Two things weren’t a surprise on Sunday. Syracuse had a game come down to the wire and the latest chapter in the Syracuse-Virginia rivalry was a classic.

Sergio Salcido scored the game-winning goal with 15 seconds remaining as the Orange recovered from a five-goal deficit to beat Virginia 14-13 in the Carrier Dome. It was the first time that the Orange led in the game.

"It was a good game for college lacrosse. It was up-and-down, and certainly a big win for us," said Syracuse head coach John Desko. "It's not often you can win a game by one goal having the ground ball discrepancy like we did in this game. I thought our guys played hard the whole way, especially in the second half being down like we were down. To be able to pick away at it and get back into it, and win it at the end, is a great win for Syracuse today. I'm proud of the way our guys played down the stretch."

No. 16 Syracuse (3-1), which has now had its last three games decided in the final 15 seconds of the game, got a trio of five point performances from Matt Lane (3g, 2a) and Nate Solomon (3g, 2a) and Salcido (2g, 3a). Faceoff specialist Ben Williams, who missed last week’s loss to Army with an injury, won just 14-of-31 faceoffs, but his seven ground balls gave him 287 for his career, breaking Joel White’s school record total of 283.

No. 9 Virginia (3-2) took its biggest lead of the game at 10-5 after a Zed Williams tally early in the third quarter, but the Orange responded with four straight goals, including a man-down goal by Solomon to get back in the game. The teams went back-and-forth in the fourth quarter with Virginia taking its final lead at 13-12 on a goal by Dox Aitken with 7:04 left in the game.

Lane tied it for Syracuse with 5:45 remaining, but Virginia won the faceoff and got off four shots, two of them saved by Evan Molloy over the next two and a half minutes before a penalty turned the ball back over to Syracuse. The Orange failed on the extra man and Virginia goalie Will Railey made a pair of saves down the stretch, but Salcido delivered the game-winner with 15 seconds to play.

Michael Kraus led Virginia with four goals and two assists and Dox Aitken added three goals and two assists. Virginia had a 43-27 advantage on ground balls, including a 16-3 advantage in the second quarter when the Cavaliers scored all four goals to take an 8-4 halftime lead.

Bryant Stuns Yale in Reeves' Return

Yale’s Tewaaraton Award candidate Ben Reeves returned from injury and posted four assists, but Bryant scored the final three goals of the game to stun No. 8 Yale 9-6.

A five-goal run gave Bryant a 6-4 lead, midway through the third quarter, but Yale appeared to calm things down as Reeves assisted on back-to-back goals to tie the game. Momentum and the lead shifted back to visiting Bryant on Cam Ziegler’s goal with just seven seconds remaining in the third quarter.

James Werner made two of his 12 saves in the fourth quarter and Bryant (3-3) blanked Yale for the final 20 minutes of the game and added goals from Tom Kennedy and Tom Forsberg to seal the win.

Tucker James had two goals and two assists to lead Bryant and Kenny Massa won 12-of-19 faceoffs. Eric Scott and Matt Gaudet each had two goals for Yale (1-2).

Duke Hands Richmond First Loss

Duke (4-2) came back from a four-goal second half deficit and beat a ranked opponent for the first time this season, downing No. 10 Richmond 9-8.

“I thought we played with a lot more passion [in the second half],” said head coach John Danowski. “I thought we played scared and very tight and afraid in the first half. At halftime we spoke to them in a stern tone and they seemed to have responded to that.”

Richmond’s JP Forester had the first goal of the second half, giving the Spiders a 6-2 lead, but Duke answered with four straight goals, the last two coming from Jack Bruckner to tie the game 6-6 entering the fourth.

Forester opened the scoring again in the fourth to give Richmond (4-1) it’s final lead at 7-6 with 10:36 to play, but Duke answered with three goals in a span of just 51 seconds to take the win.

Justin Guterding had three goals and three assists for Duke and Bruckner also had a hat trick. Danny Fowler made 10 saves and Kyle Rowe won 11-of-19 faceoffs. The Blue Devils won 5-of-6 fourth quarter faceoffs to aid the comeback. Forested led Richmond with three goals.

Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Top 20 Scoreboard

Bryant 9, No. 8 Yale 6
Duke 9, No. 10 Richmond 8
No. 16 Syracuse 14, No. 9 Virginia 13
No. 17 Albany 17, Cornell 6
No. 18 Ohio State 14, Bellarmine 11

Division II

NYIT Survives Upset Bid From Rollins

No. 5 NYIT (3-0) completed a sweep of Florida Tech and Rollins on its trip to the Sunshine State, but it wasn’t easy. A thee-goal run in the third quarter keyed an 8-7 victory over the Tars (4-2). Leroy Halftown led the Bears with three goals, including the first two goals during the third quarter run, and Matt Chanenchuk had a goal and three assists. Greg Taicher and Dylan Bassham each had three goals for Rollins. Taicher’s third tally came with 10:15 remaining in the game, to pull Rollins within 8-7, but Rollins got off just two more shots the rest of the game. The final came with seven seconds remaining, but Alex Seltzer’s ninth save preserved the NYIT victory.

Nike/US Lacrosse Division II Top 20 Scoreboard

No. 3 Merrimack 15, Southern New Hampshire 8
No. 5 NYIT 8, Rollins 7

Division III

PHOTO BY KEVIN P. TUCKER

Salisbury Pulls Away From Ohio Wesleyan

Top-ranked Salisbury outscored Ohio Wesleyan 4-0 in the third quarter to break open a close game and defeated the Battling Bishops 10-6. Nick Garbarino led the Gulls (5-0) with four goals while Nathan Blondino had two goals and three assists and Adam Huber had two goals. Conor Caffrey had a pair of goals for Ohio Wesleyan (2-3). OWU’s offense failed to convert on all five of its extra man opportunities.

Ithaca Closes Strong to Beat RPI

No. 2 Ithaca (2-0) scored the final six goals of the game to down RPI 14-9 in a Top 10 showdown. RPI’s last goal came with 5:27 remaining in the third quarter, a goal by Breanainn McNeilly that capped a three-goal run that gave the Engineers (1-1) a 9-8 lead.

Jack Shumway had two goals and an assist on the closing 6-0 run for Ithaca and finished the game with five goals. Jack Deragon made 11 saves to earn the win. McNeally led RPI with three goals and two assists, Oliver Kaija won 17-of-22 faceoffs and David Gibbs made 18 saves.

Nine-Goal First Quarter Leads Amherst

No. 14 Amherst opened the 2017 season by scoring nine goals in the first quarter to key a 17-12 upset over No. 9 Bowdoin. Colin Mincus (3g, 3a), Chris Albanese (5g) and Jack Norton (4g) did most of the damage for Amherst, with Dylan Finazzo winning 21-of-31 faceoffs to keep feeding the ball to the offense. Shawn Daly and Brett Kujala each had hat tricks for Bowdoin (0-1) and Peter Mumford made 20 saves. The two teams combined for 102 shots with Amherst holding a 59-43 advantage, including 19-3 in the first quarter.

Bates Hangs On to Beat Wesleyan

Bates led Wesleyan by four goals with under four minutes to play, but a pair of goals by Wesleyan in the final minute pushed the Bobcats to the brink before they held on for a  15-14 win. No. 18 Bates improved to 3-0 and 1-0 in the NESCAC while Wesleyan was opening its season. Charlie Fay and Andrew Melvin each had four goals for Bates. Carter Hawthorne had four goals and two assists for Wesleyan.

Nike/US Lacrosse Division III Top 20 Scoreboard

No. 1 Salisbury 10, No. 11 Ohio  Wesleyan 6
No. 2 Ithaca 14, No. 10 RPI 9
No. 4 RIT 14, Scranton 3
No. 14 Amherst 17, No. 9 Bowdoin 12
No. 18 Bates 15, No. 19 Wesleyan 14