- A week of buildup for the Varello family had a storybook ending as senior faceoff specialist Joe Varello (Kings Park, N.Y.) netted the game-winner with two-tenths of a second left in the game to lift the 16th-ranked Navy men's lacrosse team (9-4) to a 13-12 victory over #9 Syracuse (7-5) Saturday afternoon at the storied Carrier Dome. The Mids scored two goals in the final minute to earn the program's first win in the series since March 20, 1982 (W, 12-11). "What can I say, this was one heck of a lacrosse game," said seventh-year Navy head coach Rick Sowell. "For the game to end the way it did with Joe scoring the game-winning goal, you just can't make this up. "There is no quit in this team and I am so incredibly proud of them." Navy's senior class once again played a huge role in getting the Mids off to a strong start as it has multiple times this season. Four different seniors - Casey Rees (Baltimore, Md.), Dave Little (Vienna, Va.), David Jones (Annapolis, Md.), Jack Ray (Wyckoff, N.J.) - targeted goals in the opening quarter to give Navy a 4-1 advantage before Syracuse redshirt senior midfielder Ryan Simmons trimmed the Navy lead to two at the end of the first stanza. Junior attackman Nate Solomon scored an extra-man goal for the Orange just 31 seconds into the second quarter to cut the Mids' lead to one at 4-3. Navy, though, pushed its lead back to three when Ray slipped his defender and managed to stay out of the crease for his second goal of the game (11:18), while middie Greyson Torain (Jr / Glen Burnie, Md.) used a spin moved towards the top of the box to get space and time to drain a 12-yard shot just inside the far post. In a flurry of missed ground balls by both teams on the ensuing faceoff, Syracuse's Brendan Bomberry was finally able to pick up the loose ball right in front of the Navy cage and sparked a 3-0 run by the Orange that leveled the game at 6-6 going into the break. Navy returned to the field for the start of the second half and found itself without the services of Rees, who took a hit to the head right before the half, for the remainder of the game. Unfazed, the Mids opened the third quarter by scoring back-to-back goals to go up 8-6. Torain blew his shot past Syracuse keeper Dom Madonna from 12 yards out, while Ray recorded his fourth hat trick of the season and 11th of his career when he wrapped around the right side of the cage for a doorstep goal. The goal gave him his fifth point of the day and the 100th of his career, making him just the 33rd player in program history to reach the 100-point milestone. The Orange came storming back and scored two in a row against the Mids over the final 7:39 to knot the score at 8-8 going into the final quarter. Redshirt freshman middie David Lipka gave Syracuse its first lead (9-8) of the game when Rehfuss fed him from the opposite side of the field just over a minute into the fourth quarter. Navy tied the game at nine apiece (9:21) when Torain ducked past Syracuse defenseman Nick Mellen and scored from the crease to post his third hat trick of the year and seventh of his career. The Orange took the lead again when Solomon was left unattended behind the crease. Syracuse lulled the Navy defense to sleep and junior attackman Bradley Voigt broke to open space and put the Orange back on top, 10-9 (7:30). Syracuse added to its lead (11-9, 5:36) when Rehfuss dealt out his sixth assist of the day and Bomberry sent his back-handed shot past Kern. Navy had plenty left in its tank, however, and scored four of the game's final five goals. Junior middie Ryan Wade (Coronado, Calif.), Navy's leading scorer this season who had been held scoreless over the first 55 minutes of action, came up huge in the fourth, scoring a goal at 4:46 before dealing out an assist to rookie Christian Daniel (Owings, Md.) on an extra-man strike to draw even at 11-all with 2:57 remaining. With the goal, Daniel became just the 13th freshman in Academy history to score 30 points in a season (20G, 10A) and first since Tucker Hull and Sam Jones both scored 38 points in 2011. Coming out of a timeout, Syracuse rookie Tucker Dordevic made a tremendous play against his Navy defender, getting him to commit to the outside before dodging and turning to the middle of the field where he sent his 10-yarder past Navy keeper Ryan Kern (So / Middletown, Del.) to give the Orange the go-ahead goal with 58.9 seconds to go. Navy kept its composure after a Dordevic turnover with under 25 seconds to play and rookie midfielder John Salcedo (Little Silver, N.J.), who spelled Rees in the lineup, fed Ray who was streaking up the middle for the game-tying goal with 9.5 seconds left on the clock. Varello won the ensuing faceoff against his younger brother, Danny, and threw the ball to long-stick midfielder Jeff Durden (Fr / Cumming, Ga.) on the fast break. The ball ticked off Durden's stick and the eldest Varello picked up the loose ball and punched in the game-winner with just two-tenths of a second on the clock. It was just the third career goal by Varello. "I pushed forward after I won the faceoff and tried to find Jeff (Durden), looking to recreate that same play from last week's Army game," recalled Joe Varello. "I passed Jeff the ball, but he wasn't able to catch it and it fell to me. It was right there. The rest is history. "Before the game I told Danny,'let's just have fun.' It's probably the funnest experience I've ever had in my life." Ray led the Mids with a career-high tying six points on a team-best four goals and a pair of assists, while Torain produced three goals. Wade, who had a goal and an assist, has now scored a point in 23 consecutive games and handed out an assist in 20 straight contests. Varello finished the day winning 16 of the 27 draws and grabbing seven ground balls, while defensively Kern made eight saves between the pipes. The Orange were led by Rehfuss' seven points on a goal and six assists, while Bomberry paced the team with three goals. Madonna finished with 11 saves. Navy will be the #2 seed in next week's Patriot League Tournament set to begin on Tuesday with the playing of two quarterfinal games pitting #3 Bucknell vs. #6 Boston University and #4 Lehigh vs. #5 Colgate. The winners of those two games will face top-seeded Loyola and second-seeded Navy on Friday evening in the semifinals. Loyola will play the 4:30 pm game against the lowest remaining seed, while Navy will play at 7:30 pm. CBS Sports Network will televise both semifinal contests, while Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller will have the call for the Navy game on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV.