Guido Cristofori slowly emerged from a pile of arms, legs and Syracuse jerseys.

He grinned, jogging away from a pile of teammates and leading an orange and white parade to the stands Saturday at the Soccer Stadium at the Lampe Athletics Complex.

The remaining fans from a crowd of 602 stood and cheered Cristofori, who netted the game-winning goal in Syracuse’s 3-2 overtime victory over Georgetown in the conference opener for both teams. Cristofori’s score completed a three-goal rally by SU that began with five minutes remaining in regulation.

‘This is awesome,’ Syracuse senior defender Eric Chapman mouthed as he jogged off the field.

‘We needed this game badly,’ SU forward Jarett Park said. ‘If we wanted to go anywhere this year, we needed this game.’

While two losses last weekend didn’t shake Syracuse (1-2, 1-0 Big East), one goal from Georgetown (0-3, 0-1) did.

Fifty-eight minutes in, Georgetown’s Ben Jefferson-Dow collected a loose ball and slid a shot past goaltender Alim Karim.

The goal ignited the Orangemen, who went on to outshoot the Hoyas 21-10, including 14-6 after halftime. Still, Georgetown doubled when Paul Brandley headed home a rebound of a Kemmons Feldman shot in the 67th minute.

‘The first goal was a real slap in the face,’ midfielder Ryan Hall said. ‘The second was a fluke. The first goal put a foot up our asses.’

After a lackluster 85 minutes, the Orangemen exploded for three goals in the final eight minutes. Park started the scoring, corralling a loose ball at the top of the 18-yard box and bouncing it into the back of the net. He tied the game two-and-a-half minutes later by converting a diving header off a Hall cross to force overtime.

Hall constituted most of the SU offense throughout the first half. He torched a trio of Georgetown defenders throughout the afternoon, repeatedly sprinting down the sideline and tight-roping the endline. Until the final 10 minutes, though, Hall’s efforts resulted in shots into the side netting or poorly executed crosses.

‘I don’t know what they were doing,’ Hall said. ‘They kept switching guys on me. They were playing me up tight, and I just pushed the ball behind them. I guess they weren’t catching on.’

On Park’s second goal, Georgetown finally did, giving Hall space and forcing him to pass the ball. Unfortunately for the Hoyas, he swung the ball into the center of the goal box, where a sprinting Park dove headfirst and poked the ball into the back of the net.

Three minutes into overtime, Hall struck again, setting up the game-winner. After beating his defender, Hall floated a cross to Guido Cristofori at the Georgetown post.

Cristofori slid it inches inside the right post, setting loose the wave of Orangemen flooding across the field.

“We were in disbelief,” Hall said. “We have enough talent to score three goals in eight minutes. Why can’t we do this all the time?”

No one may have needed the win more than Park. Last year’s national Freshman of the Year wasted Syracuse’s best early scoring chances, turning the ball over and firing ill-conceived shots from 30 yards away.

Five minutes before scoring his first goal, Park failed to convert his easiest scoring chance of the night, popping up a wide-open attempt from the penalty spot.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever had a more wide-open goal than the one I kicked over the goal,’ Park said. ‘I had a bunch of good chances, and I didn’t even get off a good shot.’

Besides struggling with his shooting touch, Park also struggled through a pair of groin pulls, wearing bandages that prohibited him from fully extending his legs and ‘felt like wearing armor.’

Syracuse needed the heroics after starting poorly for the third consecutive game. Despite being outshot, the Hoyas had the best scoring chances. They rifled three shots off the goalposts and also forced Karim to make a diving save.

Syracuse, meanwhile, struggled to connect on its passes, with most landing in goaltender Brian O’Hagan’s hands.

‘We had some stretches where we didn’t play too well,’ Syracuse coach Dean Foti said. ‘You don’t come back from starts like this too often. If we rely on that, we’re in trouble.

Published on September 8, 2002 at 12:00 pm