FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Danny Brennan gazed up to the roof of the Carrier Dome in the days leading to Syracuse’s trip to the lacrosse final four, the unfurled banners not only a reminder of the 2004 title team with which the fifth-year faceoff man began his career but the emptiness that soon followed.
It was jarring to consider this year’s seniors could become only the second in a quarter-century to leave without a national title, one final slap at a class already partially responsible for the program’s first losing season in more than a generation and the end of a 22-year streak of final fours.
All of it was minimized on a euphoric New England afternoon yesterday. The Orange exorcised their championship drought with a 13-10 victory over Johns Hopkins before a title-game record crowd of 48,970 at Gillette Stadium.
“We broke a couple streaks during our stretch here, but that means nothing right now,” said attackman Mike Leveille, the tournament’s most outstanding player. “All that matters right now is that we have a national championship.”
The third-seeded Orange (16-2) won it in spite of a miserable 5-8 spring a year ago. They did it despite needing to rally for the second time in three days.
And they did it even as midfielder Paul Rabil finished his career for the fifth-seeded Blue Jays (11-6) with a career-high six goals and sophomore goalie Michael Gvozden capped a sensational postseason with 20 saves.
This championship - Syracuse’s Division I-record 10th overall - came two days shy of the 25th anniversary of the Orange’s first and was also the first title for a team that missed the tournament a season before since that charismatic 1983 team.
This Syracuse edition roasted the Blue Jays with its array of offensive talent, particularly from a prodigious midfield responsible for eight goals.
Dan Hardy scored three goals, and Brendan Loftus had two for the Orange, who won even as Johns Hopkins defenseman Michael Evans contained Leveille to a goal and two assists.
“We have tremendous depth all over the field and especially on offense,” Leveille said. “You try and shut down one guy and put your effort into that, and there’s going to be four other guys who step up and get the thing done.”
The Orange would have taken help from anywhere after falling behind 5-3 and yielding an extra-man chance to the Blue Jays. Matt Abbott’s slick groundball pickup ignited a transition opportunity, and Kenny Nims deposited Leveille’s feed to buy the Orange a man-down break.
It was the start of a five-goal spurt to earn the Orange a permanent lead. What ensued was a 25-minute minuet, with Rabil’s dominant display inevitably answered with a goal from the Syracuse midfield.
Rabil twice brought the Blue Jays within a goal, only for the Orange to find Loftus or Hardy eager to outmuscle a short stick defensive midfielder to secure an open look on Gvozden.
“We see that every day in our practice,” Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said. “We see 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 guys that are 190, 200, 210 pounds on a daily basis. We should have done a better job but take your hat off to those guys. That’s a strong midfield group.”
The defending champion Blue Jays committed 23 turnovers, a startling display of sloppiness from a team that entered on an eight-game winning streak.
In a particularly damaging sequence, pole Matt Bocklet attempted to pass back to Gvozden but was intercepted, leading to Leveille’s goal with 8:15 left to make it 13-8.
“We didn’t play with as much poise as maybe we have in the past,” Pietramala said. “I thought we were worried about losing rather than we wanted to win. … We just made some mistakes.”
Syracuse didn’t, finishing a remarkable turnaround from its first losing season since 1975 while cementing its spot in program lore.
“That’s all that matters,” Hardy said. “You come to Syracuse to win a championship. There were a lot of people doubting us as a team, and we came back this year as strong as ever.”
Strong enough, in fact, finally to provide some new and welcome company in the rafters at the Dome.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.