A thrilling fourth quarter comeback resulted in Syracuse storming back to beat Harvard 13-12 in overtime Sunday night in the Dome. Owen Hiltz's goal 1:51 into OT, saved SU's season and now sends the Orange onward in the NCAA Tournament.

No script could be written to what transpired in this second half of this first-round NCAA game, and what turned out to be a rare postseason SU comeback from a deficit that was six goals at halftime.

After trailing 8-2 at intermission, with a measly one goal in each quarter, the Orange erupted for 11 goals in the second half and OT to storm back in front of an extremely loud Dome crowd of some 5,000.

Up to his game-ending heroics, Hiltz seemed destined to end his stellar 'Cuse career on an extremely down note. The lefty sniper, who eclipsed John Zulberti's streak of scoring in 61 straight games last Sunday in the ACC championship win, was scoreless against the Crimson until his behind-the-back pass to Michael Leo for a goal resulted in giving SU its first lead at 12-11 with 3:32 in regulation.

Hiltz then took Joey Spallina's feed for the game-winner and sent a huuuge sigh of relief among everyone in Orange Nation, a group that was confounded by the fact of how Harvard was the team exhibiting Head...Heart...Hustle over the game's first 40 minutes.

In a game in which two 'Cuse defensemen (Nick Caccamo and Chuck Kuczynski) scored their first goals of the season, and in which John Mullin was enormous winning 24of 28 faceoffs, and in which SU had to overcome an extremely frustrating (and unacceptable) 20 turnovers and only having 24 of 41 shots on goal, the key to winning was the man-up unit.

When Harvard's Owen Guest cross-checked Spallina for a 1:00 non-releasable penalty with 10:13 left, SU took full advantage scoring three times, including two by attack specialist Trey Deere from in-close, the second score drawing SU to within 11-10, and building the crowd volume louder and louder on each tally.

From there Syracuse continued the late run to take a 12-11 lead on Leo's goal, before midfielder Sam English, who also seemed destined to have his SU career end with a dud, committed a costly turnover trying to run out the clock. That allowed the Crimson's Owen Gaffney to inexplicably tie the game at 12 with a long shot with just six seconds left.

Then Mullin won the OT faceoff to set up the Orange offense for Hiltz's game-winner.

The two programs have combined to win 12 NCAA titles, met three consecutive years in the NCAA Championship game (2000-2002), but have not been paired up in the tournament since Syracuse's win in the '02 title game at Rutgers Stadium.

The Tigers, just behind NCAA top-seed Cornell in the Ivy League this year, walloped Towson 22-12 in the first-round to advance to L.I., and will certainly be a test for the Orange defense.

SU goalie Jimmy McCool, coming off being named tourny MVP in the ACC, struggled in the first half (eight goals allowed) against the Crimson, but played better in the second half finishing with five saves on 17 shots on goal.

Besides eliminating self-inflicted turnovers with sloppy play, the Orange can not afford to get out to a slow start against a Princeton team with a lethal offense and a defense that is peaking into May.

Syracuse-Princeton is part of the NCAA quarterfinal doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Hofstra University's Shuart Stadium in Hempstead, N.Y. In the first game Cornell meets Richmond at 12:00 p.m. ET, followed by 'Cuse-Princeton scheduled at 2:30 p.m. on ESPNU.

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