FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Syracuse is back in familiar territory. But it wasn't easy.
The Orange rallied from a season-high five-goal deficit to beat Virginia 12-11 Saturday, advancing to the NCAA lacrosse championship when Mike Leveille scored his fifth goal of the game 2:17 into the second overtime.
Leveille, who also had two assists, scored three times in the final 20:02 of regulation, including the tying goal with 3:00 left in the fourth quarter as Syracuse erased a 9-4 deficit. John Galloway made nine saves and Matt Abbott scored his first career hat trick for Syracuse.
Bud Petit stopped 16 shots and Danny Glading had three goals and an assist for Virginia (14-4). The Cavaliers scored five consecutive goals to take a 6-2 lead with 8:02 left in the first half, and they still led 9-4 with 6:16 left in regulation.
But Leveille scored 74 seconds later, then Abbott made it 9-6 with 1:14 left in the third when he picked up a rebound in his own end and ran all the way down the field before firing a shot from 20 yards out.
Leveille and Abbott scored again before Glading completed his hat trick to give Virginia an 11-8 lead.
Dan Hardy assisted on two goals, the second by Brendan Loftus to make it 11-10 just nine seconds after Bray Malphus was sent off for a bone-rattling cross-check.
In the second semifinal, Johns Hopkins ended Duke's lacrosse season for the third time in four years and spoiled the last chance for the players stained by a stripper scandal to leave with an NCAA championship.
Kevin Huntley scored four goals in Johns Hopkins' 10-9 victory over top-seeded Duke on Saturday, and put the Blue Jays in Monday's championship game against Syracuse.
It was the final game for the five Duke players granted an extra year of eligibility to make up for their aborted 2006 season, when since-disbarred District Attorney Mike Nifong charged three players with raping a stripper hired to dance at a party.
In 2005 and '07, Johns Hopkins (11-5) beat Duke (18-2) by one goal in the NCAA title game.
Orange 12
Cavaliers 11
Leveille, who also had two assists, scored three times in the final 20:02 of regulation, including the tying goal with 3:00 left in the fourth quarter as Syracuse erased a 9-4 deficit. John Galloway made nine saves and Matt Abbott scored his first career hat trick for Syracuse.
Bud Petit stopped 16 shots and Danny Glading had three goals and an assist for Virginia (14-4). The Cavaliers scored five consecutive goals to take a 6-2 lead with 8:02 left in the first half, and they still led 9-4 with 6:16 left in regulation.
But Leveille scored 74 seconds later, then Abbott made it 9-6 with 1:14 left in the third when he picked up a rebound in his own end and ran all the way down the field before firing a shot from 20 yards out.
Leveille and Abbott scored again before Glading completed his hat trick to give Virginia an 11-8 lead.
Dan Hardy assisted on two goals, the second by Brendan Loftus to make it 11-10 just nine seconds after Bray Malphus was sent off for a bone-rattling cross-check.
In the second semifinal, Johns Hopkins ended Duke's lacrosse season for the third time in four years and spoiled the last chance for the players stained by a stripper scandal to leave with an NCAA championship.
Kevin Huntley scored four goals in Johns Hopkins' 10-9 victory over top-seeded Duke on Saturday, and put the Blue Jays in Monday's championship game against Syracuse.
It was the final game for the five Duke players granted an extra year of eligibility to make up for their aborted 2006 season, when since-disbarred District Attorney Mike Nifong charged three players with raping a stripper hired to dance at a party.
In 2005 and '07, Johns Hopkins (11-5) beat Duke (18-2) by one goal in the NCAA title game.
Orange 12
Cavaliers 11
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