How Big Of An Upset Was Army's 9-8 Win Over Syracuse?

It’s tough to find sympathy for Syracuse lacrosse after their 9-8 double OT loss to Army on Sunday. The two-time defending National Champions have been to the Final Four so often, there isn’t a school out there who isn’t happy to see their “spot” open up for someone else.

For Syracuse fans, it’s a strange feeling. Certainly very few of them expected to loss this weekend, let alone before the Final Four.

May 16th. The Syracuse lacrosse season ends two weeks early. On one hand, it’s the third time in six years we’ve missed the Final Four, which is unheard-of. On the other hand, we’re coming off two National Championships and I suppose we were due for a stumble. Technically I guess we’re not supposed to be bummed because of our recent success but when you root for SU lacrosse and you expect to win the title every year, losing this early does not feel good.

It might be too soon to rank exactly where this loss ranks on the all-time upset list. It’s certainly up there. SU ended the year 13-1 and had beaten Army 12-7 earlier in the season. The Orange hadn’t lost in the first-round of the NCAA Tournament since 2005,which also happened to be the only time they had made the tournament and failed to make the Final Four since 1983.

Patrick Stevens over at D1SCOURCE says that the Army-Syracuse upset ranks as the No. 2 upset of all time, just behind Johns Hopkins win over Maryland in the ’87 Final Four.

It would probably rate as No. 1 if it happened later in the tournament. As it stands, this will have to suffice as lacrosse’s answer to Arizona-Santa Clara, South Carolina-Coppin State, Iowa State-Hampton and, yes, Syracuse-Richmond. The Black Knights were 0-3 against the tournament field, and the Orange had long made a late spring trip to the Carrier Dome an unwinnable situation. But even after Syracuse built a 5-1 lead, Army didn’t wilt. It scored in the final minute of the second and third quarters, erased an 8-6 deficit in the final 10 minutes and got a goal from Devin Lynch with five seconds left in the second overtime to pull a titanic shocker.