Division I Men :      March 1, 2003 [ The Game Story]
Syracuse 15 Virginia 16 Scoring: Scoring: Michael Springer Brian Nee Sean Lindsay Mike Smith Michael Powell Alex Zink Brian Crockett Greg Rommel Jarett Park Ryan Hogan (5, 2) (2, 0) (2, 0) (2, 0) (0, 2) (0, 1) (1, 0) (1, 0) (1, 0) (1, 0) Aj Shannon John Christmas Matt Ward Joe Yevoli Chris Rotelli Brett Hughes (4, 2) (4, 1) (3, 1) (4, 0) (1, 0) (0, 1) Saves: Saves: Jay Pfeifer 14  (0.467) Tillman Johnson 11  (0.423) Current Record :     (1-1) Current Record :     (2-0) Team Page For 2003 Team Page For 2003       The Game Story:

Virginia dethroned the reigning national champions Saturday at the Carrier Dome in a close 16-15 game in front of a great crowd of 10,635. The win snaps Virginia's three game skid against the Orange in the always anticipated season opener. Midfielder A.J. Shannon led the Cavaliers in scoring with 6 points, but it was attackman Johnny Christmas who turned out to be the hero when he scored with 22 seconds left in the game to give Virginia a 16-15 edge. Syracuse won the ensuing face-off, but a Virginia defenseman intercepted a pass in front of the goal and it was all over. In a losing effort Mike Springer led the charge for the Orange with 5 goals and 2 assists including the tying 15th goal with only minutes left in the fourth quarter.

As the game got underway Syracuse seemed to control things early before getting 2 goals in the first four minutes from midfielders Sean Lindsay and Pat Hogan. Virginia quickly answered back with two of their own goals coming only a minute apart. Syracuse seemed to apply a lot of pressure this quarter yet Virginia was able to come away virtually unscathed trailing only 4-3 going into the second. By this time it was apparent that Syracuse was having a tough time winning face-offs and the trend continued all game up until later in the fourth. Going into the second period Virginia got a man-up goal from senior Chris Rotelli to tie the game which was the first of their 3 in the quarter, each of which was followed by a Syracuse goal. Then with only 1:14 left the Orange were able to get 2 in a row after Mike Powell found Brian Nee opened out top who put it home.

Syracuse went into halftime with an 8-6 lead despite losing 11 of 16 in the face-off circle. After the break Syracuse was able to capitalize on a man-up opportunity after an illegal procedure penalty called on the Cavaliers. The rest of the third quarter turned out to be all Virginia as they outscored Syracuse 7-2 sending the game into the fourth riding a 13-10 lead. Their seventh goal of that quarter was scored with :01 seconds on the clock after a Virginia defenseman heaved the ball the length of the field and incredibly found an open Joe Yevoli who was able to sneak past the collapsing Cuse defense and slip it by Pfeifer. This definitely gave them the momentum going into the fourth and it turned out to be just as crucial as it was lucky.

The final quarter was a seesaw battle the whole way much like the rest of the game, yet after a strong third period, Virginia was able to mount a 2 goal lead which was cut to nothing after goals from Syracuse’s star freshman Brian Crockett and Mike Springer. UVA ended up with the ball and took a timeout with only 1:03 remaining and the game tied at 15. Their offense worked the ball effectively and they were able to find Christmas opened out top who fired a bounce shot past Pfeifer to seal the game.

From a spectator’s standpoint, I would say that Syracuse lost this game in the face-off circle. It is definitely an area they will have to work on if they want to be able to win the big games. On the plus side, however, I would say that a lot of questions have been answered about their defense. Even though Virginia scored 16 goals, the Syracuse defense played very well considering how much they were pressured and should only improve due to the fact that there are two newcomers added to their starting close D in Dan DiPietro and Don Vidosh. On the other end of the field, Virginia’s Brett Hughes did a great job of containing Mike Powell who finished the game with only 2 assists. This definitely disrupted the Syracuse offense and if Springer hadn’t come to play this could have been a very different game. Even though Virginia came away with the win I would hardly say the result can be telling about what will happen in May. Syracuse will be a much stronger team come tournament time and they’ll definitely be out for revenge.