Syracuse Squanders Lead Over Cornell, Losing 16-15 in OT

Oh, so close.

For a while there, it looked like Syracuse men’s lacrosse was well on its way to picking up a statement win over No. 4 Cornell in the Carrier Dome last night. But the Big Red did not go away.

Despite trailing 11-6 at the halftime break, they fought all the way back, forcing overtime and eventually winning the game 16-15.

It was a tough loss to swallow for the Orange, but after the game, head coach Gary Gait said that Syracuse did everything it could, it just wasn’t enough tonight.

“If [the game] was determined on how bad we wanted it, I think we would have won that,” said Gait, “but it’s by execution and it’s by making plays. It’s certainly not from a lack of effort, it’s just our execution needs to continue to improve.”

Despite the loss, the Orange were firing on all cylinders offensively. 15 goals is nothing to scoff at, and Gait said those contributions were much needed.

“It was nice to see those other guys [scoring],” Gait said, “We had some transition early, we had other guys scoring and it was nice to see. Hopefully, that’ll build their confidence for the end of this week and hopefully, we can continue to get more out of all the players not just our go-to guys.”

The performance against a top-five was encouraging, especially considering the road the Orange still have in front of them. Three top-15 teams stand in front of SU, with the next one being No. 15 UNC.

The Orange make the trip down to Chapel Hill this Saturday, game time is set for 4 p.m.