BALTIMORE — No. 8 Loyola Maryland (12-4, 7-1 Patriot) led a fourth-quarter comeback to top Syracuse (9-5, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) 15-13 at the Ridley Athletic Complex in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Led by senior Pat Spencer’s historical offensive performance, the Greyhounds weathered two hot starts to halves by the Orange to hang around and nearly shut the Orange out in the final 20-plus minutes.

Here are three takeaways from Syracuse’s season-ending loss.

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With 9:14 left in the game, SU’s offense mobbed junior Jamie Trimboli in the midfield as it celebrated its 11-7 lead, the largest of the game. It felt like the Orange were poised to make the Greyhounds finally submit.

But a combination of losing faceoffs and untimely penalties let the Greyhounds finish on an 8-1 run and end the Orange’s season.

Less than a minute after Trimboli’s tally, sophomore Kevin Lindley buried the Greyhounds first goal since 5:53 remaining in the first half, closing the lead to three. SU responded, seeming prepared to stave off Loyola, but then guns went silent.

The Greyhounds won a majority of the faceoffs in the fourth quarter, putting the ball in the stick of the ever-dangerous Spencer. Then, two penalties, on sophomores Brett Kennedy and Jared Fernandez, on back-to-back possessions led to two-straight extra-man goals for the Greyhounds and the eventual end of Syracuse’s season.

Pat Spencer: Making history

On the end of the Loyola attack is Spencer, a Tewaaraton finalist and one of the most dangerous players in college lacrosse. Prior to Saturday, he ranked fourth in the country with 6.27 points per game.

All told, he finished with three goals and six assists while being primarily guarded by SU’s star cover defender, Nick Mellen.

Spencer used a combination of size and quickness to impose himself on Mellen. With the ball in his stick, Spencer met Mellen behind the cage numerous times. The attack’s favorite move from that spot was backing down Mellen to roughly the middle of the defensive zone before spinning back to face Porter with Mellen on his hip. When he faced Mellen from up top, Spencer nimbly ducked under and around Mellen’s stick to get a step and shoot on Porter.

In the fourth quarter, Spencer flipped the ball from the top of the alley to senior P.J. Brown, who rifled a shot to tie the game at 12. It was Spencer’s 226th career assist, the most in NCAA history, passing the 225 mark set by Albany’s Lyle Thompson.

Strong starts

Through the middle part of the season, Syracuse was plagued by slow starts. It’d fall behind early and piece together heroic late comebacks to salvage victories against sometimes lesser opponents.

On Saturday, the Orange started each half in attack mode.

In the first half, SU jumped out to a 3-1 lead. Jakob Phaup won four of the first five faceoffs against Loyola sophomore Bailey Savio, ensuring Syracuse the possessions it needed to build its lead.

And though Loyola came back to make it 9-7 at halftime, in favor of the Orange, SU, again, came out hot. After trading defensive possessions for the first portion of the third quarter, senior Nate Solomon and Trimboli scored about two minutes apart to stretch the lead to four, the largest of the game for either team.

Because of Syracuse’s hot starts, it was Loyola, not the Orange, playing from behind most of Saturday.

Published on May 11, 2019 at 2:21 pm

Contact Andrew: aegraham@syr.edu | @A_E_Graham