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Hopkins falls short, Syracuse captures NCAA Lax Title
A season of extreme ups and downs for Johns Hopkins ended on a negative note on Monday, as the Blue Jays fell to Syracuse 13-10 in the NCAA championship.
Senior All-American Paul Rabil had a career-high six goals, and sophomore goalie Michael Gvozden made 20 saves, but the Orange outscored Hopkins 4-1 in the second quarter to take the lead; and they never looked back.
The Blue Jays jumped out to an early two-goal advantage, and held a 5-3 lead mid-way through the second quarter, but the Orange countered with a 5-0 run to gain control. Goalie John Galloway and the Syracuse defense clamped down on the lead and held the Blue Jays without a goal for 10 minutes on two separate occasions.
'Cuse senior attackman Mike Leveille earned the tournament's Most Outstanding Player Award with his three-point effort, and Brendan Loftus, Kenny Nims and Stephen Keogh each added two goals apiece for the Orange.
While Hopkins and their faithful are trained to expect an annual trip to championship weekend, the 2008 Blue Jay squad had to show incredible tenacity to get to Gillette Stadium. On April 6th, the defending champion Blue Jays sat at 3-5, having lost five games in a row, including an 11-goal thrashing at the hands of top-seeded Duke.
It looked like Hopkins would miss the playoffs for the first time since 1971, but Rabil and company fought back, winning their last five regular season games to secure a bid to the field of 16. They then won their first three games of the tournament, including a revenge win over the Blue Devils in the semifinals on Saturday to reach their third championship game in four years.
Syracuse also had to battle through some adversity of its own to reach Foxborough and championship weekend. The Orange went 5-8 last season and missed the playoffs completely, marking the first time in over two decades that they had failed to reach the postseason.
After taking the title on Monday, Syracuse became just the second team in NCAA history to win the national championship after missing the playoffs the year before.
Despite the title game loss, it has been an extremely successful career for the Hopkins senior class. The Blue Jays went 12-2 in the NCAA tournament during their four years, and won two national championships.
"I am extremely proud of the team I had the privilege of coaching this year," Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said. "We went through some pretty tough bumps in the road, and to rally back and get here, to overcome, speaks volumes of this team."
RELATED LINKS
Blue day for Blue Jays [The Baltimore Sun]
A bitter defeat for Hopkins [The Baltimore Sun]
A class of its own [The Baltimore Sun]
Analysis: NCAA DI Championship [InsideLacrosse.com]
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