had the last word. In the end, Cornell earned a chance to knock off the defending national champions. Maryland is defending its first title in 42 years, while Cornell is aiming to end its championship drought that dates to 1977.

Knight ranks fourth in Cornell history with 593 career saves. He is seventh in Division I in save percentage (.574) and 10th in saves per game (11.69).