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One more save. That’s all Jimmy McCool needed to do to send Syracuse to its first Final Four in nearly a decade.

It didn’t matter that McCool looked like a shell of himself for the second straight week. It didn’t matter that he looked dazed as Princeton shooters beat him with high-speed howitzers and got him to bite on fakes on the crease. All that could be forgotten with one more stop.

To get himself over the line, McCool simplified the game. With 1:03 remaining, he cleared his mind. One focus remained: get the ball in his stick.

Princeton worked the ball around the perimeter, patiently waiting for an opening. With 30 seconds left, Tucker Wade dodged down the alley, tightly guarded by Michael Grace. Wade got a step on Grace as he moved toward the crease, but the long pole’s stick stayed lodged between them, making sure he didn’t get his hands free. Wade flipped an underhanded shot toward goal, though Grace did just enough to put him off. McCool got low, closing his legs to make the crucial stop.

“We gave up a look that we were comfortable seeing,” McCool said. “(It) was pretty cool to make the save, and we got the (win), so I was just fired up about how the defense played in front of me.”

When called upon late, McCool came up big for No. 6 seed Syracuse (13-5, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) as it took down No. 3 seed Princeton (13-4, 5-1 Ivy League) 19-18 in the NCAA Quarterfinal. The sophomore’s numbers look ugly. He saved just 40% of the shots he faced. It’s the fourth time this season he finished below 50% and the first time it’s happened in back-to-back games. None of that matters. McCool allowed a season-high 18 goals, but without three saves in the fourth quarter, SU doesn’t advance.

However, McCool didn’t even start the second half in net. He started it on a knee in the penalty box. McCool was serving a two-minute full-time penalty after hitting Coulter Mackesy in the head while trying to corral an airborne rebound on a shot from Jackson Green. McCool tried to read the trajectory, but Mackesy beat him to it and finished into the empty net, putting Princeton up 11-10 with 1.4 seconds left in the half.

The infraction ended one of the sophomore’s worst five-minute stretches of the season. Before McCool’s penalty, Chad Palumbo belted a shot past him from 10 yards out. Palumbo was wide open on the right wing, but McCool guessed he was going to the opposite corner. Instead, Palumbo fired to the near post to make it 9-9. SU briefly regained the lead before Palumbo made McCool look silly again, using a combination of fakes to finish on the crease.

The penalty could’ve flipped the game on its head. However, John Mullen won a crucial faceoff at the end of the first half, allowing SU to kill most of the penalty to start the second half.

McCool sat helpless waiting to redeem himself. Though he found solace in backup Michael Ippoliti taking his place. He joked postgame he wanted Ippoliti — a Long Island native — to get some run in his hometown.

“I was probably as comfortable as I could be knowing that Mike was going in,” McCool said.

Backup goalie Michael Ippoliti stays at the ready while in for Jimmy McCool early in the second half Saturday. Ippoliti made one save and didn’t allow a goal in four minutes in net, helping push SU over Princeton. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer

McCool called Ippoliti “one of the best goalies he’s ever seen” and that he’s the best goalie buddy he could ask for. The sophomore heaped more praise on his understudy, saying he could go on for hours about how much he loves him.

So as Mackesy ripped a shot from distance, McCool knew Ippoliti would make the save. Though Ippoliti’s time wasn’t done. His outlet pass to Billy Dwan III went awry, keeping McCool on the bench despite the penalty expiring.

Ippoliti stayed with it on the next possession. Nate Kabiri was forced into a late shot clock attempt that whizzed high. Nobody for Princeton had backup, and Ippoliti was first to it. Once Syracuse cleared successfully, Ippoliti sprinted toward the Syracuse sideline.

The first person to meet him? None other than McCool. Elated at Ippoliti’s stint, he pointed at him, screaming excitedly in his face before trotting back into the goal.

For the rest of the quarter, McCool didn’t even have to make a save. The Orange scored six straight goals, turning a one-goal deficit into a commanding five-goal lead.

“(It gave us) infinite amount of juice,” McCool said of Ippoliti’s time in net. “He is an absolute spark plug. He’s bringing all the energy on the sidelines. You hear him all game. So I was really excited for him to get in there just to show what he can do.”

McCool’s blips have been limited this season, so he was happy to receive support from one of his best friends. Up until that point, McCool was performing well.

On Princeton’s first 16 shots, McCool was even. Eight saves. Eight goals allowed. The sophomore performed multiple acrobatic kick saves and got his stick to others. Each save was crucial as Syracuse held a slim 9-8 advantage with less than five minutes remaining in the first.

The Tigers gave him all he could handle. With wing shooters like Mackesy and Kabiri alongside crafty finishers on the inside like Palumbo and Peter Buonanno, Princeton can hurt teams in many ways.

But, McCool has shown all season — his first as a starter after backing up Will Mark — he’s one of the best shot stoppers in the country.

He anchored an SU defense which has allowed 10.17 goals per game, with his best performances coming at the ACC Tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina. In two games versus Notre Dame and Duke, he stopped 60% of the shots he faced and earned the Most Valuable Player Award, a week after earning ACC Goalie of the year.

Jimmy McCool gets down low to make a kick save on a Princeton shot. Despite some struggles Saturday, McCool still recorded 12 saves, including one with less than 30 seconds left to seal the Orange’s victory. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer

Up until last week, the only blips on his resume were a nightmarish outing against Harvard on Feb. 22, where he saved 5-of-15 shots and was benched. The other came versus Cornell — the best offense in the country — where he saved a season-low 30.4% of the shots he faced.

But McCool didn’t stack poor performances on top of each other. His two worst games came nearly two months apart. So when McCool tied a season-low with five saves in SU’s rematch against Harvard in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, a rebound was surely on the cards in the biggest game of his career.

Yes and no. McCool made enough stops to help SU build a 16-11 lead in the third quarter. He had the chance to shut the door on Princeton for good with steady play in the fourth. Though after denying Buonanno on Princeton’s first shot of the quarter, McCool allowed goals on five straight shots.

McCool couldn’t handle Princeton’s pinpoint flamethrowers, and the Tigers tied the game 16-16. With five minutes left, Kabiri rifled a shot into the top right corner, handing Princeton the lead for the first time since halftime. To McCool’s relief, Michael Leo and Owen Hiltz scored to help SU retake the lead.

McCool went nearly 12 minutes without touching the ball, yet he stayed ready. After Luke Rhoa hit the post, Princeton pushed the other way. Green hit a streaking Cooper Mueller in the middle, who swung to Kabiri. The sophomore unleashed a low shot that McCool stonewalled.

A couple minutes later, he clinched the game by denying Wade.

McCool has had better performances this season. If Syracuse wants to win a national championship, he’ll likely have to play better. But when the Orange needed him most, McCool showed up and sealed a spot in Foxborough next weekend.

Published on May 18, 2025 at 8:12 am
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