Orange WIN!!!!!

It was a long year. And it was a huge turnaround for Desko and his staff. But the Syracuse Orange are back with a 13-10 win over their bitter rival the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays.

After a 5-8 season last year that cost Cuse a tournament bid, they rebounded for a 12-2 regular season and won four in a row to win their tenth national title, making it the most in the
nation.

Hopkins got on top early, with a goal from Paul Rabil who would go on to score six goals for the Blue Jays. But Syracuse answered. Hopkins would then score the next two goals, followed by a Syracuse goal from the master faceoff man Danny Brennan. Hopkins immediately answered, making it 4-2 at the end of the first quarter.

The rest of the game belonged to the Orange.

Dan Hardy, who was the offensive MVP, scored three goals while the longpoles were covering Mike Leveille and Steven Brooks, who were held to just one goal apiece. Syracuse had a 4-1 second quarter to go up 6-5 at the half.

The Orange never looked back in the second half. They scored two quick goals which Hopkins then answered, but Syracuse then scored two more to go up 10-8 after three. In the fourth quarter, the Orange scored three more and Hopkins (aka Paul Rabil) scored two, making the final score 13-10, in favor of the Orange.

So why did Cuse win? And why did Hopkins manage to stay in the game?

Syracuse won for the same reason Hopkins won on Saturday: Hopkins made too many turnovers, which Syracuse was eager to capitalize on. Duke did the same thing on Saturday against Hopkins. Duke wasn't used to playing anything but a run and shoot game, while Syracuse can change the tempo at will. And most of Duke's power came from the attack, while Syracuse also has viable middies.

It was a great game, and it gave John Desko his third title. And thus we go into the offseason for college sports. I'll do coverage all summer of events that happen, but sadly there'll be no games to report on until football season starts.