In its final outing before the season opens, the men’s lacrosse team suffered a scare before topping No. 6 Maryland, 9-6, in College Park, Md.

No. 2 Syracuse trailed Maryland, 5-1, at halftime before running off eight second-half goals in its second scrimmage of the season.

Attackman Brian Nee led the charge with three second-half goals. Two other attackmen put up big numbers, as Mike Springer scored twice and tallied two assists while Josh Coffman added a goal and three assists. Midfielder Mike Smith scored Syracuse’s only goal before the half and added one more in the second.

Jay Pfeifer further solidified himself as SU’s starting goalie, making 16 saves in more than 54 minutes of action. Alex Mummolo played the last six minutes and stopped the only shot he saw.

The Orangemen open the regular season Saturday at 3:30 against Army in the Carrier Dome.

Women’s basketball

Villanova (15-9, 9-4 Big East) made a seven-point Syracuse (14-10, 7-6) lead disappear over the last seven minutes Saturday night, defeating the Orangewomen, 66-62.

Syracuse led, 53-46, with 7:04 to go, but Villanova’s Courtney Mix hit the game-winning layup with 26 seconds left. Free throws bolstered the Wildcats’ lead to four.

SU’s Jaime James scored 17 points and teammate Shannon Perry contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Syracuse hopes to bounce back in conference play when it travels to Boston College for a game Wednesday night at 7.

Softball

Syracuse lost more games than it won at the Seminole Classic in Tallahassee, Fla., last weekend, despite outscoring its opponents, 20-13.

The Orangewomen won their first game of the tournament over Maryland, 3-1, on Friday before losing to Florida State, 6-3, later the same day. SU responded Saturday by beating St. John’s, 11-1, in freshman pitcher Taylor Petersen’s collegiate debut. Petersen surrendered just one hit in five innings.

Unfortunately for Syracuse, Petersen didn’t pitch in the Orangewomen’s next two games. SU finished the tournament with one-run losses to Georgia and Penn State.

Syracuse enjoys two weeks off before traveling to the Southern Classic in early March.

Published on February 17, 2002 at 12:00 pm