9781422284261

GREATEST MOMENTS

In that 1989 championship game, the Gaits and top-ranked Syracuse faced second seed Johns Hopkins. The Orangemen had lost just a single match in the last two seasons coming into this championship contest. That was a loss to Johns Hopkins to start the 1989 season. The championship game was close throughout between the two evenly matched teams. After the third quarter, JHU led 11-9, and it looked like the Blue Jays might win their fifth title of the decade. In the fourth quarter, however, Syracuse showed why they were the defending champions. Rodney Dumpson quickly scored to make it 11-10. A few minutes later, Gary Gait scooped up a loose ball in the Blue Jays’ end and rushed at the net. Checked from behind, he shot while falling and managed to score the tying goal with just over 12 minutes left. Syracuse kept coming, with John Zulberti scoring the go-ahead goal on a beautiful diving play from the edge of the crease. When Dumpson scored his second goal of the quarter and the fourth unanswered tally to make it 13-11, Syracuse seemed fated to win. Hopkins rallied furiously, but Syracuse held on to win 13-12 in what many experts consider to be the greatest lacrosse game ever played. 1989 NCAA National Championship

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