It was another one-goal affair for the No. 3 Syracuse men’s lacrosse team (7-1, 3-0 ACC) as they downed No. 1 Notre Dame 11-10 on Saturday at Arlotta Stadium.
 
‘Cuse was led by four goals from Nick Mariano, five points from Sergio Salcido (1-4) and a hat trick from Nate Solomon, while the Orange defense was stifling, holding the three Fighting Irish stars Ryder Garnsey, Sergio Perkovic and Mikey Wynne to a combined five points on the day.
 
Notre Dame scored first after seven minutes of scoreless play to open the game, when Brendan Gleason scored for the Irish. ‘Cuse then scored twice in nine seconds to take its first lead of the game with 3:41 left in the first. Paolo Ciferri and Solomon provided the sparks to get the offense going.
 
After Drew Schantz evened it for Notre Dame, Mariano scored his first of the game to open the lead back up for ‘Cuse. Two-straight Notre Dame goals, including tallies by Gleason and long-stock midfielder John Sexton gave Notre Dame its first lead of the game, but that was the last time they’d hold the advantage in the contest.
 
‘Cuse went on a 3-0 run, with goals from Jordan Evans, Sergio Salcido and Ryan Simmons to take a 6-4 lead midway through the second.
 
After Bobby Gray halted the SU run, Mariano tallied his second right before the half to give the Orange a 7-5 lead heading into the locker room. SU upped its lead with Solomon’s second goal right out of the gates in the second half.
 
Solomon added another after Bryan Constabile scored to pull back within two, giving ‘Cuse its final three-goal lead of the game with 5:53 left in the third. From that point forward until the start of the fourth, it was all Notre Dame though. The Irish got three-straight to end the frame, knotting things at nine before the final period.
 
But Mariano then took over, he scored two-straight to give Syracuse an 11-9 lead with 8:42 to play.
 
Brendan Collins scored two minutes later, but the Orange defense held strong, including a huge save from Evan Molloy with under a minute to play to preserve the win for Syracuse.
 
He made seven saves on the day.
 
‘Cuse will next play at Hobart on Wednesday for the Kraus-Simmons trophy at 7 p.m. in a game that will be televised on Spectrum Sports.