It feels like it’s been a while since the Syracuse Orange last took the field last weekend in their 14-9, bounce-back win over the Virginia Cavaliers.
This weekend, they return to the JMA Dome for their final regular season home game against the Colgate Raiders, meaning it’s Senior Day for one of the most important classes in recent memory.
Joey Spallina, Michael Leo, Billy Dwan, Luke Rhoa and Dante Bowen all got to celebrate on Tuesday when they were selected in the PLL College Draft, and now will
look to have another Dome moment with their classmates for one final time in the regular season.
One of those moments is Joey Spallina and his pursuit of Mike Powell’s all-time program scoring record of 307 career points. Joey is currently one point behind with 306, and he and the team will likely be looking to get that out of the way early to focus on beating Colgate.
Opening face-off is set for 5 PM on the ACC Network.
Season so far
Colgate’s season has been an absolute ride. With two games to go, they’ve arrived at a record of 5-6 and 4-3 in Patriot League play, but have definitely done it in an unconventional way.
The first month and a half of their season was a complete disaster as they started 1-6. They dropped a couple of shootouts to Penn State and Virginia before picking up their lone win over Hobart. After that, they lost four in a row to Harvard, Loyola, Holy Cross and Bucknell.
Their season appeared to have already spiraled down the drain, but they found a way to turn it around and answer their four-game losing streak with a four-game winning streak that they’re currently on.
It started with a huge home win over a ranked-at-the-time BU team, followed by another big win in double overtime over Navy on the road. They’ve kicked off April with wins over Lafayette and Lehigh.
Scouting Colgate
Colgate is usually a team known for their fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants style of play. They have a very aggressive and physical brand, especially with their full-field ride, which they use to create havoc in a game.
Playing that way can be effective if you can disrupt your opponent enough, but it can also be a detriment to yourself when there’s a heightened level of chaos happening on the field.
The proof is in the pudding, as they say. The Raiders are very good at creating turnovers, disrupting their opponent’s clears, and picking up ground balls despite not being a good face-off team. They rank No. 12 in the country in caused turnovers per game (9.36), No. 9 in the country in ground balls per game (35.0) and hold their opponents below 80 percent on their clears (.794). So, clearly, they’re comfortable operating in the chaos they create.
But that chaos also bites them, and it shows up in their own turnover and clear numbers, which are absolutely brutal. Colgate ranks third-to-last in the country in turnovers per game (19.82) and second-to-last in clearing percentage (.784). Three separate times this year, they’ve had nine or more failed clears in a game. Against BU, a game they won, they failed an astonishing 13 clear attempts. Their last three games, they’ve actually been better (by their standards), only failing 12 clears combined.
Elsewhere, they’re tied for 38th in the country in scoring offense (11.45), 61st in scoring defense (12.73) and 57th in face-off winning percentage (.465).
Names to Know
The Raiders lost their two best players off last year’s team when the Connor brothers departed for Georgetown.
Their best returning player is senior midfielder-turned-attacker Hunter Drouin, a two-time First Team All-Patriot League and Honarable Mention All-American performer. Drouin is the headliner of an attack unit that is responsible for the vast majority of Colgate’s offensive production this season. He leads the team with 40 points, is tied for the lead with 17 assists and is second on the team with 23 goals.
Sophomore Casey Quinson leads the team with 32 goals and is second with 39 points, while fellow sophomore Freddy Fowler is third on the team with 31 points on a well-balanced 14 goals and 17 assists.
The attack unit runs the show, accounting for 55 percent of the team’s goals, 61 percent of the assists, 57 percent of the points, 55 percent of their shots and 22 percent of the ground balls (for reference, SU’s attack accounts for 12 percent of their GBs).
While the attack piles up the points, Colgate’s midfield scoring is severely lacking. Top midfield scorer Quinn Spillett has only 14 points in 11 games this season, and he’s joined on the first-line by 12 points from Ryan Favaro and 10 points from Emmet Crotty.
FOGOs Fischer Burke (.488) and Kyle Rummel (.453) have taken almost every face-off this season to sub-par results. Between them, they’ve won 141 face-offs but have only 29 ground balls all year. They rely heavily on their wings, and hopefully Johnny Mullen and Drew Angelo can make those teammates obsolete by winning lots of restarts to themselves.
The defense is led by junior close John Carrabine, who leads the team with 16 caused turnovers and 59 ground balls. He’s also a threat in transition with four goals and two assists on the season.
Sophomore goalie Andrew Lehrman is in his first season as the starter, and has started every game this year. He has 150 saves with a 12.59 goals-against average and a .530 save percentage. Those are respectable numbers, especially given how many shots he faces. He has 13 or more saves in eight of their 11 games, including 15 or more in five games.
