NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey -- A new master of the one-goal lacrosse game may have emerged this May.

Syracuse won its third consecutive one-goal game of the 2002 tournament with a 13-12 victory over defending champion Princeton -- a team that had laid prior claim to such wizardry -- to claim its record-tying seventh national championship.

The Orangemen's Memorial Day triumph snapped Princeton's 12-game winning streak in tournament games decided by one goal and marked the Tigers' first tournament setback in such a contest since 1991. Back then, Princeton, which had yet to win its first national championship, fell to Towson, 12-11, in the quarterfinals.

This time, with the stakes much higher and tradition on their side, the Tigers rallied from a 12-7 third-quarter deficit with four unanswered goals before an unassisted score from Brad Dumont, his second of the game, drew the defending champions to 13-12. That set the stage for a scoreless but dramatic last 11 minutes and 12 seconds.

The Orangemen could have prevented the last-second scramble had they been able to kill the clock successfully. After a Syracuse timeout with 1:09 left, Princeton double-teamed midfielder Spencer Wright, who stepped out of the near right corner offensive box while in possession of the ball, giving the Tigers the ball with 11 seconds remaining. (In the last two minutes of a game, once a team has entered that box with the ball, it cannot leave it.)

Princeton promptly threw the ball away, then Syracuse turned the ball back over when an Orangemen player left the substitution box early with six seconds left. Since the scoreboard clock was left running, the official time appeared to run out. The Syracuse bench players rushed the field, as did an ESPN camera operator, only to be shooed away by Syracuse coach John Desko.

With the six seconds resurrected, the Tigers' Sean Hartofilis, who finished with three goals, was given the ball at midfield for the restart. He threw the ball to Dumont, but the all-tournament selection lost the ball while closely defended as the clock ran out on Princeton.

"I threw the ball to (Dumont) thinking maybe he could get it back to me so I could shoot it, but it never happened," Hartofilis said.

Princeton coach Bill Tierney said there just wasn't time to set up any kind of play.

"You just want to get a shot off and maybe bounce it off someone's leg or stick into the goal," Tierney said.

Desko, whose team won the championship for the second time in three years, admitted that thoughts of overtime were dancing in the back of his mind in the closing minutes. No wonder. Two days earlier, his team had gone into sudden victory double overtime before beating Virginia in the semifinals, 12-11.

"(In that situation) you think of the immediate things such as how many timeouts you have left and what plays you want to run," he said. "But (the thought of overtime) was there in the back.

"I'm not surprised by the way Princeton came back," Desko said. "We know their players and coaches too well. Once we had the lead, we wanted to slow it down. We were fortunate to hold on."

Syracuse seemingly separated itself after trailing, 5-3, in the first quarter. First Brian Solliday, who finished with three goals, scored his first of the game. Then Tom Hardy, who scored the game-winner against Virginia, tied the game at five apiece with 11:24 left in the half. The Orangemen finished the half with an 8-6 lead, then stretched it to 12-7 with 10:24 left in the third quarter on Michael Powell's third goal of the game.

Powell, who earned most outstanding player honors, also scored the game-winner with 11:35 left after Princeton scored its four unanswered goals.

"I was hoping that it wouldn't turn into 20-8, but we started getting a few in and thought maybe what hadn't been our day up until then might turn into our day," Tierney said.

This season marked the fourth straight championship-game appearance for Syracuse, which finished the season 15-2, the only losses coming to eventual semifinalist Johns Hopkins, 9-8, March 16, and 15-11 to Cornell April 9. The Orangemen had advanced to championship weekend with a 10-9 quarterfinal squeaker over Duke.

Princeton faced the prospect of not making the tournament for the first time since 1989 after dropping four of its first six games. It then won eight straight, however, finishing with a 10-5 record, still its most losses since its tournament debut in 1990.

"It was a crazy season and the last game turned out to be a lot like our season," Tierney said. "To come back from 12-8 and make it a tough game, I couldn't be more proud of my guys."

Joining Dumont and Powell on the all-tournament team were Orangemen Hardy, defensemen Sol Bliss and John Glatzel, and goalie Jay Pfeifer. For the runners-up, B.J. Prager, who was last year's most outstanding player, and Damien Davis made the team. Adam Doneger of Johns Hopkins and John Christmas of Virginia also were honored.

Semifinals

Princeton scoring: B.J. Prager 5, Brad Dumont 2, Josh White 1, Brendan Tierney 1, Sean Hartofilis 1, Owen Daly 1.

Johns Hopkins scoring: Adam Doneger 3, Kyle Barrie 3, Peter LaSueur 1, Matt Hanna 1, Kevin Boland 1.,

Shots: Princeton 27, Johns Hopkins 33. Saves: Princeton -- Julian Gould; Johns Hopkins -- Nick Murtha 8. Paid Attendance: 23,123.

Virginia scoring: John Christmas 3, Joe Yevoli 3, Conor Gill 1, A.J. Shannon 1, Chris Rotelli 1, Jared Little 1, Brenndan Mohler 1.

Syracuse scoring: Michael Springer 4, Michael Powell 2, Tom Hardy 2, Josh Coffman 1, Steve Vallone 1, Sean Lindsay 1, Spencer Wright 1,

Shots: Virginia 54, Syracuse 50. Saves: Virginia -- Tillman Johnson 18; Syracuse -- Jay Pfeifer 19. Paid Attendance: 23,123.

Championship

Princeton scoring: Sean Hartofilis 3, Mark Pellegrino 2, Ryan Boyle 2, Brad Dumont 2, Josh White 1, Matt Trevenen 1, B.J. Prager 1.

Syracuse scoring: Michael Powell 4, Brian Solliday 3, Josh Coffman 2, Jarett Park 1, Tom Hardy 1, Sean Lindsay 1, Michael Springer 1,

Shots: Princeton 36, Syracuse 40. Saves: Princeton -- Julian Gould 13; Syracuse -- Jay Pfeifer 13. Paid Attendance: 19,706.