Jovan Miller called it a miracle.

Only 27 seconds separated Cornell from a national championship. Big Red attack Rob Pannell thought the game was wrapped up. A Syracuse turnover gave his team possession in its own end with a 9-8 lead. The championship trophy was all but sealed.

But then came ‘the miracle.’

Nine seconds left, Syracuse’s Stephen Keogh picks up the loose ball just before midfield. He lofts it behind his back to Matt Abbott 20 yards from the goal. Two Cornell defenders converge on the SU midfielder, but he keeps his balance and flings a pass toward the net. Six seconds left.

The ball deflects off Cornell midfielder Roy Lang’s stick right to Kenny Nims on the crease. He makes the catch, dives around goalie Jake Myers and buries the shot in the back of the net. Tie game. Four seconds left. ‘The miracle’ complete. 

‘Every time I think about that situation, I get goose bumps,’ Miller said Monday. ‘It’s something that’s almost too good to be true. It should be in a movie-type deal.’

Cody Jamieson would go on to score the game-winning goal with 2:40 left in overtime, delivering Syracuse its 11th national championship with the 10-9 victory. That game marks the high point of the local matchup that is quickly developing into a major rivalry. Despite Syracuse’s overall series domination, highly competitive games have become the trend in recent years, as Cornell has risen to meet its upstate New York counterpart.

And tonight at 7 p.m., for the first time since the championship game, No. 2 Syracuse (8-1, 2-0 Big East) and No. 9 Cornell (8-2, 3-1 Ivy League) will butt heads at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, N.Y.

‘We’re always excited to play (Syracuse),’ Cornell senior attack Ryan Hurley said in a phone interview Friday. ‘And obviously with the game last year, the rivalry has kind of changed for a while.’

As one of the most storied programs in college lacrosse history, Syracuse has plenty of big rivals among the top teams in the country. The Orange has already taken on Virginia, Princeton and Johns Hopkins this season, as it does every year.

But those teams don’t have the Central New York influence on their rosters that Cornell does. Those teams aren’t 45 minutes down Interstate 81.

SU head coach John Desko said that even before the championship epic last season, this matchup brought a lot of intensity.

‘Cornell-Syracuse, to begin with, is an emotional game,’ he said. ‘You’ve got players from the Central New York area from both groups that have known each other throughout their high school careers and now into college. Plus, the two teams are local and you’ve got a repeat of last year’s national championship game.’

Historically, the upstate battle has been mostly one-sided. SU leads the series 60-33-1, including a 20-4 record against the Big Red since 1988.

But all four of those Cornell wins have come since 2000, equaling all of the Big Red’s victories in the series over the previous 19 years. And were it not for the frenzied ending to the championship game a year ago, Cornell would be only one game under .500 against the Orange last decade. 

‘If you beat them once, that’s considered a lot of success against Syracuse, and we’ve had the opportunity and the great fortune to beat them a couple times,’ Big Red head coach Jeff Tambroni said in a phone interview Thursday. ‘… The rivalry may have heightened because some of those wins by Cornell.

‘And maybe because of the championship game last year, there will be a little bit more publicity and certainly a little bit more focus on this particular game.’

Both teams did lose key players from last year’s teams. Tewaaraton Trophy winner Max Seibald is one of 16 seniors from last season who won’t be trotting onto the field for Cornell tonight. Nims and Abbott won’t be connecting for any miraculous finishes this time around for the Orange, who lost 11 seniors from last year’s team.

But that doesn’t take away from this budding rivalry. There are still plenty of players from last year on both teams that will take the field tonight, players that experienced the emotions of that game.

For Cornell players, it was devastation and disappointment. Pannell said tears filled the locker room after the game. The championship trophy slipped right through their fingers.

For Syracuse, it was elation and euphoria. The Orange came out on the right side of a ‘miracle.’

And in Miller’s mind, those emotions and those memories will carry over to the rematch tonight.

‘I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to pack out the whole stadium,’ he said. ‘I know on their end, they’re extremely bitter. It was the national championship game. I think we’re going to have to come in and be extremely poised, and we have to be ready for anything.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on April 12, 2010 at 12:00 pm