The #13 Virginia Cavaliers (3-2, 1-0) defeated the #12 Syracuse Orange (2-2, 0-1) in the first conference matchup of the season 15-14 in overtime. Syracuse tied or outscored Virginia in each of the first three quarters, but could not maintain their dominance in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
A win looked to be in the books early in the fourth quarter for the Orange when Stephen Rehfuss gave Syracuse a four-goal lead with just over ten minutes left to play. Unfortunately, the Virginia Cavaliers battled back and scored three straight goals and ended the fourth quarter on a 6-1 run that brought the game into overtime.
Virginia’s Michael Kraus scored his tenth goal of the season with just over a minute remaining in the game to even the score at 14. Mikey Herring then scored his first goal of a season for Virginia at the right time, sealing a win in overtime for the Cavaliers.
Syracuse goalie, Drake Porter played outstanding in his second game in a row. After having 17 saves last game against army, he led all goalies today with 14. Unfortunately, it was not enough to fend off Virginia.
Penalties were a problem for the Orange in the contest today. They were called for 11 penalties as opposed to a more disciplined outing by the Cavs who only had a total of 3 penalties in the game.
Unlike last game against Army, Syracuse was unable to dominate at face offs. In fact, Virginia won two more face offs than Syracuse, in a 16-14 ratio. Virginia also out scored Syracuse in ground balls 30-26.
Virginia also out scored Syracuse in ground balls 30-26.
Syracuse will look to bounce back after a hard-fought loss next Saturday when they host #18 John Hopkins. This will be Syracuse’s fifth consecutive home game of the season. Tune in to 88.3 FM starting at 12:30 for countdown to face off.