Photos: Stephen Dockery

BALTIMORE – Steven Brooks admitted he doesn’t like playing overtime games.

So with his Syracuse team locked in a tie with Johns Hopkins here at Homewood Field, the SU midfielder decided he would end it quickly.

Thirty seconds into the overtime, Brooks took a pass from midfielder Dan Hardy 15 yards away from the JHU goal and gave Syracuse a 14-13 win over the No. 4 Blue Jays.

‘I had a sweep to my strong hand and I just took it,’ Brooks said. ‘I made a little stutter step, had an opportunity and did a jump shot right between his legs and found the back of the net.’

An elated Brooks didn’t break stride when he ran past the JHU goal, as his teammates streamed in from the bench to mob him around the endline. Brooks’ goal, his fourth of the game, capped a wild three-week span, in which Syracuse came out with two wins in three overtime contests against top-12 teams.

The victory over the Blue Jays (3-2) moved the No. 5 Orange to 4-1 on the year, and back into its usual spot near the top of the lacrosse world. Syracuse last won at Homewood Field exactly 10 years and one day ago in 1998, also a 14-13 triumph.

In SU’s last two games, it was Brooks who sent the game to overtime. Two weeks ago against Virginia, he scored with 28 seconds left in regulation. Last week against Georgetown, he scored with just two ticks on the clock.

This week, instead of causing the overtime, Brooks ended it.

‘We don’t like overtimes, but it’s good to come out with a win,’ Brooks said. ‘We fought hard today; we were fighting back the whole entire game. It’s about time we came out with a victory once again at Homewood.’

After staying with the Blue Jays through the first quarter, with the score tied at two, Syracuse trailed throughout the rest of the game after a four-goal JHU rally in the second. The Orange was able to cut the lead to one at the half, but Johns Hopkins scored three of the next four.

Twice, Syracuse cut the lead to one goal, but each time JHU was able to once again pull ahead. Senior attack Mike Leveille said the Orange stayed confident in its offense throughout the game’s ebbs and flows, and didn’t allow JHU to pull away.

‘I think all day we felt pretty confident with our offenses, when we got down and ran them,’ Leveille said. ‘We just kept fighting. Our defense did a good job, as well as our faceoffs, getting us the ball back at the end of the game. We just converted them.’

In the second half and overtime, Danny Brennan won eight of nine faceoffs, including the key faceoff in overtime that gave SU the ball and set up the game-winning shot for Brooks.

For Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala, that ended up being one of those game-defining numbers.

‘I’m looking at the stats, two quarters they killed us,’ Pietramala said. ‘We’re two-of-eight facing off in the second quarter, one-of-eight in the fourth quarter. There’s the game.’

More than anything Pietramala said after the game, Syracuse is a motivated team this year. Had it been 2007, he said, SU would have been 0-3 in the past overtime stretch, instead of 2-1.

Watching his team through a stretch of three overtime games – the first time that has happened in the 89-year history of SU lacrosse – head coach John Desko has seen an inspired bunch pull out two gritty wins.

‘These guys have made up their minds that they’re going to refuse to lose this year, and that’s what they’re doing,’ Desko said. ‘And they haven’t quit in any of their games so far.’

After a 5-8 finish last year – which Syracuse constantly invokes as evidence of its resurrection this year – the win helps validate the work SU did to get where it is.

‘It’s been a tough offseason,’ said freshman Jovan Miller, who scored the first two goals of his SU career. ‘We’ve been getting after it, and it feels good that it’s finally starting to pay off. Especially against a team like Hopkins, it felt great to go out there and get the big win.’

Brooks was well aware coming in of Syracuse’s recent struggles here in Baltimore. But after watching plenty of streaks disappear in the last three years, the senior is glad to be on the other side of it.

‘It’s about time Syracuse started a good streak for once.’

kbaustin@syr.edu

Published on March 15, 2008 at 12:00 pm