May 31, 1999

ALL-CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM

GAME STATS

POSTGAME QUOTES

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - Hanley Holcomb scored three goals and Virginia held off a late surge by Syracuse to claim its first NCAA lacrosse championship since 1972 with a 12-10 victory Monday.

Drew McKnight, Michael Leahy and Henry Oakley had two goals apiece for Virginia (13-3), which had lost four straight title games, all in overtime, since winning its lone Division I lacrosse crown.

This game came tantalizingly close to going into sudden death, too, as Syracuse scored five straight goals in the fourth quarter to make it 10-9 with 3:36 left. But Conor Gill and Oakley scored in a 21-second span to put the Cavaliers up by three with 2:38 remaining.

The Orangemen (12-5), playing in their 10th title game and in search of a seventh NCAA championship, never got their offense in rhythm until it was too late. Syracuse went 18 minutes, 59 seconds without a goal after closing to 7-3 with 5:11 left in the second period.

Syracuse led 1-0 before the Cavaliers got five straight unassisted goals from five different players to take a 5-1 lead.

Extra-man goals by Holcomb and McKnight made it 7-2 with three minutes elapsed in the second period, marking only the second time this season that Syracuse trailed by as many as five goals.

Tim Brynes scored for the Orangemen before Leahy got his second goal, off a fine pass from Gill, to make it 8-3 at halftime. The goal came after Syracuse was called for failing to advance the ball out of its own end of the field.

Tucker Radebaugh scored for Virginia midway through the third quarter, putting Syracuse in a six-goal hole for the first time this year. Todd Estrin scored for the Orangemen late in the period, but Holcomb's third goal made it 10-4 with 13:27 to go.

The Orangemen made a surprising run to the finals by beating three teams that they lost to earlier in the season. On this occasion, however, it was Virginia that got revenge - the Cavaliers opened the season with a 14-12 loss at Syracuse.