Chants of ‘AL-BA-NY!’ resonated throughout the Carrier Dome on Sunday with less than a minute to play before halftime. Three consecutive Albany goals had just trimmed Syracuse’s lead to one in the opening-round playoff game of the NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament.

Momentum was on the Great Danes’ side.

Thanks to Syracuse’s Brian Nee, though, that momentum was only short lived.

Nee scored one of his four goals with six seconds remaining in the first half, ending the Albany run while beginning one for Syracuse, as the Orange won, 21-13. Nee’s goal began an 11-1 Syracuse run that continued into the fourth quarter. Albany went 14 minutes without scoring a goal and was outscored, 8-1, in the pivotal third quarter.

‘Albany did a great job getting after the groundballs in the first half which gave them a lot of valuable possessions,’ Syracuse head coach John Desko said. ‘I thought we needed to get out in the second half and do much better with that, and we did. We won some face-offs in the third quarter, settled down, ran the offense and got the separation we wanted to be a little more comfortable in the second half as far as the goals were concerned.’

Eleven different players scored for Syracuse. Alex Zink recorded four goals while Michael Powell and Kevin Dougherty each had three. Powell also assisted on three goals and, along with Zink, led SU with six points apiece. The 21 goals were the most by Syracuse in the playoffs since 1992 against Johns Hopkins.

‘Things had to go perfect for us, and it didn’t,’ Albany head coach Scott Marr said. ‘But it wasn’t because of a lack of effort.’

No. 4 Syracuse (12-2) advances to face No. 5 Georgetown (11-3) in next weekend’s quarterfinal matchup at Cornell on Sunday. Georgetown defeated Towson Sunday, 15-8, to set up a rematch of last week’s regular-season finale, which Syracuse won, 13-9.

After the teams traded goals for the first eight minutes, Syracuse went on a four-goal run to seize a 6-2 lead with 10:19 remaining in the second quarter. Albany, though, began to creep back and with 46 seconds left in the first half, Merrick Thomson scored for the Great Danes to draw them to within one, 6-5.

Syracuse won the ensuing face-off, and Powell ended up with the ball behind the net with less than 10 seconds on the clock. After fumbling the ball, Powell found Nee right in front of the net for the score.

‘They (Albany) had gotten a couple of big goals,’ Nee said. ‘But Mike made a good play and it gave us a lot of confidence going into halftime.’

Syracuse controlled play for most of the second half. Steve Vallone eventually scored at 13:01 to give Syracuse an 8-5 lead, and as the Orange continued to win face-offs, it continued to hold onto the ball and add to its lead.

When Albany finally managed to find the back of the net, less than two minutes remained on the clock in the quarter and the deficit was seven goals.

‘They have too many weapons,’ Marr said. ‘It’s hard to keep a team like that down when they get going.’

Syracuse outshot Albany, 16-5, in the third quarter. The Orange also won the face-off battle, winning 23 of 37, while dominating on ground balls, 55-39.

As glorious as the win Sunday was, Syracuse knows a much tougher opponent in Georgetown lies ahead. Syracuse will be looking for its 22nd consecutive Final Four appearance, but the Hoyas would love nothing more than to be the team that finally stops that from happening.

‘It’s playoff time,’ Nee said. ‘It’s time to step it up.’

Published on May 16, 2004 at 12:00 pm