Princeton University Athletics
Gould Saves Princeton's Thrilling 11-10 Win Over Syracuse
March 22, 2003 | Men's Lacrosse
March 22, 2003
Box Score
Syracuse, N.Y. - Julian Gould couldn?t believe what he was seeing.
?I thought the game was over,? Gould said. ?I thought, ?what?s going on here?? ?
What was going on was Michael Springer?s shot from the doorstep, which Gould saved as time expired to preserve an absolutely thrilling 11-10 Princeton win over Syracuse in front of 8,827 at the Carrier Dome Saturday afternoon.
The game was a matchup of teams that have combined to win 13 of the last 15 NCAA championships and who have met in the NCAA final each of the last three seasons. Princeton is now 2-2, while Syracuse slipped to 3-2.
The win wasn?t assured until Gould?s save on Springer. The wild final sequence started with Princeton ahead by one and with the ball and a man-advantage with 25 seconds remaining. Ryan Boyle attempted to run out the clock and took it under 10 seconds before he had the ball checked away. Syracuse?s Jarrett Park then made a pass from near his own crease across midfield to Brian Nee, who made a brilliant pass in front to Springer, who had gotten open behind the Princeton defense. Springer caught the ball and shot in one motion, but Gould made the save. The ball trickled to Michael Powell who redirected it in the goal, but the clock had already reach 0:00.
?It was a great game,? said Princeton coach Bill Tierney. ?I thought Julian was fabulous all day. He?s been a stalwart for us. To come in here and stand tall like he did, I couldn?t be prouder of him.?
Princeton trailed 4-1 in the first quarter and 8-4 midway through the third before rallying. The Tigers scored five straight goals to take a 9-8 lead, but Syracuse would tie it at 9-9 and 10-10 on Springer?s second goal with 5:57 to play.
Brad Dumont scored what proved to be the game-winner with 2:55 remaining. Sean Hartofilis beat two Syracuse defenders and fed across the crease to a wide-open Dumont, who scored Princeton?s final two goals of the day.
?Sean did all the work,? Dumont said. ?Everyone worked around him. Once I saw my guy go to him, I just cut to the backside and put it in.?
Princeton then won the face-off and called timeout with 2:45 to play. Syracuse would have the ball only twice after that, once briefly after forcing a turnover with 35 seconds left before Brian Lieberman regained possession for Princeton and again on the final opportunity.
Syracuse scored the first three goals of the game and led 5-3 at intermission as Steve Vallone scored three of the goals for Syracuse and Jason Doneger scored all three for Princeton. Doneger would score twice more in the second half to give him five, one better than the career high four he had a week ago against Hofstra.
Princeton scored the first goal of the second half when Owen Daly put it in from in front to make it a one-goal game, but Syracuse answered with three goals in a 1:58 span, including Vallone?s fourth, to make it 8-4.
Boyle and Hartofilis came right back with goals 1:04 apart to cut it to 8-6, and Doneger made a tough one-on-one run for a goal with 10 seconds left in the quarter to make it a one-goal game entering the fourth.
Princeton defenseman Damien Davis, who would hold Michael Powell, the reigning national Player of the Year, without a goal or assist for the first time in his career, then carried end-to-end and scored the tying goal 1:18 into the fourth. Powell would get off eight shots without scoring.
?He?s a great player,? Davis said of Powell, twice the national attackman of the year. ?Everytime, he tries something different. He?s so quick. He bodied me. He has a lot of moves. He got some good shots off, but Julian made save big saves.?
Doneger?s fifth gave Princeton its first lead with 12:22 to play, but the Orangemen would not go quietly. Brian Crockett, who had a goal and assist, slipped a double team and fed Nee, who made another pass to Sean Lindsey, who beat Gould with a strong shot from up top.
Dumont scored less than a minute later off a feed from Will MacColl to make it 10-9, but Springer tied it after a some beautiful passing, the last of which was Lindsay?s feed across the crease.
?What a lot of people don?t understand about the Princeton-Syracuse rivalry is that there is a lot of respect between these teams,? Tierney said. ?A lot of these kids work together at camps and have known each other a long time. It was a great game by two great teams. We were fortunate to win.?
Both teams return to action quickly against longtime rivals. Princeton is at Rutgers Tuesday night, while Syracuse is at Hobart.