No. 1 Syracuse men's lacrosse holds on for 9-8 victory over Binghamton

Binghamton men’s lacrosse attackman Griffin Konen received a pass in front of the Syracuse net with time running down and a chance to tie the score.

The Bearcats were trailing by one with 11 seconds left in the game when Ryan Winkoff found Konen cutting to the goal. Konen caught the ball and fired a shot at the Orange net, looking to force overtime.

But, SU goalie Evan Molloy deflected the ball away to preserve a 9-8 Orange victory at the Carrier Dome.

“I just tried to pivot and get as big as I could,” Molloy said about his game-saving stop. “Just kicked my leg out and got a piece of it.”

Molloy made several crucial saves in the second half. With the Orange trailing 7-6 midway through the third quarter, he made back-to-back stops to keep SU’s deficit at one. After Syracuse (11-1, 4-0 ACC) regained a 9-7 lead with 6:21 remaining, Molloy stopped a shot from T.J. Tiernan. He recorded nine total saves in the contest.

“I thought Evan was terrific in the cage today,” SU head coach John Desko said. “Not only making the save, but coming up with a couple of possessions and helping us get the ball to the other end of the field.”

Binghamton controlled the tempo early, keeping possession for long stretches of time. But, it was the Orange who jumped out to a first quarter lead and Brendan Bomberry found the back of the net to extend SU’s advantage to 4-1 with five seconds remaining in the period.

Two minutes later, Bearcat midfielder Joe Licata scored to cut the deficit to two. From there, BU scored three more unanswered goals to take the lead. Syracuse’s Jordan Evans and Nick Mariano each netted a goal over the next four minutes, flipping the scoreboard back in the Orange’s favor heading into halftime.

“They had really long possessions and made us play a lot of defense,” Desko said. "They were able to crawl back in it.”

Binghamton (9-4, 3-2 America East) evened the score two minutes into the third period and regained the lead five minutes later, before Evans netted his third goal of the game, retying the score at 7.

Syracuse appeared to be pulling away when Ryan Simmons and Jamie Trimboli netted goals 64 seconds apart five minutes into the final period. But, Bearcat attackman Tom Moore scored with 2:38 remaining in the game to cut Binghamton’s lead to 9-8. Moore tallied a game-high five goals in the contest.

After Syracuse’s Nate Solomon had his shot blocked with 1:04 left in regulation, Binghamton had possession and a chance to extend the game. But, Molloy made the crucial save, securing Syracuse’s victory.

“[The defense] really gutted it out, especially at the end of the game, to get those stops” Desko said. “Hats off to our defense. I thought they did a great job today.”

No. 1 Syracuse will return to action on Friday in the ACC Tournament against North Carolina. The Orange topped UNC in overtime, 12-11, on April 15 in Chapel Hill.