Mission accomplished for Syracuse lacrosse

Syracuse players celebrate after knocking off Johns Hopkins for the Orange's 10th national championship, but their first since 2004. (Robert E. Klein/For the Globe)

FOXBOROUGH - All season long, the memory of a lost year and a missed tournament spurred them on.

"When you get recruited to Syracuse, you're going there to win national championships," attackman Mike Leveille said.

And so the Orange men's lacrosse varsity did yesterday afternoon, dethroning defending champion Johns Hopkins, 13-10, before a record crowd of 48,970 at Gillette Stadium to win its 10th national crown, including the one the NCAA stripped for a rules infraction in 1990.

"It's unbelievable," said Leveille, after third-seeded Syracuse (16-2) had become only the second team to win the title after failing to qualify for the tournament the year before. "This was the best ending possible."

Only the 1983 Orange squad, which won the school's first title and was on hand yesterday, had achieved a similar turnaround. And this team, which was 5-8 a year ago (the program's worst record since 1975) and largely ignored in preseason polls, had more to prove.

"The hardest thing is when you're a proud program and you have a year like they did last year," empathized Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala, whose fifth-seeded squad (11-6) started off 3-5. "I give them credit for looking within."

From its first game in February, Syracuse was a team obsessed, and it came here determined to send its seniors out as champions. To make the final, the Orange had to come from five goals down to beat Virginia in double overtime. Yesterday, they went down by two goals three times before storming back.

"We've been in spots like that all season," said attackman Kenny Nims, whose man-down score with 6:47 left in the half led to five consecutive goals that put Syracuse up by three. "We never get down on ourselves. We're never going to quit."

Though Hopkins had expunged top-seeded Duke in the semis, the Blue Jays knew they'd be facing a cannonade from the Orange gunners, who beat them, 14-13, in March and for whom shooting is as natural as breathing.

"Against Duke, we had to defend four guys," said Pietramala, whose squad had won eight in a row. "Against Syracuse, we had to defend nine. They made us."

For Hopkins, midfielder Paul Rabil (six goals, one shy of the record in a final) and attackman Kevin Huntley (two) did almost all of the damage. Eight players scored for Syracuse, which forced goalie Michael Gvozden to make 20 saves, 14 of them by halftime.

"We just keep doing what we do," said Leveille, who was named the tournament's most outstanding player. "We know if we keep firing, they're eventually going to go in."

The killer shot came from Mims, as the man-up Blue Jays were looking to go up, 6-3.

"That's a huge momentum-builder and a momentum-stealer," said Pietramala, whose squad hadn't conceded a man-down goal all year.

The Orange got two more tallies before intermission to take the lead, then added two more in the first 79 seconds of the third period to make it 8-5. Rabil finally got one back for Hopkins after more than 10 scoreless minutes, and he and Huntley brought their mates back to 9-8.

But the Blue Jays, who'd stifled Duke when they had to, couldn't keep their rivals at bay.

"Syracuse is always going to make a run," Virginia goalie Bud Petit remarked Saturday, after the Orange had come from three goals down with 6:15 left in regulation.

Four more goals, the last two within 10 seconds from Brendan Loftus and Leveille, put Syracuse up, 13-8, with 8:15 to play. That was more than enough against a Hopkins team that had lost every time it conceded double figures.

"The team that played better won the game today," said Pietramala, whose squad was bidding for its third title in four years. "Simple as that."

Just beating Duke and getting to the final was an achievement for a Blue Jay bunch that was written off in early April after five straight losses.

"I don't think a lot of 3-5 teams would have been here," said Pietramala, whose squad was the first defending champion to play in the title game since Princeton in 2002. "I'm extremely proud of them."

For the Orange, who hadn't made it to the championship game since they won in 2004, getting here wasn't quite enough. Except between 1995-2000, they hadn't gone this long without a title in two decades. The way these people see it, that's a lifetime. After last year's disappearing act, Syracuse was hungry for a ring and this one was sweeter than most.

"To get these guys back in the playoff hunt, to make it to the Final Four, to have such a crazy Virginia game and to come out and be able to perform today like the guys did . . . ," mused coach John Desko, who won his fourth national crown. "What a nice reward for the team."

John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com