Syracuse has made a habit of winning one-goal games on last second shots, but this time it was the defense that came up big as the No. 5 Orange won 11-10 at No. 2 Notre Dame. It was the sixth consecutive one-goal game for the Orange, and their fifth consecutive victory.

Clinging to a one-goal lead, Syracuse committed a shot clock violation with one minute remaining in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame called a timeout with 32 seconds left to set up its final opportunity. Brendan Gleason curled off the right crease and got free for a lefty shot in front of the cage with 13 seconds left, but Syracuse goalie Evan Molloy came up with a big save and the Orange hung on.

Evan Molloy late save preserves 11-10 win for @CuseMLAX over @NDlacrosse. Fifth straight one-goal win for Orange. pic.twitter.com/5lHtS4V0Y8

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) April 1, 2017

Nick Mariano had a huge game for Syracuse (7-1, 3-0 ACC), scoring four goals in the game, including both of the Orange’s fourth quarter goals after Notre Dame had scored three straight goals in the final six minutes of the third quarter to tie the game 9-9 entering the final frame.

Nate Solomon also had a hat trick for the Orange and Molloy finished with just seven saves, but several of them were big.

Gleason had a pair of goals, the only Notre Dame (5-2, 1-1 ACC) player with multiple goals, and Sergio Perkovic had a goal and two assists. PJ Finley won 12-of-22 faceoffs and Shane Doss made 11 saves.

Syracuse had lost to Notre Dame in its previous three meetings, including a 17-7 loss at the Carrier Dome last season.

Virginia Comes Back on No. 12 Richmond

Virginia freshman longstick middie Jared Conners scored the first and last goals of the game as the Cavaliers edged Richmond 8-7.

Conners scored just 32 seconds into the game, but from that point on, Richmond’s defense was as good as advertised. Spider goalie Bennie Pugh came into the game leading the country in both save percentage (70.2) and goals against average (5.18) and he made 16 saves in the contest, holding Virginia scoreless in both the second and third quarters.

No. 12 Richmond (8-2), looking for its first win over its state rival since starting its program in 2014, took a 7-6 lead on Layne Collins no-angle wraparound shot with 1:56 to play. Virginia’s Ryan Conrad won the ground ball on the ensuing faceoff and took a big hit leading to an extra man opportunity. The Cavaliers cashed in as Dox Aitken buried a shot from 15 yards out.

Conrad again won a tough ground ball on the face off and passed ahead to Conners and he buried the game-winner with 57 seconds left. Richmond had a final possession, but turned the ball over without getting a shot off.

Aitken led the No. 17 Cavaliers with a hat trick and freshman goalie Griffin Thompson made 12 saves. Teddy Hatfield led Richmond with three goals, all of them coming in the third quarter as the Spiders took a 5-4 lead.

Virginia (6-4) has now played five straight one-goal games and seven this season. The victory came after the Cavaliers had lost back-to-back games to Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins in overtime.

Here is your game-winning goal with 55.6 seconds left from Jared Conners off a heck of a ground ball from Ryan Conrad. #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/9u2tEjPRTs

— Virginia Lacrosse (@UVAMensLacrosse) April 1, 2017

Army Edges Bucknell for Eighth Straight

No. 4 Army West Point (9-1) held off Bucknell 11-10 to win its eighth straight game and improve to 5-0 in the Patriot League. Conor Glancy had three goals and an assist for the Black Knights. Quinn Collison had four goals for Bucknell (4-6, 2-4 Patriot).

Maryland Cruises Past Michigan in Big Ten Opener

No. 6 Maryland erupted for seven first quarter goals on the way to a 15-8 victory over No. 18 Michigan in both team's Big Ten opener. After back-to-back goals by Michigan tied the game 2-2, Maryland closed the first quarter scoring the next five goals. Michigan (8-2, 0-1 Big Ten) never got closer than four goals for the rest of the game. Jared Bernhardt, Connor Kelly and Dylan Maltz all had hat tricks for the Terps (6-2, 1-0 Big Ten), and Dan Morris made 12 saves. Brent Noseworthy led Michigan with three goals.

Baptiste, Cannizzaro Shine in Denver Win

Trevor Baptiste won 26-of-30 faceoffs and Connor Cannizzaro had a career-high nine points (4g, 5a) as No. 8 Denver (7-2, 1-0 Big East) routed Georgetown 20-11 in its league opener. Baptiste became Denver's all-time faceoff leader with 736 career wins, breaking the mark of 720 set by Chase Carraro (2010-2013). Baptiste's 26 wins also tied, the school's single game record set by Ben Wahler against Ohio State in 2008.

Reeves Leads Yale Past Penn

No. 13 Yale continued its rebound, downing Penn 14-12 to earn its fourth straight victory and move to 3-0 in the Ivy League. Yale led 11-6 entering the fourth quarter, but Penn made a comeback attempt with six goals in the final quarter, but did not have enough to get past Bulldog star Ben Reeves, who finished with five goals and two assists. Matt Gaudet added a hat trick for Yale, Conor Mackie stayed hot at the faceoff X, going 17-of-30 and Phil Huffard made 14 saves. Kevin McGeary and Reilly Hupfeldt each had three goals for Penn (4-4, 1-2 Ivy).

Sowers, McBride Power Potent Princeton Offense

Freshman Michael Sowers had nine points (5g, 4a) as Princeton topped 20-goals for the second time this season, this time in a 21-11 Ivy League win over Brown. Gavin McBride also had five goals and Tyler Blaisdell made 15 saves for the Tigers (6-3, 2-1 Ivy). Matt Graham led Brown (4-4, 1-1 Ivy) with two goals and two assists.

Red-Hot Villanova Tops Marquette in OT

Villanova picked up its fifth straight victory, knocking off No. 19 Marquette 10-9 in overtime. Christian Cuccinello scored the game-winner, his fifth goal of the game, with 1:31 left in overtime as the Wildcats (6-4, 1-0 Big East) held Marquette scoreless for the final 19:57 of the game. Marquette’s Ryan McNamara scored with 2:28 left in the third quarter to give the Golden Eagles (5-3, 1-1 Big East) a 9-7 lead. Jack Curran answered a little over a minute later and then his goal with 4:05 left in the fourth quarter was the only goal of the quarter and forced overtime.

Towson Escapes Drexel in CAA Opener

No. 15 Towson outscored Drexel 3-1 in the final quarter to edge the Dragons 8-7 in both team's Colonial Athletic Association opener. Ryan Drenner led the Tigers (4-4, 1-0 CAA) with four goals and Tyler Young's goal with 7:21 remaining broke a 7-7 tie and proved to be the game-winner. Towson's Alex Woodall won 12-of-18 faceoffs and Matt Hoy made 10 saves to earn the victory. Drexel's Jimmy Joe Granito made 11 saves and Will Manganiello was one of three Dragons with two goals. His goal with 7:52 remaining had tied the game just 31 seconds before Young's winner.

UMass Rallies Past Delaware

Massachusetts scored the final four goals of the game to upset No. 20 Delaware 9-6 and open Colonial Athletic Association play with a victory. Jeff Trainor led UMass (4-5, 1-0 CAA) with two goals and two assists, with both goals coming in the fourth quarter. His goal with 8:31 remaining broke a 6-6 lead and give the Minutemen the lead for good. D.J. Smith made nine saves to earn the victory and Noah Rak won 15-of-18 faceoffs. Delaware (7-4, 0-1 CAA) was led by Steve DeLargy with two goals and Andrew Romagnoli with a goal and three assists.

Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Top 20 Scoreboard

No. 5 Syracuse 11, No. 2 Notre Dame 10
No. 3 Hofstra 10, Fairfield 6
No. 4 Army 11, Bucknell 10
No. 6 Maryland 15, No. 18 Michigan 8
No. 8 Denver 20, Georgetown 11
No. 10 Albany 19, Stony Brook 11
No. 17 Virginia 8, No. 12 Richmond 7
No. 13 Yale 14, Penn 12
No. 14 Princeton 21, Brown 11
No. 15 Towson 8, Drexel 7
Villanova 10, No. 19 Marquette 9 (OT)
Massachusetts 9, No. 20 Delaware 6

Nike/US Lacrosse Division II Top 20 Scoreboard

No 1 Limestone 24, Pfeiffer 8
No. 2 LeMoyne 10, Franklin Pierce 4
No. 7 Adelphi 12, No. 3 Merrimack 9
Indianapolis 9, No. 5 Lindenwood 4
No. 6 NYIT 9, LIU Post 8 (OT)
No. 8 Lenoir-Rhyne 9, No. 10 Belmont Abbey 6
No. 9 Pace 11, No. 18 Saint Anselm 8
No. 11 Tampa 18, Lynn 7
No. 12 Mount Olive 22, Emmanuel 4
No. 13 Seton Hill 8, Roberts Wesleyan 4
Rollins 6, No. 14 Saint Leo 4
No. 20 Wingate 13, Catawba 1

Adelphi 12, Merrimack 9

No. 7 Adelphi seized control with a three-goal run late in the second quarter and knocked off No. 3 Merrimack 12-9. Shane Deboer and Nicolas Racalbuto each had hat tricks for Adelphi (7-1, 5-0 Northeast 10) while Merrimack (5-2, 3-2 NE10) got two goals each from Charlie Bertrand and Tim Towler.

Indianapolis 9, Lindenwood 4

Indianapolis outshot No. 5 Lindenwood 42-19 on its way to a 9-4 upset victory over the Lions (7-3). Indianapolis (5-3) has now won three straight games and got four goals from freshman attackman Parker Johnson. Lindenwood goalie Ben Besancenez mad 16 saves.

Nike/US Lacrosse Division III Top 20 Scoreboard

No. 1 Salisbury 25, St. Mary’s 5
Stevens 11, No. 2 Ithaca 10 (OT)
No. 3 Tufts 12, Connecticut College 6
No. 10 RIT 19, St. Lawrence 12
No. 5 York 17, Marymount 6
No. 6 Denison 18, Wittenberg 10
No. 7 Dickinson 10, Eastern 5
No. 9 Cortland 11, Oneonta 10 (OT)
No. 11 Stevenson 22, Arcadia, 2
No 12 Cabrini 26, Keystone 1
No. 14 Amherst 20, Middlebury 11
No. 15 RPI at Vassar, 6 pm
Union 12, No. 16 Clarkson 5
No. 17 Ursinus 9, Swarthmore 8
No. 18 Wesleyan 11, Colby 6
No. 19 Frostburg State 6, Christopher Newport 5
Lynchburg 17, No. 20 Roanoke 16

Stevens 11, Ithaca 10 (OT)

Tommy Dawson’s goal with 1:57 remaining in overtime capped a wild rally for Stevens as the Ducks upset No. 2 Ithaca 11-10. Ithaca had scored five goals in a span of less than three minutes early in the fourth quarter to take a 10-6 lead, but Stevens answered with five straight goals to claim the victory. Max Bailey’s goal with 1:06 left forced overtime. Dawson and John Boutureira each had three goals for Stevens (7-3, 2-0 Empire 8). Jack Shumway had three goals and three assists for Ithaca (8-2, 2-1 Empire 8).

RIT 19, St. Lawrence 12

Another Top 5 team from New York also went down as RIT knocked off No. 4 St. Lawrence 19-12. Ryan Lee had four goals and four assists to become the first player in RIT history to top 300 career points. Lee, with 195 goals and 110 assists in his career, had 17 points in two games this week. RIT improved to 7-2, 2-1 Liberty League while handing St. Lawrence (7-1, 1-1 Liberty League) its first loss of the season. Nick Nesbit made 15 saves for RIT while St. Lawrence’s Ryan Brigham won 20-of-31 faceoffs.