Syracuse Men's Lacrosse (7-5, 4-0) was just seconds away from its fifth one-goal win of the season, but a late turnover and two goals gave Navy (9-4, 7-1) the 13-12 road victory.
The nightmare ending for the Orange began with a turnover by Tucker Dordevic with less than thirty seconds left in the contest. Dordevic had scored less than a minute prior to put Syracuse up by a goal. Midshipmen attack Jack Ray scored his fourth goal of the day off Dordevic's turnover to tie the game with less than ten seconds remaining.
Navy's Joe Varello won the game's most important faceoff against his brother, SU's Dan Varello, and scored the game-winner with less than a second of game time remaining. The goal was Varello's third of the year. The brothers hugged it out as the final buzzer sounded, signaling a Midshipmen win.
The game as a whole was a back and forth contest which never saw a lead greater than three goals. Four different Navy goal-scorers gave the Midshipmen a 4-1 lead in the first quarter, with SU's only response being a goal from senior Brendan Bomberry.
With 1:37 left in the opening quarter, Syracuse's Ryan Simmons scored his first of two goals on the day. Nate Solomon then began second quarter scoring with a man-up goal to narrow Navy's lead to 4-3. The Midshipmen widened the margin back to three, but SU's Bomberry, Simmons and Solomon all scored again to bring the game into halftime tied at six.
Navy's Greyson Torain scored the first goal of the second half to recapture the lead. Jack Ray added another goal before Syracuse stormed back. Stephen Rehfuss scored his only goal of the day for the Orange to make it a one goal game. The redshirt sophomore also had six assists against the Midshipmen. Freshman Brendan Curry tied the game at 8 with 1:53 left in the third quarter.
Syracuse secured its first lead of the game early in the fourth quarter thanks to David Lipka's only goal of the day. Greyson Torain responded for Navy, but SU scored two goals in two minutes to make it 11-9. Junior Ryan Wade scored a goal and then assisted on another for the Midshipmen to bring the score to 11-11, setting up Dordevic's goal, Dordevic's turnover, and Navy's two goals in the final seconds to win the game.
Syracuse now looks ahead to an ACC Tournament matchup with Virginia on Friday. Despite being the number-one seed in the tournament, the Orange will travel down to Charlottesville, Virginia for what will essentially be an away game for Syracuse. That game is set to begin at 8:30.