Peaty stands tall in 11-10 heart-stopper

It was the save of a lifetime; the stuff movies are scripted after. Head coach Charley Toomey's reaction said it best. He just shook his head in disbelief.

"What an incredible save," Toomey finally uttered. "Just incredible."

With the Loyola men's lacrosse team clinging to a one-goal lead in the final seven seconds of regulation, the restless crowd of 3,582 at Geppi-Aikens Field watched sophomore goalie Alex Peaty go toe-to-toe with Syracuse's Kenny Nims.

Nims reared back, and with a half second left on the clock, fired a bullet from point-blank range at the upper right corner of the cage.

"At that point," said senior Dan Bauers, "I'm getting ready for overtime."

But today belonged to Alex Peaty: The hero of the No. 11 Greyhounds'11-10 win over No. 13 Syracuse.

Peaty, who was shunned by the Orange coming out of high school, earned a little taste of sweet revenge on Saturday. You would just never know by his post-game reaction that he enjoyed any of it.

"We go through those situations every day in practice," Peaty said, deflecting any credit thrown his way. "It's the guys in front of me -- Michael Graham, Eddie Graham, and David Moore -- that make it happen and allow me to get in position for stops."

Nevertheless, Peaty's save gave the Hounds (5-2, 4-0 ECAC) their fifth-straight victory and a win over a team they had beaten only once in the last eight years. As with any heated rivalry, the final outcome came down to the end, when all rational thought is thrown out and the players must rely on will and instinct.

But the end-of-game drama overshadowed the most excruciating 1:13 witnessed at Geppi-Aikens this season. With Loyola ahead comfortably at 11-7, the vaunted Orange attack, which averages 11 goals per game, surged back with three-straight transition goals. Syracuse then proceeded to win their fourth consecutive face-off, ultimately leading to Peaty's last stand.

"I give them [Syracuse] a lot of the credit," said Bauers, who scored a game-high four goals. "If anyone can come back and score four goals in a minute, it's Syracuse."

From start to finish, the game lived up to its hype, filled with offense, hot tempers, and just to please the national-TV audience, drama.

The Orange opened up the contest with a goal three minutes into the first quarter, but Loyola's response was immediate. Deviating from their deliberate offensive style, the Hounds took the ensuing possession, went straight downfield, and tied the game on senior Pat Kennedy's goal. Three minutes later, the Hounds' defense forced a turnover, turning it into another fast-break goal. This time it was Bauers off a feed from junior Shane Koppens.

Although the early spurt was refreshing, Koppens, who scored three times, said there was no change in offensive philosophy.

"We play our game, and we're going to push the ball [in transition] from defense to offense when the opportunity's there," Koppens said. "If we don't have anything, we're going to settle the ball and look for a shot, but we're not going to stop pushing."

Trailing 2-1, the Orange took advantage of two man-ups and went on a three-goal spurt led by Mike Leveille, who had four goals on the day.

With time winding down in the action-packed first quarter, senior Andy Spack cut Loyola's deficit to one before an Orange foul let the Hounds open the second quarter man-up.

The Greyhounds' initial shot in the second frame bounced off the Orange keeper, but Bauers was there for the rebound. Using all of his 204-pound frame, he forced the ball between the pipes, tying the score at four.

Syracuse scored once more at the 12:35 mark, but the staunch, physical Greyhound defense leveled the Orange attackmen like linebackers on a football field.

Koppens then tacked on the game-tying goal, the final score of the half for either team.

The offense gets credit for putting up an 11 spot, but today's game came down to defense and fundamentals.

"The whole defensive unit was tremendous," Toomey said. "[Steven] Hess is certainly the leader of the unit, but they're all terrific players."

Syracuse opened up the second half with a goal, but back-to-back Loyola scores in less than a minute gave the Hounds the lead and the momentum.

Spack's shot from 15 yards out was a bullet, matched in intensity only by sophomore Jake Wilcox's goal on the next possession. Wilcox manhandled three Syracuse defenders on his way to the go-ahead goal.

Neither team scored again in the third quarter, but Koppens opened up a two-goal Loyola lead, 8-6, to start the fourth.

After Syracuse cut their deficit back to one at 12:53, the Orange began to find the holes in the Greyhounds' defense.

But all three times the Orange had a chance to tie, Peaty denied them.

With the quarter more than half over, Peaty collected a save, and pushed the ball out in transition where Bauers streaked downfield for the Hounds' ninth goal. Bauers recorded yet another tally three minutes later, and Koppens capped the Loyola scoring with a goal at the 1:13 mark, making it 11-7.

A four-goal ad-vantage with a minute left is usually enough of an excuse to coast the rest of the way, but don't tell that to Loyola.

"I'm proud of [my team]," said Toomey. "The score does not indicate how hard they played today, but you've got to play for all 30 minutes in second half, not just 29."

Peaty, coming off his 15-save effort over UMass, added 12 more against the Orange. Senior Paul Richards picked up 10 groundballs, and senior Dan Kallaugher, whom Toomey praised for never allowing Syracuse's offense to build a sustained run (until the end), was 11-19 in face-offs.

Loyola finishes their homestand, 3-0, and now plays two straight on the road, starting with Rutgers on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.