Spring Break
The Daily OrangeMLAX | Coluccini stars despite last goal
By Mark Medina
Posted: 4/10/07, 11:31 PM EST Section: Sports
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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…"
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