ITHACA, N.Y. -- Senior Ryan Matthews scored the biggest goal of his collegiate career in sudden victory overtime to give Cornell a 10-9 victory over No. 11 Syracuse on Tuesday evening at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red evened its record at 5-5 on the season, while its Central New York rival dropped to 6-4 in the third-longest running rivalry in college lacrosse.
 
Cornell has now won three consecutive overtime contests, while Coach Kerwick improves to 4-1 in OT contests during his time with the Big Red.
 
"We're obviously a happy group in that locker room right now and they should be. They worked awfully hard," said Kerwick. "I've been saying it all year. I think the effort has been exemplary with this group. At times the execution hasn't been there. We've had turnovers we can't make at key times. We aren't finishing shots the way we're capable of. But tonight we just battled all the way to the end."
 
Cornell used late-clock heroics at the end of the first and third quarters to get to overtime, then cashed in for the game-winning score 2:37 into overtime to celebrate its first win over the Orange since 2012. Going back to 2000, it was the seventh one-goal game between the teams and the second overtime contest - the last being in the 2009 national championship game, also decided by a 10-9 margin, but going Syracuse's way.
 
The Big Red caught the Orange napping at the end of the first to get within 3-2. With 1.5 seconds left with a deadball situation behind the cage, Anthony Teixeira found Clarke Petterson with the goalie out of the cage for a quick-stick score, energizing the Big Red heading into the second 15 minutes of play. The third ended with a Kason Tarbell goal off a slick feed from Andrew Keith with less than six seconds left to send the game into the final quarter knotted at 7-7 and setting up the third dramatic Big Red goal of the evening. Matthews' extra session score gave Cornell its only lead of the night at the right time.
 
Matthews scored two goals and added an assist to lead five Big Red players with multiple points on the night. Petterson recorded a hat trick, the first of his career, Tarbell matched a career high with two scores, Keith was credited with a goal and two assists and Ryan Bray had a pair of helpers.
 
 Senior goalkeeper Brennan Donville was outstanding between the pipes for Cornell, stopping 13 shots, including a key save with two minutes remaining that essentially sent the game into overtime. Tony Britton had three caused turnovers and a team-high five groundballs.
 
"It's nice to pull out a big win against a very good Syracuse team on Schoellkopf. In particular to have Brenny [Brennan Donville] play his last game against Syracuse … to pull this out and have the game that he did, I couldn't be happier for him as one of the best leaders we've had in this program in a long time. He ranks right up there with the captains we've had over the years … I thought he was the difference."
 
The Big Red won despite a huge day on the face-off x from Syracuse's Ben Williams, who won 18-of-22 face-offs, including the one to begin overtime. The Orange got the ball into the zone and called timeout, but Donville made his 13th and final stop to get possession back to the home team. Matthews took all three shots on Cornell's final possession, burying the third and creating an immediate dogpile on the field as the young Big Red team celebrated its second win of the season at home against a top 20 team after burying Virginia 14-10 in mid-March.
 
The Orange got four goals from Nick Mariano, two goals and an assist from Dylan Donahue and a goal and two assists from Jordan Evans to lead the way offensively. Williams won 10 groundballs and the Orange used the additional possessions to out-shoot Cornell 38-30. The Big Red defense was able to keep lanes in front of Donville open, allowing him to make his 13 stops, while the Big Red defense killed off three minutes of penalties on four different man-up opportunities for a Syracuse team that entered the game scoring on 62 percent of its chances entering the night.
 
Cornell's man-down defense has now been perfect in three straight contests, and in eight of 10 games on the season.
 
Donville stopped seven first half shots to help the Big Red survive the Orange onslaught, as the visitors held a 21-16 advantage in shots but led just 5-3 on the scoreboard. The Orange turned the ball over just twice as Evans (goal, two assists), Donahue (two goals) and Mariano (two goals) did all the damage for Syracuse on the offensive end. The Big Red got a goal and an assist from Keith, but used its defense to stay in the contest.
 
Syracuse struck first when Donahue dodged from the goal line extended right to cage and made it 1-0 2:48 into the contest, then Evans made it 2-0 after his crease roll ended with a bouncer that just crossed the goal nearly five minutes later. Keith got Cornell on the board and cut the deficit in half with 3:45 left in the first, but two minutes later the Orange got that goal back when Nick Mariano walked in uncontested for his first of the night. That set up Petterson's buzzer beater to get the home team back to within 3-2.
 
The Big Red held the momentum for the first half of the second period, evening the score when Emmy Poccia scored on a feed from Keith six minutes in to make it a 3-3 game, the first of five ties in the game. The Orange regained the lead two minutes later on a feed from Evans to Mariano, who rifled a shot from 15 yards out for the go-ahead score. Donahue made it 5-3 on a fastbreak goal after Evans delivered a perfect pass in transition after a save by Evan Molloy, one of his six on the day.
 
The second half opened with Petterson tallying his second of the day on a laser shot from 10 yards out and tying it two minutes later on a quick-stick goal by Tarbell to knot the score at 5-5. Syracuse stretched the lead to two goals with consecutive goals, but again the Big Red responded with Matthews and Tarbell going back-to-back to end the third tied at 7-7.
 
Syracuse scored 66 seconds into the fourth to regain the lead, but the Big Red tied it again after Bray hung up a defender, and after nearly 15 seconds of feints and fakes, found Petterson in front of the cage to complete the rookie's hat trick. That knotted the score at 8-8 with 8:41 remaining. Not to be outdone, Mariano responded 40 seconds later with his fourth goal of the night, getting his hands free and letting it fly from 10 yards out to regain the lead at 9-8. After winning the ensuing face-off, Cornell scored in the unsettled situation, with Dan Bockelman finding the back of the net on a feed from Colton Rupp, the freshman's first career assist and the Big Red's leading scorer's only point of the night just 15 seconds later.
 
No more goals went on the board in the final seven and a half minutes despite some end-to-end action. Donville's huge save with two minutes left allowed Cornell one last chance, and Petterson's last-second chance in front of the goal was stopped by Molloy to allow the game to go into overtime.
 
"Personally, [this win] is huge," said Donville. "There's not that many teams that I've never beaten before in my college career and Syracuse was one of them. So from a personal stand point it's nice to win. But to be honest it's just great to get this win for the program. It means a lot to me and it means a lot to our alumni."
 
Cornell hits the road for its final non-conference contest of the season when it visits Lehigh on Saturday, April 16 at 1 p.m. in Bethlehem, Pa.