No shame in losing to Syracuse

[Dane Pound]

Syracuse beat Navy yesterday 14-13 to win it all. Good to know it took the National Champs to knock UA out of the tourney.

 

Syracuse Edges Navy to Win NCAA Championship

BALTIMORE, Md. * A run of three-straight goals late in the fourth quarter proved too much for the Navy lacrosse team to overcome as Syracuse rallied for a 14-13 victory in front of an NCAA National Championship Game record crowd of 43,898 Monday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

 

“I’m obviously disappointed that we didn’t win the game today, but I’m very proud of our team,” said Navy head coach Richie Meade. “I’m not sure if we did as good a job defensively if we could have, but Syracuse played awfully well.”

 

“Today was very emotional,” said Syracuse head coach John Desko. “This game was a very different championship game, because of our opponent. The United States Naval Academy, Richie Meade and his staff just had a real sense of pride. I was so proud of them being there and the way they played all season. They played with a bigger cause and to go out and play them, it didn’t have the feel of a typical opponent. We were pulling for them as well.”

[Dane96]

That, hands down, was one of the best lacrosse games I have ever watched since I started watching LAX in 1990. Some hard hits, solid rides, ridiculous efforts and hustle to groundballs, and some breathtaking shots by Dingman of NAVY, Powell and NEE of 'Cuse.

 

The goalie play may have looked shoddy, but these guys are some of the best attacken you will ever see. Dingman of Navy was 6'4 250. That is HUGE!!! The sport could not have asked for a better game.

 

'Cuse now knows what it's like to be a Yankee player/fan. At one point, the partisan Baltimore crowd was chanting "USA, USA, USA." The Orange are officially the Evil Empire of college lax. 6 finals in 7 years, 3 titles (wait, maybe 4). Unreal run...and KUDOS to the NAVY boys who didn't even make the playoffs last season.

 

BTW....former UA asst. hoops coach Gary DiNola's son, Seth, played defensive middie for the Midshipmen (he was the starting goalie until the 2nd or 3rd game of the year but Russell was too good to leave on the bench and Seth is an incredible athlete). Seth played at Albany Academy before going to NAVY.

Edited June 1, 2004 by Dane96