Senior Jack Near would score in transition in the second overtime to give the Notre Dame Fighting Irish a 12-11 game in double overtime. With the win, Notre Dame and Syracuse will trade places in the polls.
Nick Ossello opened the scoring with his unassisted goal 26 seconds into the contest. Syracuse would counter with redshirt senior Nicky Galasso scored an unassisted goal to get Syracuse offense started. Both offenses came out ready in the battle of the nation’s two top teams.
Connor Doyle dodged down the alley and quickly found freshman Mike Wynne open in front of the cage to take an early 2-1 lead. After a couple of quick possessions by both teams, attackman Dylan Donahue scored an unassisted goal, beating Notre Dame’s goalie over his left shoulder in tight.
Will Corrigan broke the 2-2 tie when Syracuse was caught during a bad substitution. Osello found him open and Corrigan deep Syracuse’s Bpbby Wardwell for a one-goal lead. At the end of the first quarter, both teams had chances to attack but turnovers kept the score at 3-2.
Notre Dame took a two-goal lead with their first possession of the second quarter. Sergio Perkovic dodged and was able use his size to get his hands free. With 6:31 remaining in the half, Ossello scored his second of the game when Matt Kavanaugh found him cutting through the middle of the defense.
Notre Dame’s defense held the Syracuse offense scoreless for over fifteen minutes between the first and second quarters. Kevin Rice ended the drought with 3:08 left in the quarter. It was Syracuse’s third unassisted goal. Sophomore goalie Shane Doss would deny Galasso’s shot in tie to keep the score at half 5-3 in favor of the home team.
Notre Dame would double up Syracuse to start the second half and then go up four with the first two goals. Connor Doyle and Mike Wynne would score back to back to give Notre Dame a 7-3 advantage in the first four minutes. The run would continue when Kavanaugh got his second of the game.
Notre Dame would get to nine goals when Jack Near brought the ball up field in transition. It was the second goal within a minute, even though Notre Dame had lost both face off attempts. Syracuse would finally beat Doss and end the run when Galasso scored his second goal on a rebound in tight. The score was 9-4 with six minutes remaining in the half.
Dylan Donahue would score, falling to the ground, when Nicky Galasso found him in front of the net. It was the first multi-goal run in the game for the Orange. Donahue would score his second consecutive goal when he dodged and scored an unassisted tally.
Notre Dame’s Perkovic would get his second of the game to end the Syracuse run and get the score to 10-6 in their favor. Syracuse would answer, to get the game within two goals, when Kevin Rice found Donahue for his fourth with just three seconds left in the quarter. The final quarter would begin with Syracuse trailing by two-goals at 10-8.
The fourth quarter started with Rice finding Donahue for his fifth goal of the game. It would be a one goal game with just over ten minutes remaining in the game. Fifth year senior Jim Marlott would score to end the Syracuse run, but Syracuse would answer. Donahue scored his sixth when Sergio Salcido found him open.
The first tie since 2-2 happened when Syracuse converted on their first man advantage opportunity. Tim Barber walked around the crease and finished to tie the game at 11. With one minute remaining, Dylan Donahue scored his seventh of the game to give Syracuse the lead at 11-10.
Notre Dame would answer at the ensuing face off. Finley would win the face off and sprint to the goal where he would score to tie the game. Notre Dame failed to score on the final possession and the game would go into overtime.
Notre Dame would win the face off in overtime, but Sergio Perkovic would fall into the crease on his shot. Syracuse would get possession and move into the offensive end of the field before Coach Desko called a time out. After the time out, Shane Doss made a save to take it to a second overtime.
Jack Near would end the contest when he scored in the second overtime. The Irish would get the ball after Syracuse would have the first possession in the second overtime. A turnover would allow Notre Dame to have the ball and in transition scored, as the Irish stormed the field.
Syracuse would drop their first game of the season and will await Albany back home in the Carrier Dome. Notre Dame will what for next weekend’s game when they travel to Duke.
