Pete Coluccini still felt the frustration. The Syracuse goalie saw all of the big plays he and his team made. He knows his 22 saves against the No. 1-rated offense speaks volumes, setting a career-high performance.

But when Cornell midfielder Max Seibald sprinted from out of bounds to the cage for the game-winning goal as time expired, Coluccini couldn’t control his emotions. No. 1 Cornell edged No. 17 Syracuse, 16-15, at the Carrier Dome on Tuesday, overshadowing a rare quality performance on Coluccini’s part.

Both players’ perspectives differ on the goal. Seibald doesn’t think he crossed the crease; Coluccini thinks he did. When Seibald scored on the doorstep, Coluccini expressed his emotions sharply to the referees. He drew an unsportsmanlike penalty as time expired.

‘I just want to apologize,’ Coluccini said. ‘I didn’t say anything good toward the refs. I let the emotions get the best of me. It was inappropriate.’

He also broke his stick, moments before teammates Kenny Nims and Evan Brady consoled him. The game initially proved to be rocky for Coluccini, but he quickly rebounded. It wasn’t like other games, like Virginia, Johns Hopkins and Princeton, where quick goals early in the game overwhelmed the SU goalie and caused him to lose confidence the rest of the game.

Still it looked like Coluccini would experience a similar nightmare. The Big Red opened with a 4-0 lead and the top-rated offense didn’t show any signs that it would slow down.

But it did. Cornell didn’t score for seven more minutes. Then after it notched its eighth goal, the Big Red went on a six-minute scoring drought. While the Syracuse offense rallied to chip away Cornell’s lead, Coluccini did his part to make sure Cornell couldn’t answer.

‘We wouldn’t even have been close in the game if it wasn’t for Pete,’ Syracuse midfielder Pat Perritt said. ‘Everyone who was watching the game knows that. There’s nothing better than having a hot goalie at the end of a close game and that’s what we had.’

It wasn’t simply a turnaround from his weak performances – performances that caused fans on message boards to question whether he even deserved scholarship money to play at Syracuse. Cornell head coach Jeff Tambroni finds the bashing too harsh.

‘Coluccini gets a lot of criticism for what he does,’ Tambroni said. ‘I feel like we’ve been a decent shooting team. Twenty-two saves against us…’

Giving up a game-winning goal shouldn’t overshadow the saves Coluccini made. He, or even a top-ranked goalie, such as the Big Red’s Matt McMonagle, should’ve made.

He blocked a rebound sitting down after diving for a groundball. He blocked shots with his body but made numerous stick saves – the type of saves Coluccini wanted to make this season.

That’s why he went on a strict diet over the summer – so he could slim down and use his stick to make the saves rather than his bulky frame.

Other times, Coluccini did the unusual. In two instances, he marched down past the midfield line because he couldn’t find an open man to clear the ball. Syracuse head coach John Desko called timeout the first time to draw up a play. But the second time Coluccini was near the cage for the shot. It didn’t go in, but McMonagle admits he was a little concerned about what would happen.

‘You never want to have another goalie score on you,’ McMonagle said. ‘I watched his stick. It’s tough, because you normally don’t see many goalies trying to score on you. Thankfully it wasn’t that hard of a shot.’

But when Coluccini was on the other end, he faced difficult shots. Cornell attackman David Mitchell, who scored four goals, saw the SU netminder’s increasing confidence throughout the game. That’s why Coluccini thought he would be able to make the stop on a play that could decide the game. He didn’t, and despite a career night, it’s the final score that Coluccini was thinking about.

‘The scoreboard is now 16-15,’ Coluccini said, ‘and you know, it’s disappointing.’

Published on April 10, 2007 at 12:00 pm