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Syracuse celebrates its one-goal win 9-8 over Denver in the NCAA semifinals.

(Dick Blume | dblume@syracuse.com)

An updated version of this story is available.

For the second straight game, the Syracuse men's lacrosse team found itself trailing late in the fourth quarter.

For the second straight game, the Orange rallied in the final minutes, and this time, it claimed a berth in the national championship game.

SU took its first lead of the game with 19.2 seconds left on a Derek Maltz putback and did not allow Denver to get a shot off on its final possession to pull out a 9-8 win Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in the national semifinals. Syracuse advances to play Duke in the national championship game Monday at 1 p.m.

The win marked the 10th one-goal game the Orange has played in this year and the seventh time it has won by just one score.

Orange Lacrosse: SU vs. Denver in NCAA Semifinals May 25 2013 25 Gallery: Orange Lacrosse: SU vs. Denver in NCAA Semifinals May 25 2013

Syracuse ran into a hot goalie in the first half.

Denver's Ryan LaPlante was on fire and shut down the Orange offense. He made 13 huge saves and gave up just two goals as the Pioneers took a 5-2 lead into the break.

Despite LaPlante's big half, Denver decided to put Jamie Faus in the cage in the second as they have all season. Still, Syracuse could not find a way to get its offense going until the fourth quarter.

SU trailed 7-5 entering the final period and went down 8-6 with 5:17 left. JoJo Marasco pulled the Orange within one with 2:35 left on a 6-on-4 chance after two Denver penalties. He then picked out Luke Cometti on the crease with 59 seconds left to even the score at 8-8.

Matt Harris scooped up the ensuing faceoff for Syracuse, and head coach John Desko called a timeout to set up the offense.

Cometti got the ball on the right side after the restart and carried it down the right alley. He fired a low shot that Faus kicked out, but the rebound went right to Maltz, who put it in the back of the net for the go-ahead score.

Denver won the ensuing faceoff, but Harris knocked the ball away from Eric Adamson on the Pioneers' last chance to secure the win.

Scoring: Denver - Eric Law 3-0, Eric Adamson 2-0, Cameron Flint 1-1, Taylor Young 1-1, Chase Carraro 1-0, Jeremy Noble 0-1, Colin Scott 0-1. Syracuse - Luke Cometti 3-0, JoJo Marasco 2-3, Derek Maltz 2-0, Dylan Donahue 1-2, Scott Loy 1-0, Hakeem Lecky 0-1.

Saves: Denver 17 (Laplante 13, Faus 4), Syracuse 8 (Dominic Lamonlinara). Shots: Syracuse 40-24. Faceoffs: Denver 12-9. Ground balls: Syracuse 24-23. Extra-man opps: Denver 0-0, Syracuse 1-1.