PHILADELPHIA — Dominic Lamolinara has been through the grind of college lacrosse. He’s played for two storied programs — first Maryland, now Syracuse — in two hotbeds of lacrosse. He’s been a walk-on and a transfer, a starter and a backup goaltender, playing the position with more pressure than any other.

And after Monday, he can add a strong performance in a national championship game to his already crowded resume.

“He really played solid, especially in the second half,” SU head coach John Desko said. “He not only made good saves, made some spectacular saves, some one-on-one saves that allowed us to be in the game today.”

Lamolinara made 11 saves — eight in the first half as his team led and three in the second as he faced a barrage of shots in Syracuse’s 16-10 NCAA championship loss to Duke.

He opened up the game by stuffing midfielder Jake Tripucka at the doorstep in the opening minute, but for the most part the Orange defense did a good job keeping the Blue Devils away from the net.

Later in the quarter, though, Lamolinara made perhaps his best save of the game when Duke midfielder David Lawson used a spin move to get free at the net. Lamolinara made one of the one-on-one saves that Desko raved about to preserve SU’s shutout first quarter.

“Yeah, they stopped us,” Duke attack Josh Dionne said, “but I think it was more we were stopping ourselves because we were just trying to make a play instead of playing the way we know how to.”

Lamolinara turned away eight of the 13 shots on goal he saw in the first half, but was left out to dry in the second. There was nothing he could do when the Blue Devils won 11-of-17 faceoffs, his offense rushed possessions and he saw an onslaught of 23 shots, 14 of which found their way on goal. A game where Lamolinara stopped less than 50 percent of the shots he saw, felt like a victory anyway.

The biggest victory of all, though, on a day that Syracuse lost the biggest game of its season, was the affirmation that Lamolinara could get it done on any stage. Since taking over for Bobby Wardwell at halftime of a win over Johns Hopkins on March 16, he’s passed every test thrown in front of him.

He starred in the Big East tournament, backing an otherworldly defense, and played three stellar NCAA tournament games before proving his mettle again on Monday.

“A couple (shots) in these playoff games could have gone in and we might have been watching today,” Desko said. “But fortunately we weren’t, and we had the opportunity to play in this game. I think a lot of it had to do with Dom.”

Published on May 27, 2013 at 9:00 pm

Contact David: [email protected] | @DBWilson2