By Michael Becker Asst. Sports Editor

BALTIMORE – It was the lacrosse equivalent of hockey’s penalty shot. The most exciting play in sports. In Saturday’s game against Johns Hopkins, Syracuse men’s lacrosse star Michael Powell had a breakaway. On two occasions, no one stood between Powell and Hopkins goalie Scott Smith. On two occasions, Smith stopped Powell cold. ‘That’s just the way everything went today,’ SU goalie Jay Pfeifer said. ‘That all summed it up right there.’ Like Smith’s save on perhaps the nation’s best lacrosse player, SU’s game against No. 1 Johns Hopkins seemed to defy all logic. The No. 3 Orangemen lost, 17-5, to the top-ranked Blue Jays. Hopkins used a 7-0 run in the first half, and it outscored SU, 11-1, in the second and third quarter to run away with the win. The scene was eerily reminiscent of Syracuse’s humbling loss to Johns Hopkins in last year’s semifinal game in Baltimore, in which the Orangemen lost, 19-8. Saturday’s loss was SU’s worst since 1987, when it lost to Cornell, 19-6. SU’s five goals on Saturday were its fewest since 1991, when it scored three in a loss against North Carolina. Smith’s two fantastic saves on Powell seemed to typify the afternoon. Powell said he’s never been stopped once on a breakaway, not to mention twice in one game. SU head coach John Desko couldn’t remember his best player ever being denied, either. ‘Those were two good saves,’ Powell said mildly after the game. ‘That’s never happened to me before. But stuff like that is going to happen, though. I’m not the greatest player in the world.’ Powell was held scoreless for the first time since last year’s game vs. Princeton. Attackman Brian Nee led the Orangemen (3-1) with two goals. Brian Crockett, Alex Zink and Kevin Dougherty each had one goal. ‘You basically just guess and hope for a little luck,’ Smith said of his two hockey-like saves. ‘And with the way our offense and defense played today, I think someone was looking down on us. Nine times out of 10 you expect (Powell to score), but today was our day.’ And Hopkins dominated it from the opening face-off. The Blue Jays (5-0) outshot Syracuse, 50-23. They won 20 of 24 face-offs. And they won the groundball matchup, 47-28. Desko eventually pulled Pfeifer, a junior, after a Hopkins goal early in the third quarter. Senior Nick Donatelli saw his first action in goal this season. It was only the 13th game of his career. But the change in goal couldn’t stop the Hopkins run. The Blue Jays scored five more goals after Donatelli took over. And they continued to monopolize possessions. The week before the game, Desko preached patience in SU’s offense. He didn’t want the Orangemen to get in an up-and-down game with the high-powered Hopkins offense. But because the Blue Jays won all but four face-offs, Syracuse didn’t have the ball enough to be patient. And when SU did have the ball, the Orangemen were too anxious to settle down into a possession. The Orangemen didn’t get a shot off until almost 10 minutes into the game. But that was because Hopkins controlled almost all of the possession for that first 10 minutes. ‘When we don’t have the ball for so long, you get a little anxious and try to make something happen quickly,’ Crockett said. ‘As a result you make a couple foolish turnovers. It’s frustrating.’ Said Nee: ‘It’s tough standing at the midline watching them play offense the whole time.’ But that will happen when SU wins four of 24 face-offs. Couple that with Smith’s eye-popping saves on Powell, and SU knew it would be a long day. ‘I never would have thought their goalie would have two one-on-one saves with Mike Powell in a game like this,’ Desko said. ‘When their goalie plays like that, you can’t beat them.’