Virginia lacrosse: Syracuse beats Virginia, 14-13, on strength of dominant face-off performance

In a tight, back-and-forth, primetime Friday night affair, the Syracuse Orange picked up their first win in Charlottesville since 2004, edging the home Virginia Cavaliers 14-13.

Syracuse held a five-goal lead early in the fourth quarter, but James Pannell's tally with 38 seconds left drew Virginia back to only a one-goal deficit. The run was sparked by a change of strategy at the face-off X, where SU's Ben Williams went 18-of-29 (62%) for the night. Long-stick Michael Howard replaced Jason Murphy and won two straight draws, helping keep the ball in the home team's crosses.

Pannell led the Virginia scoring with 4 goals and an assist. But the offense flowed through Ryan Lukacovic, who contributed 4 assists and a goal. Greg Coholan and AJ Fish each added two goals as well.

Tim Barber led the scoring for Syracuse with 3 goals and 2 assists, while Dylan Donahue scored 2 goals and had 3 assists.

In addition to a face-off deficit, Virginia did not get much help from its goalie play. Matt Barrett entered the game with a .481 save percentage, and saved only 7 of SU's 21 shots on goal. Will Railey replaced Barrett for the game's final minute, but the damage was already done.

The loss drops Virginia to 2-3 on the season and 0-1 in the ACC. Syracuse remains undefeated at 4-0 and 1-0 in conference play. The Hoos return to action Tuesday, March 8, in a 7:30 PM home game against St. Joseph's.