Late struggles cost Cornell the title

Conservative offense down the stretch opened door for Orange

Mike Preston

May 26, 2009

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OXBOROUGH, MASS.

F - No. 5 Cornell had the perfect game plan to upset No. 2 Syracuse in the NCAA Division I men's title game Monday, but there were several in-game decisions that cost the Big Red.

Many factors determined the outcome of this contest, but Cornell coach Jeff Tambroni didn't bring his "A" game as Syracuse won its second consecutive title with a 10-9 overtime victory before an announced 41,935 at Gillette Stadium.

Entering the game, Cornell (13-4) wanted to control the tempo, and the Big Red did for nearly three quarters. Syracuse couldn't contain Cornell's first midfield group of John Glynn, Rocco Romero and Max Seibald, and the Orange had no answer for attackman Rob Pannell behind the goal.

But once Cornell took a 6-4 lead with 6 minutes, 38 seconds remaining in the third quarter, the Big Red went to a near stall. Instead of attacking the goal, Cornell was content holding the ball. The Big Red never regained any offensive momentum.

"Yeah, we got away from that offense that was successful for us in the first half, and too much holding back with the ball. It bit us in the butt," Glynn said.

Tambroni also should have used timeouts at two crucial moments. Once freshman midfielder Roy Lang took possession of the ball inside the offensive box with two minutes left in the game and a 9-8 lead, Tambroni should have called timeout and got the ball into the hands of Pannell, Seibald or Glynn. Instead, Lang was stripped of the ball, which helped lead to the game-tying goal with four seconds remaining.

After Cornell won the opening faceoff in overtime and got the ball behind the goal to junior attackman Ryan Hurley, Tambroni should have called timeout there as well to set up a play for his upset-minded team against a proven Syracuse group.

"I tip my cap to Syracuse. They showed poise at the end of the game, and played like they had been here before," Tambroni said.

Jamieson shines

Where does the Orange find these guys?

The game-winning goal was scored by Cody Jamieson, a Native American who wasn't eligible to play until Game 13 of the Orange's 14-game regular season. Jamieson has just nine goals this season, but eight of those came in four tournament games.

His transcripts and grades had to be cleared by the NCAA before he could play, even though he practiced with Syracuse all season. Jamieson is 5 feet 9, 200 pounds, and basically plays with one hand. But that left-handed shot is lethal.

"There were definitely a lot of nights I stayed awake wondering if it was going to happen," said Jamieson, a graduate of Hagersville Secondary School in Six Nations, Ontario. "I leaned on a lot of friends I have with the team."

Versatility reigns

In this era of specialization, the two-way midfielder is supposed to be extinct, but the best two players on the field were Glynn and Seibald.

Glynn had three goals and two assists. He also picked up nine ground balls, won 10 of 22 faceoffs and played tough defense. Seibald had two goals, despite having a long pole in his face most of the game, and won five ground balls.

Syracuse attackman Kenny Nims was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, but the award should have gone to Glynn. Nims lost my vote when Seibald ran through him to open the third quarter.

What if?

When the Cornell coaching staff and players look over the game film of this title game, the Big Red will be haunted by several missed opportunities, including going 1-for-6 on extra-man opportunities.

If the Big Red connects on 50 percent, Cornell wins the title.

Orange envy

There is still this stupid debate about whether Syracuse has won 11 tournament titles or 10 since the school was stripped of its 1990 crown for numerous reasons, including having a former coach's wife co-signing for a star player to get a loan.

In 1990, Syracuse went 13-0 and scored 20 or more goals in 10 games, including all three tournament wins. No team was going to beat the Orangemen regardless of some silly rules enforced by the NCAA. As far as I'm concerned, the Orangemen won it on the field and have the best program in college lacrosse.

Getting the breaks

Syracuse coach John Desko knew the Orange was lucky Monday. Forget all this stuff about character and resilience. Sometimes, it just comes down to the bounce of the ball, and Syracuse got a couple of late breaks against Cornell.

"I'm excited they've won the school's 11th national championship," Desko said. "It wasn't easy. I feel like we played for about three minutes at the end and I still have to go back and watch the film to see what happened."

Desko even got a break when he called a timeout with the Orange down 9-6 with 5:31 left in the game.

"We had to cover a lot of things," Desko said. "First of all, we needed a goal there, we had to set up the offense. We had to set up an offense for zone defense, we had to set up an offense for man-to-man defense. We had to tell our guys if we did lose it, we had to get back and stop the fast break and we had to pressure.

"We had to get our goalie ready to come out and double-team the ball. "I don't always like the TV timeouts, because we're used to the regular season and having 60 seconds. We're probably fortunate that it was a TV timeout, because we were able to get an extra minute."