It’s tournament day in CNY as both Syracuse Orange lacrosse teams are in action in their respective NCAA Tournaments.
The Orange women will start the day with their second round matchup against the No. 6 seed and site host Navy Midshipmen after beating Loyola in the first round on Friday. Opening draw is set for 1 PM on ESPN+.
The Orange men are themselves the No. 6 seed, and will play host to the Yale Bulldogs in the first round for the final Dome game of the season. Opening face-off is set for 5
PM on ESPN U.
Women vs. Navy
Today marks the first meeting in program history between Syracuse and Navy.
The Midshipmen are having a fantastic season, having gone 19-1 with the Patriot League regular season (c0-champion) and tournament titles. Their only blemish was a late-March loss to Loyola on the road. On the season, they’re 12-0 at home, which unfortunately happens to be the location of this very game.
Navy ranks in the Top 10 in the country in both scoring offense and scoring defense, with the offense ranking third nationally with 16.11 goals per game and the defense ranking eighth at 7.84 goals-against per game.
The Mids punched their ticket to the second round with a thrilling, 17-16 win over UMass in the opening round on Friday. They had to make a comeback after being down by four early in the third quarter, and used an 8-2 run to re-take the lead. The game was knotted up down the stretch until Navy scored the game winner with 35 seconds left to advance to today.
Friday’s two games were the perfect examples of the extreme contrast between these two teams this season. Navy wants to run-and-gun and light-up the scoreboard in a track meet with their opponent, while ‘Cuse wants to wear down their opposition and grind out games with their stingy defense leading the way.
The Orange have only given up double-digit goals in three of their 19 games, while Navy has reached double-digits themselves in every single game. In fact, they’ve scored 14 goals or more in 16 of their 20 games this season, so it appears we have a real unstoppable force v. immovable object situation happening in this game.
The Mids are led by their sophomore superstar attacker and Tewaaraton finalist Alyssa Chung, who leads the team with a massive 74 goals, 32 assists and 106 points.
She’s joined by fellow sophomore Taylor Miles, who’s third on the team with 48 goals and second with 68 points. Junior Mikayla Williams scored the game-winning goal against UMass and is third on the team with 59 points on 38 goals and 21 assists. Senior Emma Kennedy is second on the team with 50 goals, while senior Ava Yovino is an all-around stud and is second on the team with 29 assists, fifth with 48 points, second with 36 ground balls, tied for first with 22 caused turnovers and second with 57 draw controls.
Senior Maura Murphy leads yet another strong draw unit with 164 DCs.
Junior Felicia Giglio has started all 20 games in net and has made 128 saves with an 8.29 goals-against average and a .451 save percentage.
Men vs. Yale
The Orange are playing Yale for the first time in exactly nine years, when they beat them, 11-10, in a 2017 NCAA Tournament First Round matchup inside the Dome.
The Bulldogs had a roundabout route to this year’s NCAAs, starting the season 3-4 before reeling off six straight wins to close the regular season and help ensure their entry into the dance.
Yale is a very young team with a lot of burgeoning talent that’s looking for the perfect stage to break out on, so there’s plenty for ‘Cuse to look out for in this one. Yale has a road win over Cornell, a six-goal win over Harvard and a pair of losses to Princeton by a combined three goals.
They’re led by a couple of young attackers in sophomore Connor Gately and freshman Sean Grogan. Gately has 25 goals and leads the team with 29 assists and 54 points, while Grogan leads the team with 28 goals and is second with 19 assists and 47 points.
Face-offs have been a mixed bag for them this season, where sophomore Nick Wehmeyer has taken 235 draws and has a .506 win percentage. His backup, freshman Ben Cuomo, has taken 132 and has won .470 percent of them.
They have a solid defense that’s led by a pair of senior poles in Patrick Pisano (37GB, 20CT) and Konrad Miklaszewski (16GB, 7CT).
Sophomore goalie Ben Friedman has started 13 of their 14 games and has had a very good season with 173 saves, a 10.71 goals-against average and a .562 save percentage.
For a more in-depth preview of Yale and the matchup with the Orange, check out our interview with Nunes Magician’s own Christian De Guzman, who is the PXP announcer for Cornell lacrosse and got an up-close look at Yale when the Big Red and Bulldogs clashed at Schoellkopf Field earlier this season.
