1983 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship - Tournament Overview

Tournament Overview

In one of the more historically significant NCAA lacrosse finals, Syracuse capped off a 14 and 1 season with its first official NCAA championship as they defeated Johns Hopkins 17 to 16. The Orange led by All-Americans Brad Kotz and Tim Nelson, scored eight straight goals in less than nine minutes late in the game to clinch the title, after Hopkins had gone up 12 to 5 midway through the third quarter.

Syracuse was seeded second and hosted the first round and semifinal games. The Orange beat Penn, the seventh-seed, 11-8, at Coyne Field. In the semis at the Carrier Dome, the Orange beat Maryland, 12-5, behind Randy Lundblad’s one goal and four assists and Travis Solomon’s 22 saves. In the finals, The Blue Jays had a 12-5 lead with less than seven minutes to play in the third period when the Orange rallied. Syracuse outscored the Blue Jays, 4-1, to close out the third period and then added six straight goals in the fourth to go up 15-13. Hopkins knotted the score at 15, but goals by Brad Kotz and Lundblad gave the Orange a two-goal cushion. Tim Nelson had two goals and six assists to finish as the tournament’s leading scorer with 15 points. Kotz scored five goals, all in the second half, and was named Most Outstanding Player. And Solomon made 18 saves.

Late in the third quarter, defenseman Darren Lawlor scored a goal that set off a chain of events to push the Orangemen to their first-ever lacrosse title. The confidence to overcome such a large gap, against a Hopkins team participating in its seventh straight title game, came from Lawlor and the other Orange seniors. But the offensive punch was all sophomore, including midfielder Brad Kotz of West Genesee, and sophomore Tim Nelson a transfer from North Carolina State. Nelson's pass to Randy Lundblad for an open-net goal with 1:09 left locked up the title, with the Orange leading 17-15. The deeper Orangemen (14-1) simply burned out Johns Hopkins (12-2) physically and emotionally with a blaze of second half pressure.

For Hopkins, Del Dressel was outstanding in this tournament, exhibiting one on one skills on par with the Orange's most athletic players, and finishing with three goals and one assists in the finals. Syracuse and Johns Hopkins would go on to meet in the NCAA finals five more times, the last in 2008.