PHILADELPHIA — For one moment, the ball lay on the Lincoln Financial Field grass, up for grabs.

It seemed improbable in the first half, but now the whole game was, too. A Denver ground ball could start a breakaway in the other direction. A Syracuse rebound could win the game.

Two Luke Cometti shots set the stage. Half a minute earlier, he had tied the game for the first time with a last-minute goal. His next shot could win it. Denver’s Jamie Faus made the save, but the rebound was there for the taking. In stepped Derek Maltz. A ground ball into a fluid flick of the wrist put the ball into the back of the net, capping a spectacular fourth quarter and sending the Orange to the national championship.

“We worked all week on what if JoJo (Marasco) gets shut off, and Luke had a terrific game, so he took the ball hard to the cage,” Maltz said. “The ball trickled off the goalie’s chest and I was basically just in the right spot at the right time, and I’m just thankful that the ball went in the back of the net and we’re moving on to Monday.”

For 30 minutes, it was the No. 4-seed Pioneers who seemed destined for the title game. SU couldn’t solve first-half goalie Ryan LaPlante in the net and finally showed some vulnerability on the defensive end against DU’s (14-5) dynamic offense. Top-seeded Syracuse went into the fourth quarter trailing by three, but a five-goal period, a game-ending 3-0 run and Maltz’s decisive goal sent the Orange (16-3) to its first championship game since 2009.

Syracuse advances to face No. 7-seed Duke in the NCAA championship game at 1 p.m. Monday in Philadelphia.

The Orange found itself in a familiar situation. For the sixth time this season, the Orange trailed heading into the fourth quarter. Four times before, SU came away victorious.

With 10:23 remaining, Marasco fired a pass across the crease to Maltz, who pump-faked and scored. Two minutes later, Dylan Donahue lofted a pass over the cage to Scott Loy, who bounced a shot by Faus to cut Denver’s lead to one. All of a sudden, the comeback that seemed impossible in the first half was becoming a reality.

“It’s just all‑around,” Marasco said, “just kind of staying relaxed and knowing that we trust everyone on the field and we just have a lot of faith and we believe in ourselves.”

For a half, Syracuse got its chances — chances it buried all year — but this time, the shots either sailed wide or were rejected. LaPlante made an astonishing 13 saves for the Pioneers, while conceding just two goals.

LaPlante and Faus have split halves in most of Denver’s games this year, but on Saturday, the change was nothing short of a surprise. For 30 minutes, LaPlante was simply outstanding, and with a national title appearance on the line, the Orange simply couldn’t solve him.

Then came Faus. He snatched a shot from Marasco out of the air, but the shot pushed his stick beyond the goal line. Goal. The next one came from a wide-open Donahue on the doorstep. SU had a chance.

“To be honest, I was shocked when they made a goalie switch,” Maltz said, “but they’ve been doing it all year and we prepared for that all week.”

But Faus found a rhythm. With the momentum swinging in Syracuse’s favor, he stuffed an open look from Maltz in the third quarter that would’ve cut the lead to one. Denver scored on the other end. The momentum — and a three-goal lead — was back on the Pioneers’ sideline for the fourth quarter.

The Orange scored quickly, but an Eric Law goal kept Denver’s lead at two with five minutes remaining.

The clock ticked again — with comeback hopes again fading — until a pair of penalties gave the Orange a six-on-four. With 2:35 to play, Marasco fired and scored from the right wing. A minute and a half later, Cometti’s goal tied the game.

No teams are more familiar with one-goal games than SU and Denver. With a minute remaining, the two were destined for another.

“It’s the nature of the game now,” Pioneers head coach Bill Tierney said. “Everybody has got enough good players. If the kids aren’t motivated, somebody is going to knock you down.”

Syracuse won the faceoff, one of just three in the second half, and took a timeout. The Pioneers usually break each huddle with the words, “One goal,” but the Orange had nine such games of its own.

On Saturday, SU won another. Once Cometti tied up the score, the game was only truly up in the air for less than a minute, and Syracuse snatched it. After slogging through the first half, a shell of its usual self, the Orange pounced on the moment, on the opportunity it was handed, and headed to the championship.

“We’ve been so relaxed because we’ve been playing these games so many times that it just felt like another game,” Marasco said. “Going out on offense, even at the end, we tell ourselves we’re not going to overtime, let’s send this one home early.”

Published on May 25, 2013 at 8:15 pm

Contact David: dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2