It looked like Syracuse would be in for another all-out fourth quarter battle. A fortuitous bounce of the ball changed everything for the Orange.

SU entered the final quarter against third-ranked Albany with a slim 14-13 lead, when a wild Syracuse clear flew over Mike MacDonald’s head.

If the pass was picked up by an Albany player, it could have spelled the end of SU’s season. However, the ball bounded right across the midfield and into the stick of Kenny Nims.

The attackman cut toward the middle of the field. He noticed Mike Leveille running past his defender toward the cage. Nims, doing his best impression of an NFL quarterback, led Leveille midsprint with a perfect lob. Leveille nailed the close-range shot.

This time around the Orange was not going to relinquish a lead.

By putting together a seemingly flawless fourth quarter, No. 16 Syracuse (5-6) overpowered No. 3 Albany (11-1, 4-0 America East), 17-13, inside the Carrier Dome on Friday in front of 5,384. While ruining the Great Danes’ undefeated season, the Orange moved past its highest-ranked remaining opponent and kept its postseason hopes alive.

‘It’s huge,’ attackman Dan Hardy said. ‘I mean, every game for the season is going to be huge. But against Albany, who is undefeated and nobody thought we were going to win this game and we came out. We played pretty well today.’

Two weeks ago, Syracuse looked like it would miss its first postseason in 25 years. With two weeks left, it still might happen – the Orange needs to double its two-game winning streak and win out to make the NCAA tournament.

‘Everything right now seems to be clicking,’ Hardy said. ‘We’re winning face-offs and Pete’s playing well and all kinds of scoring at will right now. So everything seems to work.’

Minutes after the Leveille goal, a defensive play by the junior shut the door on the Great Danes.

Leveille forced a poor pass from an Albany defender behind the Great Danes’ cage. Greg Niewieroski scooped up the groundball that landed in front of the Albany net. With Albany goaltender Dan McKeon out of position and scrambling to get back in goal, Niewieroski easily put the ball into the back of the mesh.

On the other side of the field, SU goalie Pete Coluccini produced a fourth-quarter shutout. The Albany offense, which averaged 13 goals a game, did not add to its standard as Coluccini stopped several straight-on shots in the latter half of the game.

One shot looked to tie the game early in the fourth quarter. The point-blank shot fluttered the net and caused Coluccini to lose his balance. But the sophomore jumped to his feet with the ball in his stick as the crowd roared in appreciation of the save.

‘I thought he made some outstanding saves, especially going down the stretch,’ SU head coach John Desko said. ‘Those guys rarely miss those kinds of shots form the inside like that. It surely hopes our whole team when he plays like that.’

Fundamentals that plagued Syracuse all season seemed non-existent in the final 15 minutes. The Orange reduced its 10 third-quarter turnovers to three in the fourth quarter. In the same quarter, SU shut down the Great Danes’ offense in its two extra-man opportunities. It was the ideal way for Syracuse to finish off its most vital game of the year, and the team seemed to realize it.

After the game, Desko leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his heads. He wore a slight grin on his face as he listened to his players field questions during the postgame press conference. The players seemed more talkative than usual, and for the first time all season, Desko looked relaxed. For the first time all season, it seemed the team had played exactly how Desko intended them to compete.

Desko’s pose, however, might have been misleading. He noted there’s no time to feel relief when a pair of must-win games remains. SU might have strung together its best performance of the season against a team riding an 11-game winning streak, but the Orange emphasized the triumph would not be an occasion to unwind.

‘All these teams are great teams,’ Leveille said. And we’ve learned this season if you don’t come to play any given day, then you’re not necessarily going to come out successful. We got two down, and now UMass is the only thing on our

Published on April 22, 2007 at 12:00 pm