9781422284261

GREATEST MOMENTS

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Johns Hopkins’ lacrosse program has more national championships than any other, but most of these came in the pre-NCAA era when JHU won 35 titles. They also have nine NCAA Championships, however, which was tied for the modern era record with Syracuse until 2009. Syracuse had success under coach Roy Simmons Jr. and the Gait brothers (five titles from 1988-1995), but they were equally dominant in the 2000s when led by coach John Desko. Desko took over from Simmons in 1999 and coached the Orange to four NCAA Championships in nine seasons going into the 2009 championship game. Second-ranked Syracuse trailed the fifth-seeded Big Red 9-6 with less than four minutes to play in the final, and it looked like an upset was brewing. The Orange showed their mettle, however, scoring two quick goals 51 seconds apart to make it a one-goal game. It was still 9-8, however, with the clock running down under 15 seconds to play when a Cornell turnover at midfield gave Syracuse one last chance. The Orange scooped up the loose ball, and after a desperate, deflected pass found star attackman Kenny Nims at the edge of the Cornell crease, he buried it with just four seconds left to force overtime. Attackman Cody Jamieson scored 1:20 into overtime to give the Orange NCAA title number 10.

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