ESPN College Sports

BALTIMORE -- Syracuse advanced to the NCAA lacrosse championship game for the fifth time in six years, stunning top-seeded Johns Hopkins 15-9 Saturday behind a five-goal performance by Kevin Dougherty.

Brian Nee scored four goals for the fourth-seeded Orange (14-2), who lost their two previous games against Hopkins (13-2) by a combined 36-13 score.

Syracuse will play second-seeded Navy (15-2) for the title Monday. The Midshipmen earned a berth in the championship game for only the second time by defeating Princeton 8-7 earlier Saturday.

Attendance at the doubleheader was 46,923, a record for an NCAA lacrosse event.

Syracuse lost to the Blue Jays 19-8 in last year's semifinals and 17-5 earlier this season, but this game was vastly different. There were five ties, and the Orange never trailed until Conor Ford scored his 44th goal with 12:38 left in the third quarter to make it 7-6.

Hopkins led 8-7 before Syracuse used a four-goal flurry in the final 3:16 of the third quarter to take control.

Goals by Mike Powell and Dougherty early in the fourth quarter made it 13-8. After Kyle Harrison scored for Hopkins, Dougherty scored off a pass from Steve Vallone to put the Orange up by five with 4:37 remaining.

Matt Rewkowski had three goals for the Blue Jays, whose eight-game winning streak ended.

In the opener, Graham Gill and Ben Bailey had two goals apiece for Navy, which never trailed in its first Final Four appearance in 23 years. The Midshipmen were 1-6 in the semifinal round; their lone win, in 1975, preceded a loss to Maryland in the title game.

Adam Reel and Billy Looney both had a goal and an assist Navy, which bucked a trend by defeating Princeton (11-4). Since 1991, the Tigers were 22-0 in the NCAA tournament against teams other than Syracuse.

Mac Bryson had three goals for Princeton and Ryan Boyle had a goal and three assists, but the Tigers couldn't get a big score or key faceoff when it mattered most.

Navy outshot the Tigers 32-22 and won 15 of 19 faceoffs -- all of them by Chris Pieczonka.

"We thought we'd have an advantage on the faceoffs, because the last couple games Chris has been dominating," Navy coach Richie Meade said. "If you win the faceoff, you get possession, and they can't score if they don't have it."

After Princeton's Jason Doneger hit the post with a fourth-quarter shot with the Tigers down 7-6, Navy quickly moved the length of the field and got a goal from Jon Birsner with 8:33 left.

Peter Trombino scored for Princeton with 4:59 remaining, but the Midshipmen held on.

Navy goalie Matt Russell made an outstanding chest-high save on a shot by Trombino with 6 seconds left to secure the win.

"You hate to lose, but if you lose you want it to be to a deserving team, and they were very deserving," Boyle said.

Down 5-4 at halftime, the Tigers climbed into a tie for the third and last time when Boyle scored with 9:44 left in the third quarter.

But Navy's Joe Bossi got his 42nd goal with 1:33 left in the period and Looney added his 12th for a 7-5 lead.

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press