Ty, Miles and Lyle Thompson sat left to right at the podium, grinning from ear to ear.

Ty hunched forward with a look of satisfaction and accomplishment. Miles gazed at his brother and cousin, relishing the moment. Lyle didn’t stop smiling, his braces glistening and sweat still dripping down his cheek.

They finally did it. The trio finally got over the hump and knocked off Syracuse. Albany (1-0) up-ended the No. 12 Orange (0-1) 16-15 in a fast-paced, back-and-forth, double-overtime thriller Sunday at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse had no answer for the Great Danes’ three-headed monster, as the Thompson trio accounted for 10 of Albany’s 16 goals and assisted on eight. After Syracuse stormed back to send the game into overtime, Miles delivered the dagger in double overtime, scoring off of a pass from his brother Lyle and igniting his team to victory.

“These guys have such a great feel for lacrosse and for each other,” Albany head coach Scott Marr said, following the first win over Syracuse in school history. “It makes it really easy for us to say, ‘What’s working? What do you want to do?’ We put it in their hands basically.”

And the Thompson trio certainly delivered.

Miles set the tone early, firing a shot past Syracuse goalie Bobby Wardwell’s right foot at the 12:33 mark.

Lyle assisted on that goal, and two minutes later found his cousin Ty around the net. Ty found an opening and squeezed the ball past Wardwell.

Lyle continued to facilitate early on, racking up three assists in the first eight-plus minutes of action. Marr opted to move Thompson from midfield to attack before the game, a move SU head coach John Desko questioned at first, but later grew to understand.

“He really played well,” Desko said of Lyle, who finished with six assists. “It was a great move, moving him down there. He obviously plays well with his brother and his cousin. I thought they were spectacular tonight.”

Ty followed up that strike with yet another goal, on another assist from Lyle. The Thompsons made it clear early on they were ready to win.

Despite Syracuse’s ranking, previous success against the Great Danes and home-field advantage, the Thompsons came in with the mentality that they could stage the upset, and that’s exactly what they did.

After Syracuse goals by Henry Schoonmaker and Luke Cometti cut the deficit to 5-3, the Thompson brothers responded in the second quarter. Following an unassisted goal by Lyle, Miles intercepted an attempted clear by Wardwell, faked a high shot and beat the goaltender underneath at the 11:35 mark.

Albany dominated in all facets of the game early on as the Orange frantically tried to stop the trio, but to no avail.

“The three of them, without looking, really knows where the other one is,” Desko said.

SU didn’t go down without a fight, though. A goal by Scott Loy midway through the third quarter tied the score at nine, capping a 6-1 run for the Orange that spanned 15 minutes.

But the Thompsons struck back with serious style. Ty gave the Great Danes a 14-10 lead, delivering another bull’s eye right around the net. That strike gave Ty his fifth and final goal, which led all scorers Sunday evening and tied his career-high.

The game was tight the rest of the way as Syracuse continued to methodically chip into the lead and eventually force overtime. Syracuse finally shut down the Thompson trio, if only for a little bit.

But in double overtime Miles and Lyle delivered the final blow. Lyle found a cutting Miles right on the doorstep. Miles corralled the ball and hurled it into the back of the net in one motion, giving Albany the win it has coveted for 11 years.

“We’ve been playing together our whole life,” Lyle said. “I trust him, so I just threw the ball to him.”

Published on February 18, 2013 at 1:11 am

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass