Orange Beat Cornell in College Lacrosse

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(Gallery by Mike Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com)

An updated version of this story is available.

Connor English was inches from sending the game to overtime.

The Cornell senior blew by Syracuse's Matt Pratt on the restart with 27 seconds left. He got all the way to the crease and beat Dominic Lamolinara with a high shot.

The ball, however, clanged off the crossbar straight into the air. Syracuse gained possession and hurled the ball to the opposite end of the field to secure the win.

No. 7 Syracuse knocked off No. 2 Cornell in a thrilling 13-12 win Wednesday in the Carrier Dome. The Orange trailed for nearly the entire game and did not gain its first lead until late in the fourth quarter. Big Red leading scorer Rob Pannell tallied four points in the game, but failed to score in the final three quarters.

Cornell jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first half before SU even had its first possession.

But the Orange clawed its way back, tying the score at 6-6 in the second quarter. It went into the second quarter down just 6-4. Pannell scored a goal and had three assists in the first quarter.

Cornell scored the next three goals, but SU again rallied. JoJo Marasco found Luke Cometti cutting to the cage on a restart with seconds left in the third quarter to pull the Orange within 10-9.

Syracuse finally pulled even again with seven minutes left when Cometti caught a rebound off the post and finished with Cornell goalie AJ Fiore out of position.

Henry Schoonmaker then blew by Mike Bronzino to the cage to put SU up 12-11 and give the Orange its first lead with 6:15 left. Kevin Rice tacked on another score on the ensuing possession to make it a two-goal cushion.

English scored with a little more than four minutes left to pull Cornell within one. SU had two opportunities to run the clock out but turned the ball over twice coming out of timeouts.

The Big Red set up their final possession with 27 seconds left, but English's shot connected with the crossbar. SU grabbed the rebound and flung the ball downfield to run the final seconds off and secure the win.

Scoring: Cornell -- Connor Buczek 4-0, Max Van Bourgondien 3-1, Rob Pannell 1-3, Connor English 1-1, Steve Mock 1-1, Matt Donovan 1-0, John Hogan 1-0. Syracuse -- Luke Cometti 4-0, JoJo Marasco 2-2, Henry Schoonmaker 2-0, Scott Loy 1-2, Kevin Rice 1-1, Billy Ward 1-0, Derek Maltz 1-0. Steve Ianzito 1-0, Ryan Barber 0-1.

Saves: Cornell 8 (AJ Fiore), Syracuse 12 (Dominic Lamolinara). Shots: Cornell 47-37. Faceoffs: Cornell 16-12. Extra-man opps: Cornell 1-2, Syracuse 0-3. Ground balls: Cornell 31-23.

