OT: Syracuse 2009 NCAA Lacrosse Champs!!!

Video credit, suathletics

Better late than never. Congratulations, Big Orange.

Amazing rally lifts Syracuse University men's lacrosse team past Cornell in OT
Posted by Dave Rahme/The Post-Standard
May 25, 2009 8:06PM


Foxboro, Mass. - The legend grows.

The Syracuse University men's lacrosse team, down three goals with four minutes to play and the ball in Cornell's possession, staged an unlikely, incredible four-goal rally Monday afternoon to defeat the Big Red 10-9 and win its second consecutive Division I national championship on Cody Jamieson's crease shot off a pass from Dan Hardy 1 minute, 20 seconds into sudden-death overtime.

"As soon as I shot it didn't even look. I just started running (the other way in celebration)," Jamieson said. "I knew it was in."

The climax came after senior attackman Kenny Nims sent the game into OT with a lunging wrap-around goal with only 4.5 seconds remaining in regulation in front of a Gillette Stadium Memorial Day crowd of 41,935 and a national television audience.


"I'm just speechless," said Nims, whose lone goal was enough to earn him honors as the game's Most Outstanding Player.

It was fitting, because in this case deeds spoke louder than words.

It began with Cornell in possession of the ball and a 9-8 lead with 28 seconds to burn before hoisting its first championship trophy since 1977. It was 4.5 seconds too long. It attempted to clear the ball out of its end of the field but failed, as swarming SU riders knocked it to the ground. SU attackman Stephen Keogh picked it up and flung a no-look over-the-shoulder pass that somehow found Matt Abbott, who turned and sprinted toward the Cornell cage.

"I caught it, and I turned around and saw two guys coming toward me and behind them I saw Nimmer," Abbott said, "and his man (Matt Moyer) was one of the guys who came to me, so I knew he was open. I spun around and just kind of threw it over my shoulder. I had to roll back because he (Moyer) was checking me. I don't even know how I threw it . . . just over my shoulder, and it went right to Nimmer and he finished."

The amazing pass, unleashed with Abbott in the air and his body twisting away from Nims, glanced off the stick of Cornell midfielder Roy Lang, although not enough to change the ball's path. It was then Nims vs. his former teammate, Cornell goalie Jake Myers, with the game in the balance. What was he thinking?

"Don't step in the crease, don't let Jake come out and take it away from me, don't shoot stick on stick," Nims said. "Everything I've ever been taught kind of flashed before my eyes. All the times a goalie's made a save on me one-on-one kind of flashed right before me, and I just took an extra step toward the middle and went around him."

So did the ball.

"That's why Matt Abbott and Kenny Nims are All-Americans, that right there," SU midfielder Pat Perritt said. "That's what they'll do at the end of the game. That's what an All-American will do."

"I did the easy part," Nims said. "What Matt did was one of the greatest plays I've ever seen. He was falling backward, both feet off the ground and made a pass right to me."

The dramatic tally capped a furious, desperate flurry in which Keogh, Jamieson and Nims scored in the final 3:37 to forge a 9-all tie from what to that point had been a masterful Cornell performance.

"It was pretty crazy with the way Cornell had done such a great job controlling the tempo of the game," SU coach John Desko said. "For the last three playoff games they've been doing the same thing. They beat Princeton in the regular season that way. They beat Virginia, maybe the most talented team in the country, a few days ago. And for them to come back out and follow the same game plan, win faceoffs and control it, things didn't look good for about 57 minutes"

Suddenly, they were great. And SU's prospects got even brighter when SU defender Sid Smith checked the ball out of Ryan Hurley's stick after Cornell won the critical faceoff in sudden-death, picked up the loose ball and flipped it to Abbott for a sprint downfield. Shortly afterward the ball was in Hardy's stick for a high-percentage shot from his favorite spot, 10 yards to Myers' front and left.

"I thought he was going to shoot," Jamieson said. "It's Dan Hardy, and he can take that shot anytime he wants."

Instead, Hardy noticed Jamieson's defender sprinting his way full-speed, seemed to change his mind and went high to dump a pass to Jamieson.

"Everyone was telling me I had a shot," Hardy said, "but I saw him (the defender) coming up pretty hard and I lost my footing a little bit and just tried to dump it down to Cody because I knew he was wide open down there. I knew he was going to catch it if I just got it near his stick. He doesn't miss many of those shots. I knew he was going to put it away, especially at that time of the game."

Even as Jamieson ducked under to wrap the low shot past Myers, Hardy's gloves were on their way skyward, soon to be followed by the sticks, gloves and helmets of his teammates as they sprinted downfield and mobbed John Galloway (10 saves) in front the SU cage.

Syracuse's first lead of the game became the only one that mattered. The seniors who endured the worst season in 35 years, 5-8 in 2007, finished 32-4 and became the first repeat champions since Princeton in 1996-98.

"Nothing's going to match this one," Nims said, "especially on the stage it was on and the opponent."

It was a worthy opponent, as Cornell (13-4) imposed its fierce will on the Orange at both ends of the field for nearly 57 minutes. In the end it needed 60 to prevent SU from winning the 11th title in its storied history and fifth in Desko's 11 seasons as head coach. (The NCAA stripped SU of its 1990 championship due to rules infractions.)

"I could not be more proud of the effort of a group of guys who didn't seem to get a whole lot of credit coming here," Cornell coach Jeff Tambroni said, "but battled through two pretty tough lacrosse games and almost pulled this one off."

"They played like champions today," Abbott said. "I feel for those guys, playing that well, but at the same time I'm so happy for my teammates and fellow seniors. This is the way we wanted to go out, and we got it done."

And added to the growing legend that is Syracuse lacrosse.