Mikey Herring was certainly an unlikely hero for Virginia on Saturday at the Carrier Dome. For one, Herring hadn’t scored a goal all season entering the fourth quarter of the Cavaliers’ matchup with Syracuse.

But more importantly, Virginia found itself trailing by four goals with 10 minutes remaining in the ACC opener for both teams. It would take a comeback to stop Virginia from moving to 2-3 on the season. The overall record in 36 meetings is 18-18. The total scoring for the rivalry? 466-466.

And that’s just what the Cavaliers got in one of the top rivalries in the history of the sport. Virginia scored five of six goals to force overtime with Syracuse, and then Herring found the game-winner with 1:31 left in overtime on a lefty finish to give the visitors a 15-14 victory.

MIKEY HERRING IS THE HERO

He scores the lefty for @UVAMensLax to down @CuseMLAX in overtime at the Carrier Dome 15-14. Cavaliers trailed 13-9 in the 4Q. pic.twitter.com/2mEralIUOS

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) March 2, 2019

Jacob Buttermore had two goals in a low-scoring first quarter that ended with Syracuse leading 3-2. Jamie Trimboli repeated that feat, tallying two goals in the second quarter to outduel Ryan Conrad, Michael Kraus and Ian Laviano and give Syracuse the 7-6 halftime lead. Lars Tiffany elected to go with goalie Alex Rode in the second half over Patrick Burkinshaw, who had 24 saves in his first start last week.

The teams went back-and-forth through the early third quarter, until Stephen Rehfuss notched his first goal of the season, which ignited the crowd. Peter Dearth added another to give Syracuse an 11-8 lead with under three minutes left in the third quarter.

Rehfuss scored his second of the season with 10:02 left, giving the Orange their biggest lead at 13-9. Dox Aitken, Matt Moore and Conrad combined to cut the deficit to 13-12 with 5:36 left. Voigt made it 14-12 on a man-down goal with 3:45 remaining.

Virginia won two straight faceoffs, which led to goals by Jared Conners (pole goal) and Conrad to send the game to overtime, where Herring won it for the Cavaliers. Virginia won seven of nine faceoffs in the fourth quarter and overtime to give itself a chance to come back. 

Kraus finished with three goals and three assists, while Voigt and Buttermore each had hat tricks for Syracuse.

Denver Pulls Away

It was a stark contrast between the field conditions when North Carolina hosted Johns Hopkins last week to the field turf that the Tar Heels debuted in their matchup with Denver on Saturday. North Carolina hosted the Pioneers in the first game at UNC Soccer and Lacrosse Stadium.

However, the result of both games was the same. The Tar Heels, despite battling in a back-and-forth affair, fell victim to a strong second-half by Denver and lost 12-10.

Down 6-4 at halftime, Denver caught fire in the second half, breaking a 9-9 tie with a three-goal rally in the fourth quarter. Goalie Alex Ready had three saves in the final period, part of an 11-save game.

The teams traded rallies in the first half, but North Carolina tacked on two goals to take the 6-4 lead at the break. Justin Anderson had two goals in the half, which saw the Tar Heels win nine of 12 faceoffs.

Ted Sullivan opened the second half with two goals for Denver, pulling the game into a 6-6 tie. The teams traded goals until the Pioneers’ fourth-quarter run that sealed the game. William Perry led North Carolina with four goals.

Yale Downs UMass in OT

Matt Gaudet scored a game-winning goal in overtime to help Yale come back to beat UMass 12-11 in a rematch of the 2019 NCAA first-round matchup. The winner came after the Minutemen tied the game with 0.4 seconds left on a Jeff Trainor goal.

What. A. Finish. @UMassMLacrosse ties the game with 0.4 seconds left and forces overtime, where @YaleLacrosse survives on a Matt Gaudet game-winner. 12-11 Bulldogs. pic.twitter.com/p1OaEHsQy7

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) March 2, 2019

The Yale comeback overshadows a strong effort from the visiting Minutemen, who led by as many as five goals in the second half. Ben Spencer had two goals in the first quarter to help UMass jump out to a 4-1 lead.

Billy Philpott added his second goal, and Devin Spencer another, to go back-and-forth with Yale and take a 6-3 halftime lead. Devin Spencer and Scott Del Zotto expanded the UMass lead to 8-3 coming out of the break.

Yale found its offense in the third quarter, with four different goal scorers combining for a rally that cut the deficit to one goal entering the final period. Shortly into the fourth quarter, Jackson Morrill tied the game at 8-8 off an assist from Gaudet.

The Bulldogs continued winning faceoffs and scoring goals, with Brendan Rooney scoring twice in two minutes to push into an 11-9 lead with 5:30 left. TD Ierlan won 12 of 14 faceoffs in the second half, but the Bulldogs couldn't add to the lead.

Trainor scored twice in the final 41 seconds to tie the game and send it to overtime. Yale outshout UMass 50-28, but Sean Sconone had 14 saves to help the Minutemen. Jackson Morrill had a goal and four assists to lead the Yale effort.

Cornell Withstands Albany Rally

Connor Fletcher’s goal with 13 seconds remaining proved to be the game-winner for Cornell, which blew a five-goal fourth-quarter rally to down an Albany team without Tehoka Nanticoke 17-16.

Nanticoke, according to Lax Sports Network, was not with the team due to an “internal matter.”

John Piatelli scored Cornell’s first four goals in the first quarter, but Albany had an answer thanks to names like Jakob Patterson and Sean Eccles.

The teams went back-and-forth through halftime and into the third quarter. Up 12-11 late in the quarter, Jonathan Donville and two other scorers combined for a four-goal rally to take a five-goal lead with 14:27 left.

Albany mounted a furious comeback with five different scorers over 13 minutes to tie the game on a Jack Burgmaster goal with 1:13 left. Cornell won the ensuing faceoff and Fletcher scorer the game-winner a minute later.

Spencer Drops 11 Points on Holy Cross

In its first game since being upset by Towson on Wednesday night, Loyola won its Patriot League opener 19-15 over Holy Cross at Ridley Athletic Complex. Pat Spencer continued to showcase why he’s one of the nation's best, scoring three goals and adding eight assists to fuel the Greyhounds victory.

Pat Spencer Watch

He finishes with 3G, 8A in @LoyolaMLAX’s 19-15 win over @HCrossMLAX. Kevin Lindley with 6G, 1A. The Hounds respond. pic.twitter.com/9KNOm2rutL

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) March 2, 2019

Sophomore Kevin Lindley now leads the nation in goals per game, with 25 tallies in five games. He scored six goals and added an assist in the victory.

Lindley had three goals in the first half, and Spencer had two goals and four assists to help the Greyhounds take an 8-4 lead after two quarters. Will Spangenberg led a four-goal Holy Cross rally that cut the deficit to 10-9 in the third quarter.

However, Chase Scanlan had three goals early in the fourth quarter to push Loyola out to an insurmountable 16-11 lead.

Penn State Gets Test From Penn

Penn State scored two goals in the final 2:39 to help pull back from a deficit and down in-state rival Penn 15-14 at Panzer Stadium.

Nick Spillane scored the game-winning goal with 2:01 left, one of three on the day, and Grant Ament dropped six points to lead the Nittany Lions to the rebound win after falling to Yale last weekend.

Three different scorers helped the Quakers jump out to a 3-1 lead on the hosts. Mac O’Keefe, Spillane and Cole Willard pull the Nittany Lions ahead 4-3 after one quarter. Adam Goldner scored twice for Penn in the second quarter to tie the game at 7-7 going into halftime.

No team led by more than a goal through the third quarter, which saw Dylan Foulds (Penn State) and Sam Handley (Penn) score multiple goals. Mitch Bartolo and Sean Lulley scored to give the Quakers a 12-10 lead with 13:20 left.

Penn State pulled to a 12-12 tie with 9:14 left before the teams traded goals through the final minutes. Down 14-13 with 3:05 left, Spillane went to work and won it for the Nittany Lions. Gerard Arceri won 17 of 31 faceoffs for Penn State, while Goldner had five goals for Penn.

High Point Survives Another Thriller

High Point men’s lacrosse rebounded from a loss to St. John’s last weekend with a double-overtime win over Robert Morris. Freshman Hunter Vines provided the game-winner from point-blank range to move the Panthers to 5-1 on the season.

HIGH POINT SURVIVES IN 2OT.

Freshman Hunter Vines scores the game-winner for @HPUMensLax to down @RMUMLacrosse 16-15 in double overtime. pic.twitter.com/83MHcW77rO

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) March 2, 2019

Chris Young led the way with four goals, while Vines and Ben Baker had three goals each. Tim Troutner had 15 more saves to continue his strong season.

Corson Kealey and Tyson Gibson each had two goals to help Robert Morris take a 4-1 lead and take a 6-4 margin into the second quarter. Vines and Young responded with two goals apiece in the second quarter, which High Point won by three goals to take a 10-9 lead after a high-scoring first half.

Gibson led a three-goal Colonials rally in the third quarter to push the teams even at 12-12 entering the fourth quarter. Each team had three goals in the fourth quarter, trading goals until Matt Schmidt tied it at 15-15 with 1:37 left.

Neither team could score in the first overtime period, allowing Vines to find the game-winner with 1:56 left in the second period.

Hopkins Wins Another

Johns Hopkins used a big fourth-quarter to down Princeton 14-12 and pick up its second win of the season. Cole Williams and Brett Baskin each had three goals to lead the Blue Jays to the victory in New Jersey.

Chris Brown and Charlie Durbin each had two goals in a first half that saw Princeton lead 6-5. 

Down 9-7 in the third quarter, Johns Hopkins scored five straight goals to take command of the game. Baskin had two goals in the run that put the Blue Jays up 12-9 with nine minutes left. Princeton could not mount a comeback from down three goals.

Utah Wins Third Game

The Utah Utes, in their first season as a Division I program, has now won two straight games and sits at 3-3 on the season. Josh Stout scored three goals to lead the Utes, which downed Furman 8-7 to move to .500.

Utah scored the game’s first six goals, led by two from Stout and Branden Wilson. Furman added two goals before halftime to cut the deficit to 6-2.

Stout and James Sexton added goals out of halftime to give the Utes an 8-3 lead with 6:30 left in the third quarter. The Paladins finished with the game’s final four goals, but had a shot clock violation and two turnovers in the final minutes.

In other games Saturday:

• Jackson Reid had five goals to lead No. 7 Ohio State to the 13-9 victory over Marquette. Reid had three of his goals in a 5-2 second quarter that helped the Buckeyes lead 6-3 at halftime. The Golden Eagles cut the deficit to 10-8 in the fourth quarter, but could not get any closer. Ohio State won 18 of 26 faceoffs.

• Lehigh faceoff man Conor Gaffney went 17-for-20 at the x to lead the Mountainhawks past No. 16 Colgate 10-8 in a Patriot League opener. Andrew Eichelberger and Lucas Spence each had two goals in the first half to help Lehigh take a 6-2 lead into the break. However, Brian Minicus led a Colgate rally out of halftime to time the game at 6-6 with 4:30 left in the third quarter. Lehigh answered with another three-goal rally to take a commanding 9-6 lead. Gaffney won nine of 10 faceoffs in the second half to seal the win.

• Matt Campbell scored six goals, including four in the second half, to fuel Villanova’s 17-9 win over Delaware on the road. Campbell scored twice before halftime to give the Wildcats the 8-6 at half. He added a couple more in a 6-1 third quarter that sealed the game.

NIKE/US LACROSSE DIVISION I MEN’S TOP 20 SCOREBOARD

No. 1 Loyola 19, Holy Cross 15
No. 3 Cornell 17, Albany 16
No. 4 Yale 12, UMass 11 (OT)
No. 5 Penn State 15, Penn 14
No. 7 Ohio State, 13, Marquette 9
No. 8 High Point 16, Robert Morris 15 (2OT)
No. 10 Denver 12, No. 14 North Carolina 10
No. 13 Virginia 15, No. 17 Syracuse 14 (OT)
No. 15 Villanova 17, Delaware 9
Lehigh 10, No. 16 Colgate 8
No. 18 Army 12, Lafayette 5
No. 19 Rutgers 8, Fairfield 4
Johns Hopkins 14, No. 20 Princeton 12

OTHER SCORES

Harvard 16. Hartford 9
Michigan 16, St. John’s 11
Utah 8, Furman 7
Marist 10, Stony Brook 5
Brown 14, UMBC 13 (OT)
Dartmouth 11, Wagner 4
Jacksonville 19, Drexel 12
Air Force 13, Canisius 7