For the first three quarters, Syracuse men’s lacrosse looked dead in the water.
In the fourth quarter, though, Syracuse found another gear to pull off an improbable comeback and win 13-12 against the Harvard Crimson in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in overtime.
At halftime, Orange fans likely turned off their TVs. Syracuse trailed 8-2 at the break and looked lifeless on offense, faced with an unceremonious first-round exit after an up-and-down season. For the fans who did, they missed an incredible offensive display from the Orange in the second half as they outscored the Crimson 7-3 in the fourth quarter.
Syracuse trailed Harvard 11-6 with 11 minutes to play when the Orange scored six unanswered goals in the next two minutes to take the lead, led by a superhuman effort from John Mullen at the faceoff spot. Mullen was 24-of-28 on faceoffs, and Mullen’s excellence at the spot fueled Syracuse’s goal-scoring spree as the Orange ran wild on the Crimson in transition.
When Harvard tied the game with six seconds left to send it to overtime, Owen Hiltz only needed 51 seconds to seal the win for the Orange in the extra frame, ensuring that fans in the JMA Wireless Dome would go home happy.
With the win, Syracuse advances to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament, where they’ll face No. 3 seed Princeton on the road. It’s been an absolute roller coaster of a season for the Orange this year, and that inconsistency almost cost Syracuse a spot in the tournament before it won its first ACC Tournament since 2016 to secure its place in the field.
With all the inconsistency, it’s impossible to predict how the Orange will fare against Princeton. Still, if it’s overtime win over Harvard proved anything, this team is tougher than we thought, and it would be a mistake to count them out.
