Hopkins Is Left to Sweat the Details After Back-to-Back OT Losses

Syracuse 14, Johns Hopkins 13

BALTIMORE, March 15 -- Johns Hopkins lacrosse coach Dave Pietramala delivered a simple message to his team following a 14-13, sudden-death overtime loss to Syracuse before 3,563 on Saturday at Homewood Field. The loss was the second in a row for the Blue Jays (3-2).

"Our team isn't about the little things," Pietramala said. "When we were winning one-goal games, it was because we were paying attention to the small things. And now that we're losing one-goal games and giving up big leads, the opposite has to be true. The decisions we made were awful at times."

The winning goal may have been one of those little things for the fourth-ranked Blue Jays -- and a big thing for fifth-ranked Syracuse (4-1). Senior Steven Brooks scored the winner on a 10-yard bounce shot 37 seconds into overtime.

It continued Brooks's penchant for scoring timely goals. He had scored with two seconds left in regulation to force overtime in a 9-8 victory over Georgetown last Sunday and scored with 28 seconds left in regulation to force overtime in a 14-13 loss to Virginia on March 1.

The goal against Georgetown had particularly caught the Johns Hopkins coaches' attention. They noticed that when Brooks moved to his left and shot on the run, he tended to shoot a bounce shot; the goal against the Hoyas came on such a play. Thus they were not surprised that Brooks's running shot in overtime was a bounce shot, even though almost all of his previous seven shots had been high.

Sophomore goalkeeper Michael Gvozden said later he was expecting a bounce shot, though he did not initially appear to react that way, and the ball went between his legs.

"Same spot. Same shot," Pietramala said of the goal on Saturday and the one against Georgetown.

There were other costly moments. Johns Hopkins senior midfielder Paul Rabil, a two-time first-team all-American, went 1 for 10 shooting. At least three times he raced toward the goal and took a shot when the Orange defense was settled and ready for him. All three times, not only was his shot was saved by freshman goalkeeper John Galloway, but Galloway did not move his stick to make the save.

The most crucial of those came with the score tied and 1 minute 40 seconds to play. It was the last shot the Blue Jays took.

Senior Kevin Huntley finished with four goals on four shots and classmate Stephen Peyser added two goals and 10 groundballs.

Yet in some ways, it was a rough day for Peyser. Syracuse senior Danny Brennan received a one-minute penalty after he inadvertently hit Peyser in the head with this stick (and his stick broke). Initially there were fears that Peyser had suffered a similar injury to when his jaw was broken in a preseason scrimmage against Georgetown in 2006.

Later, Peyser aggravated his hamstring injury. He stretched on the sideline in the break before overtime, but took the opening faceoff against Brennan. Brennan won; Peyser also defended Brooks on the winning goal.

Brennan entered leading the nation in faceoff percentage, and he won 18 of 27 on Saturday. It was reminiscent to his winning 16 of 26 in a 15-9 victory over the Blue Jays in the Final Four in 2004. Brooks finished with four goals and senior Mike Leveille added three goals and three assists for the Orange. In five games against Johns Hopkins, Leveille has 16 goals and eight assists.

Johns Hopkins led 13-10 following a goal by Peyser with 8:01 to play. The Orange scored the final three goals of regulation, from juniors Matt Abbott, Dan Hardy and Kenny Nims.

Syracuse won at Homewood Field for the first time since 1998. Last year, the Orange finished 5-8, missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1982. It was a long fall from grace for a program that has won nine NCAA titles.

As the team left the field on Saturday, several of them screamed, "We're back, baby!"

"It's been 10 years since we won at Hopkins," Brooks said. "It's about time Syracuse started a good streak."