Labels: Athletic Department, Business Ethics, Lacrosse, Syracuse Lacrosse

Rumors about Chase Scanlan, wearer of the fabled #22 on the Syracuse Men's Lacrosse Team, have been swirling around social media in the last few weeks. We now have a pretty good handle on the allegations, and why the school suspended, then unsuspended, and now resuspended Scanlan. An investigation by the Syracuse Police Department and Onondaga County District Attorney culminated yesterday in the charging and arrest of Scanlan, as well as a release of the specific allegations which have landed the lacrosse player in legal jeopardy. Orange::44 used to do a lot of legal posts back in the day, when the major sports programs within Syracuse Athletics used to have regular legal drama. Thankfully, it's been a while. A long while. But here we are. As recounted in great detail in a very comprehensive article by Douglass Dowty on Syracuse.com, Scanlan is charged with Criminal Mischief in the Fourth Degree (a Class A misdemeanor) and Harassment in the Second Degree (a violation). On Friday, May 7, 2021, Scanlan was arrested, brought through the booking process, held for several hours in jail at the Onondaga Justice Center, arraigned by a judge, and released pending further proceedings. There's a lot there, so let's break it down. Scanlan was arrested because relevant witnesses came forward to give sworn statements to the police, which gave the police/DA the factual basis necessary to determine which charges were appropriate. Once those charges were filed, the police had a legal basis to arrest him. When someone is arrested, they are brought through the booking process -- the police gather pedigree information about the defendant, obtain fingerprints and a photograph, and all of that information is entered into a database along with information about the pending charges. For charges like this where the law does not allow for bail to be set, a defendant would typically be given an appearance ticket and simply sent home with direction to appear in court at a later date. However, given this was a domestic violence case, he needed to be held pending arraignment before a judge, so that the court could issue a temporary order of protection in favor of the complainant. Down here in Chemung County where I work, a judge would have been immediately available for an arraignment, but I guess Onondaga County does things a little differently, and Scanlan was held in custody for several hours before appearing before a judge for arraignment. At the arraignment, Scanlan would have been provided a copy of the charges against him, advised of his rights, served with that temporary order of protection, and then released on his own recognizance with a promise to appear at a later date. The two charges are Criminal Mischief and Harassment. Criminal Mischief is intentionally damaging property belonging to someone else with no permission to do so. Here, Scanlan is alleged to have damaged the complainant's iPhone by dropping it in a toilet, and later throwing it to the ground, breaking the glass face of the phone. Misdemeanor level Criminal Mischief is charged when the damages to the property are not specified in an amount; when damages exceed $250, then the charge could be bumped up to a felony. Most of us have experienced broken phones, so Scanlan got lucky that he wasn't charged with a felony. If convicted, this misdemeanor charge carries a jail term of up to 364 days, or probation up to three years, or simply a one-year conditional discharge. The Harassment charge is a violation (a non-criminal offense), where, with intent to harass, annoy, or alarm, a person strikes, shoves, kicks or otherwise subjects such other person to physical contact, or attempts or threatens to do the same. The Syracuse.com article explains that the allegations involve Scanlan pushing a woman and, later, holding her down on his bed with a forceful squeeze which ultimately led to bruising her ribs. The police and District Attorney decided they did not have enough evidence to charge misdemeanor assault -- which would require proof of physical injury -- surmising that lingering pain and bruised ribs doesn't meet that legal standard (when, actually, I think probably does). It's not a slam dunk on physical injury, particularly if the victim didn't describe the pain as "substantial," so I guess the close call here went in favor of the accused -- and there's certainly ample evidence to charge Harassment. Harassment carries up to 15 days in jail, or a conditional discharge. Both charges here also carry mandatory surcharges and possible fines. A Criminal Mischief conviction will also result in Scanlan being required to submit his DNA for inclusion into the New York State DNA Databank, so it will be on file forever. When this incident was initially investigated by Syracuse Public Safety (essentially the university police), Scanlan was suspended by the school. However, when criminal charges were not immediately forthcoming, he was reinstated. We've seen much surmising by people that the reinstatement was due to potential liability the school had under Title IX -- essentially that Scanlan might be able to sue the school for lack of due process in his suspension. We won't know for sure because of the privacy protections under federal law, but this seems likely given what we know now -- and the fact that now that criminal charges are pending, Scanlan has been removed from athletic participation. It's frustrating as fans that we didn't quite know what was going on between the initial suspension and the reinstatement. To a large degree, the school's hands were tied, but the messaging probably could have been better. Nobody likes that head coach John Desko said the reinstatement was his call (it no doubt wasn't) but I think the school couldn't really say why there was a suspension in the first place, or why it had to reinstate him (Editor's Note: I believe the Syracuse Unviersity General Counsel was directing much of the advise during this part of the process to the Athletic Department and likely dictated what information to release and at what time to attempt to avoid any liability on the part of the school. Title IX protection is serious and due to the domestic nature of this incident, certain protections are built in for the accused.). But we know for sure now that he can't participate in athletics now that he's been charged. Over the next several weeks, the DA will have to turn over what's called discovery to Scanlan's defense attorney -- things like police reports, witness statements, pictures, video, medical records, basically anything of relevant evidentiary value. His attorney could file certain motions to challenge evidence or even the legal sufficiency of the charges themselves. No doubt there will also be discussions between the ADA and defense attorney about a resolution to the case -- either a plea bargain or possibly a deferred disposition through a diversion program which could ultimately lead to a dismissal. That could require something like community service, alcohol counseling, and/or domestic violence counseling. That's what I would push for if I was Scanlan's attorney, particularly if he has no criminal record and we want to preserve that. However, the ADA on the case will have to weigh that against the interests of the victim in protecting her and making it known to the community that domestic violence is serious and will be dealt with accordingly. Each case is different, and those involved will have to determine what meets the ends of justice. Scanlan is presumed innocent. There may appear to be a great deal of evidence against him, but that presumption of innocence exists unless and until either Scanlan pleads guilty, or a jury unanimously finds him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We should never lose sight of that cornerstone of our legal system. However, Syracuse University and the Athetics Department can and has taken action solely based upon the criminal charges pending, and my guess is that we'll never see Scanlan wearing #22 at Syracuse again.

Labels: Breaking The Law, Lacrosse, Orange44 Lawdogs, Syracuse Lacrosse

Labels: Brackets, Lacrosse, NCAA Tournament, Preview

Syracuse students agree: lacrosse & basketball in the same weekend is fun!

Wake Forest comes to the Carrier Dome on Sunday for an ACC basketball game. But before then, Saturday is the season opener for the men's lacrosse team, with a tilt against Interstate-81 rival Binghamton. So I'll talk about that first.

The biggest question as we start the lax season is, how much did the mumps epidemic this fall impact the ability of the team to adequately prepare for the season? Honestly, I'm expecting the answer to be minimally to none. These are elite college athletes. They know how to play. Any missed practice/scrimmage time in the fall would only affect team cohesiveness -- something they've no doubt been able to figure out with practices and scrimmages this spring. Instead, let's focus on the relative youth of this team. While there are only a handful of true seniors and redshirt seniors, they're a solid core around which this team can build. Plus, despite what a certain portion of the fan base keeps clamoring, John Desko is a good coach. Binghamton is primed to have a great season, but there's no real reason to think Syracuse would lose to the Bearcats. Let's just hope Syracuse can win with better than a one-goal lead, to buck last year's trend. The game is at 1:00pm EST and is available internet-only on ACC Network Extra beginning two minutes after reality. If you're not heading up to the Dome, check out the "live" stream or catch me on the tweets.

Starting around 3:30pm, the Carrier Dome staff will begin the task they do oh-so-well: converting the field from lacrosse to basketball, with plenty of time for Sunday's 1:00pm tip against Wake Forest. At 9-15 on the season, 2-10 in ACC play, Wake is having a rough go of it this season. But if you look at some team stats, without looking at records or knowing anything about these teams, you might think Wake is the better team on paper. Chalk that up to the abysmal Orange offense. However, that offense experienced a resurrection on Monday against Louisville -- and with the rest of the week off since then, I will be cautiously optimistic about another great offensive showing. If there's a Demon Deacon poised to kill Syracuse, it's likely Bryant Crawford, who doesn't shy away from attempting threes. He's shooting that at a 36.4% clip this season, so even if he gets hot, the Orange will still need to contain the others with that shut down zone defense, and play smart on the other end. Tyus Battle and Frank Howard played great against the Cardinals, and will need to continue to carry this team on their backs. It's a short (if even existent) bench for Jim Boeheim, so avoidance of further injuries, or foul trouble, is essential to victory. Brian's shielding his pasty white skin from the rays in the DR but picks Syracuse by eight; I'll be in the Dome and pick Syracuse by eleven. The game's at 1:00pm on the ACC Network, so check out your local affiliates here. Glad I'll be in the Dome to once again avoid my local affiliate's standard definition feed in 2018.

Labels: ACC, Basketball, Lacrosse, Preview

Labels: Lacrosse, NCAA Tournament, Syracuse Lacrosse

The 2015 version of Syracuse Lacrosse looks pretty good

In an effort to, I guess, be considered something more than a Spring Sport, the 2015 lacrosse season actually began on February 7. For Syracuse, that was a 4pm game in the Carrier Dome against Siena. More on that in a minute. Let's first look at some changes to the game itself, and to the 2015 Orange.

Two big rule changes are very obvious to anyone watching a college lacrosse game this season. First is the face-off. In addition to a prohibition against using one's body to initiate contact with the opponent's stick, the face-off specialists will be required to immediately flip the ball up if possession is obtained with the back of the stick. This, of course, will require the player to create space between himself and his opponent in order to execute that move. It also emphasizes the utility of the wing players coming in to assist the face-off players. The other big rule change isn't exactly a change, but it's an improvement in the stall/shot clock rule. Beginning this season with Division I schools having the capabilities (and required beginning next year) a visible 30-second shot clock must be displayed on each end of the field. Instead of the officials utilizing an on-field 20-second system and a hand count for the final ten seconds, players and fans alike will be able to see the shot clock on the field. This was an easy fix for places such as the Carrier Dome, where the shot clocks already are placed for football. You can read about these rule changes here.

Face-offs were a big achilles heel for Syracuse last year. I think the Orange may have found the answer for this year: Ben Williams, transferring in from Holy Cross, won 17-20 draws against Siena, and then 9-22 against Cornell. That slip in productivity is a little concerning, and while nobody figured him to have two dominant games in a row, it was a respectable effort that obviously didn't have bad consequences for the Orange. The other big issue for Syracuse last season was the goalie situation. Bobby Wardwell and Dominic Lamolinara split time, and Coach John Desko seemed undecided on the issue for much of the season. This year, with Lamo graduated, Wardwell is the clear goalie. Having played nearly 37 minutes in a Siena game that was never close, Bobby played all but about three minutes against Cornell. He shined in that Cornell game, with ten saves while only allowing six goals. His numbers weren't quite as good against Siena, but Siena only took 23 shots the entire game.

A little bit more about that Siena game. As I mentioned before, Ben Williams was phenomenal on the face-offs. He also chipped in a goal himself and scooped up eleven ground balls. He's basically my new favorite player. Also scoring goals for the Orange were Kevin Rice (2), Nicky Galasso (3), Hakeem Lecky (1), Dylan Donahue (4), Randy Staats (1), Henry Schoonmaker (1), Tim Barber (1), Derek DeJoe (1), Ryan Simmons (2), Nick Weston (1), JT Forkin (2), and Joe Gillis (1). That's 13 players scoring 21 goals. Giddyup! Syracuse beats Siena 21-7.

You knew the February 15 game against Cornell wouldn't be a blowout like against Siena, as the Big Red always plays the Orange hard. Maybe it was the cold weather outside (barely reaching zero?), the 8-day layoff for Syracuse, or the season opener for Cornell, but neither team was in the mood for much scoring early in this one. At the end of the first quarter, Syracuse led 1-0. They picked it up in the second, scoring five goals and then six in the third. Cornell tried clawing back, but Syracuse was nearly always able to answer (usually quickly). In fact, Cornell only once had back-to-back goals -- 14:00 in the third on a man-up, and then at 13:41 from the ensuing face-off. Syracuse was just the better team out there, winning 14-6.

We're only two games in, but this has the makings of a great Syracuse lacrosse team. They're well experienced, have great chemistry, and get a lot of people involved in the scoring. The hopeful fixes at the face-off and goalie positions should shore up the issues that made the team vulnerable last year. The schedule makers also smiled upon the Orange, giving them eight home games. The ingredients are there; let's see what they make out of it.

Labels: Lacrosse

Labels: Lacrosse, NCAA, NCAA Tournament

It's turned out to be a heck of a season for the Orange

This blog has -- unintentionally -- neglected any coverage of the 2014 Syracuse men's lacrosse season. We hope you've gotten all your lax knowledge from the founder of this site, Matt Glaude, who runs College Crosse. But we've provided our share of coverage here traditionally, so it's time to play some catch-up.

The regular season started on Monday, February 10, as Siena visited the Carrier Dome. An easy 19-7 win for the Orange. The following Sunday, then-#10 Albany came to town, and this was my first in-person look at the 2014 squad. I remembered seeing some of the same issues that plagued the team last year: namely, faceoffs. "It's going to be a long year," I thought. The biggest problems with not winning faceoffs: the opponent controlling time of possession; and rapid-fire scores digging yourself into a deep hole. This game against the Great Danes went into overtime, and Syracuse was able to earn a win.

The next Saturday, Syracuse hosted its first ever ACC lacrosse game, as Maryland came to town. The Orange only managed eight goals, and was doubled-up by the Terps 16-8. Another loss at Virginia a week later left the Orange at 2-2. However, wins against St. John's in the "Cobb County Lacrosse Classic" (this is a thing?) and an impressive win at Johns Hopkins (#2 at the time) send the 4-2 Orange into a championship rematch against Duke with some momentum. Then the Orange got hit by a train. In what I would probably describe as the worst game of the year, Syracuse lost to Duke 21-7. How the team would respond to that loss would determine the fate of the season.

You knew from that teaser that something either really good or really bad happened to this team after the loss at Duke. It was good: consecutive wins against Notre Dame, Binghamton, Cornell, North Carolina, and Hobart leading into the ACC tournament. In those wins, Syracuse seemed to play more aggressively on offense, had better success at the faceoff X, and the goal-tandem of Lamolinara and Wardwell seemed to really play well in their "one half only" roles. I was in attendance for the Cornell game, having made the awful trek up Route 13 from Elmira to Ithaca. I was impressed at how much better Syracuse looked, compared to when I saw them in person against Albany. Offense was just clicking that night. I missed the UNC game due to a wedding, but how was that for a finish?!?

That string of impressive victories set Syracuse in a great position heading into the ACC tournament. It was the perfect time to play Duke. It was a game for revenge for last year's National Championship, and a game to right the wrongs from that 21-7 loss -- in fact, the last time Syracuse had lost. For much of the game, Syracuse was playing from behind. Both teams were playing at a high level, but Duke seemed to have the edge. And then the 4th quarter happened. Syracuse crawled back. With 4:29 to play, Syracuse tied the game it had been losing since Duke went up with 44 seconds left in the first half. Duke then answered with a goal with 3:15 left to go back on top. The Blue Devils controlled the ensuing possession, but in a costly mistake played too aggressively instead of stalling, which enabled the Orange to get the ball back with plenty of time. Using most of that time, and seemingly playing for the tie, Syracuse was able to create enough space for Billy Ward to even the score with 15 seconds to go. Then in the best-timed faceoff win of the season, Syracuse gets the ball, has enough time to set up a play, and Dylan Donahue got the game winner with less than a second to go!

It was the best finish to a Syracuse lacrosse game I had seen since the NCAA Championship game against Cornell in Foxboro.

That win -- Syracuse's sixth in a row -- catapulted the Orange into the ACC title game against former Big East foe Notre Dame. That's where the magic ended, as the Irish simply played better and won the title, 15-14.

In an odd schedule, Syracuse closes the regular season Saturday against Colgate for Senior Day in the Carrier Dome. Odd, because there's a final regular season game after the conference tourney. At any rate, we'll be saying goodbye to the seniors, notably Chris Daddio, Billy Ward, Derek Maltz, Scott Loy, Matt Harris, and Dominic Lamolinara. Colgate struggles offensively, a stat that should favor the Orange, especially how they've played as of late.

The NCAA Selection Show is Sunday, May 4 at 9:00pm ET on ESPNU. Most bracketologists have Syracuse near or at the top of their seedings which, due to this year's expanded bracket, means Syracuse likely hosts the winner of a play-in game next weekend. Stay tuned here and at CollegeCrosse.com for coverage and analysis.

Labels: ACC, Lacrosse, NCAA, Welcome ACC

Labels: Basketball, Football, Lacrosse, Legislation, Orange44 Lawdogs

Duke is STILL winning faceoffs

If you kept tabs on Syracuse's run through the NCAA Tournament to Monday's Championship game against Duke, you know that in many ways it was an unlikely run. In fact, coming off last year's 9-8 season and opening round loss to Duke, along with starting this season with an overtime loss to Albany, it's unlikely to even think that the Orange would have earned a #1 seed, let alone advance to the title game. In every tournament game - against Bryant, against Yale, and against Denver - Syracuse dug itself into a hole that required a comeback to achieve victory. You very easily could look at any of those games and said "Syracuse deserves to lose." But the team fought; they persevered; they won. So when the title game looked all too familiar, those who knew the recent history didn't panic. Maybe the team didn't panic either. Maybe they were complacent in the "Don't worry, we've got this" attitude. Whatever it was, it was not enough to secure a victory, as the Duke Blue Devils beat the Syracuse Orange 16-10 to earn the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship.

The title game could not have started any better for Syracuse. In a first quarter completely dominated by the Orange, Duke was left surrendering goals to Billy Ward, Kevin Rice, Dylan Donahue, and Luke Cometti. Everything was clicking on offense for the #1 seed, and nothing was going right for the Duke offense. When the Blue Devils weren't committing sloppy turnovers, they were taking shots that Syracuse goalkeeper Dominic Lamolinara was seeking with eagle-eyed vision.

Those four unanswered goals in the first quarter became a 5-0 lead early in the second, as Donahue got back on the board again. 90 seconds later, Duke finally found net, but just over a minute later, Scott Loy scored to again return the Orange lead to five. And then, Duke woke up. The Blue Devils scored the next four goals to close out the half, and enter the locker room down only 6-5.

An early third quarter Duke goal left the game tied at 6, and through the next eight and a half minutes of game play, neither team scored. Donahue scored again, giving the Orange a 7-6 lead at 4:28 in the third. But then Duke never looked back. Four Duke goals closed out the third quarter, and a 10-7 margin was brought to the game's final 15 minutes.

Duke didn't let up as the fourth began. Goals at 13:39, 12:29, and 10:47 gave the Blue Devils a 13-7 lead. JoJo Marasco finally got on the scoreboard with unassisted goals at 8:11 and 7:36 to narrow the gap to 13-9. Duke, however, kept winning faceoffs and hitting dagger shots to keep this game safely out of reach for the Orange.

As you no doubt have read elsewhere, or witnessed by watching the game, it was Duke's dominance at the faceoff X (or dot, or whatever it's being called these days) that was essential to the trophy returning to Durham. Duke faceoff specialist Brendan Fowler not only won 20 of 28 faceoffs on the day (Duke was 21-30 on the day), but he also won the draws when they counted most. Those gaps in the game when Syracuse wasn't scoring? It wasn't because they couldn't get things going on offense. It was because they were on defense. Because Duke won the faceoffs. Syracuse has dealt with some great faceoff specialists this season, notably in the postseason, and still won. Their offensive efficiency was just that good. But it just wasn't to be this Memorial Day.

And so, we look back at what ended up to be a very successful season of lacrosse. For much of the season it was a wide-open field, and heading into Selection Sunday, Syracuse secured some great resume-building wins to earn that #1 seed. And making it to the title game proved that Syracuse was seeded right where it needed to be seeded. And, but for giving up a 5-0 lead and being owned by a faceoff wizard, Syracuse may have won title #12. But we'll never know.

At any rate, congratulations to the entire team and coaching staff for an amazing season. I'm especially happy for this year's seniors, who waited their entire college careers to play in a Final Four - an otherwise guarantee for all classes dating back thirty years. And they got to play in a title game, and almost win it. The underclassmen gained some valuable experience, not only in these tournament games, but in all the one-goal games throughout the season. They'll be well-seasoned vets for next season. Next season. First in the ACC. Yikes! We'll take suggestions on the correct adjective to use when describing the ACC Lacrosse league.

Check back later this week, as I wrap up the 2012-2013 year of Syracuse University Athletics before embarking on our annual summer hiatus.

Labels: Championship, Lacrosse, NCAA Tournament, Recap

This is what "nearly 10,000" looks like, right ESPNU?

As the #1 seed of the Tournament, the Syracuse Orange should, in theory, have had the easiest game in round one. Their opponent, unseeded Bryant University from Rhode Island, had a losing record and was only in the Tourney due to winning their conference tourney. And then Syracuse went down 4-0.

The scouting report on the Bryant Bulldogs was basically this: they lost a crap ton of games to start the season, then won a bunch in a row, including their conference championship; their face-off specialist, Kevin Massa, led the nation in face-off percentage and would frustrate the Orange at the X. And... yeah. That. The final tally in this game was 22-1. I don't think I've ever seen a face-off deficit like that.

But that 4-0 start by the Bulldogs was about as good as they would get on Sunday night. Syracuse battled back to make it 4-3 at the end of the first. The second quarter was much slower for each team on offense, Syracuse scoring twice, and Bryant just once. So if you do the math right, that's a 5-5 tie at halftime.

Coming out of the locker room for the second half, Syracuse decided to play like a #1 seed, and rattled off goals at 12:54 and 9:24 to go up by two. Bryant battled back for a score at the 7:00 mark, but Syracuse answered with two more before Bryant found the back of the net once more with just under one minute left in the third quarter.

With a 9-7 lead going into the final 15 minutes of play, Syracuse was in the driver's seat. They had battled back after a horrible spot, tied the game, and in the second half attained the lead and kept it. Though the two goal margin at this point was nothing like a landslide, with the momentum swung entirely toward Syracuse, the Orange was in a great position to wrap down the final 15 minutes. Three more goals in the final quarter assured the victory for Syracuse, and the first round win over Bryant 12-7.

For Syracuse, the top scorer was Dylan Donahue, who had three goals on four shots. Kevin Rice and Luke Cometti each had two goals. JoJo Marasco, Scott Loy, Billy Ward, Matt Walters, and Ryan Barber each scored for the Orange as well. Rice also helped with two assists, while Marasco and Ward each had one assist. It was clear that Bryant was focusing on the Marasco game, so while they tried neutralizing JoJo, the rest of the team stepped up. I gotta give a lot of credit to the coaching staff and the players of Syracuse to make the adjustments they needed to make to find a way to win.

I already mentioned it, but damn, that Massa kid is downright nasty at the X. I assume if he's cheating or otherwise doing something he's not allowed to do, that he would have been called out on it by now; so, I guess he's just really, really good. Kudos to him.

Luckily, for Syracuse, the game is decided by goals scored, not face-offs won.

Penalties in this game were few & far between: Syracuse was penalized once (and killed the EMO), while Bryant had three penalties, leading to one EMO goal for Syracuse.

Most other stats, except the aforementioned face-off margin, were pretty even. The one other exception was turnovers; Bryant lost the ball 18 times, compared to the seven mistakes by the Orange. Overall it was a rather clean game, played at a nice pace. There were several times when I felt the officials were slow to call stall warnings against Bryant, but the officials did eventually call them. I still don't get why the officials can't operate an on-field shot clock instead of having this invisible, theoretical 30-second shot clock upon calling the stall warning. But alas, I'm not a policy maker.

The win by the Orange earns them a spot in the quarterfinals, and a Saturday afternoon date in Maryland against Yale. If you want to see the updated bracket with the correct match-ups for this coming weekend, be sure to check out my bracket predictions from last week; I correctly chose the winner for all eight first-round games. Brian missed a couple games, but we can't all be perfect all the time.

Labels: Lacrosse, NCAA Tournament, Recap

Who will play on Memorial Day? We think a match-up you've already seen once or twice.

Last Sunday night was the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse selection show. It's probably not as exciting or well viewed as the basketball selection show each March to usher in March Madness, but as lacrosse continues to grow as a sport, this selection show and this tournament is getting more attention. The lacrosse tournament consists of 16 teams, with the top eight being seeded 1-8 and hosting first-round games on campus against one of the unseeded teams. Therefore, you don't see a 1-16, 2-15, etc., as geography typically plays into the match-ups. Syracuse earned the #1 seed, and will host the Bryant Bulldogs in the Carrier Dome on Sunday at 7:30pm. The winner then moves onto the quarterfinals in College Park, Maryland on May 18. The other quarterfinal site is Indianapolis, Indiana. The Final Four and Championship, over the Saturday and Monday of Memorial Day weekend, will be hosted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at Lincoln Financial Field.

As we are wont to do here at Orange::44, Brian and I have filled out our brackets with winners of each game, up through choosing an eventual National Champion. They look pretty similar, and have a bit of homerism, but we both think they're pretty solid brackets.

Here is Brian's bracket:

Labels: Brackets, Lacrosse, NCAA Tournament

A decent crowd of 6292 took a break from basketball to take in lacrosse.

I've really hit a couple of home runs when it comes to attending Syracuse lacrosse games this season. Back on March 1 I had the pleasure to watch Syracuse run all over a really good Virginia team. Saturday, Syracuse faced #4 Johns Hopkins in what would become a signature win for the Orange. It was a fast and furious first quarter for Syracuse, gaining a 6-1 lead. The Blue Jays woke up in the second quarter to only be down 8-6 at the half. However, Syracuse dominated the rest of the game and won by a final of 13-8.

Hopkins drew first blood with a man-up goal at the 11:50 mark. From there, Syracuse turned it on. Scores came from Luke Cometti, two by Henry Schoonmaker, Hakeem Lecky, Scott Loy, and Derek Maltz. It was exciting to watch, especially because it seemed Hopkins just had no answer for it. The fast start foreshadowed the fast start the basketball team had later Saturday against Louisville, but lacrosse had a much better result.

The second quarter saw the Blue Jays make a comeback, with five goals by three players (Wells Stanwick with three). Scoring really slowed down in the second half, only seeing seven goals compared to the first half's 14. That certainly helped Syracuse, as the defense stepped up and a change in the net from Bobby Wardwell to Dominic Lamolinara secured the victory. Lamolinara had five saves in the second, to Wardwell's three in the first.

This game wasn't without its Syracuse faults, though. The Orange committed seven penalties, which led to Hopkins going 3-6 on EMOs. The last penalty came as time expired, so Hopkins won't reap those benefits. Hopkins committed four penalties, but each time was able to shut down the Syracuse EMO unit and hold them scoreless. Hop held a slight advantage on face-offs at 14-10, but it was nice to see Chris Daddio out there making things difficult for Hop at the X.

With the new polls out, Syracuse has moved up nicely, to #4 in both the Coaches Poll and the Inside Lacrosse poll. The real deal Orange now move on to play at Providence on Tuesday night, where it appears there is only local-Syracuse radio coverage with no TV coverage. The biggest thing to look for, other than "can Syracuse maintain its high level of play" is the situation in the goal. Lamolinara made a great case for some more time, but does Wardwell lose his starting job?

Labels: Lacrosse

JoJo shows why he earned #22

I had the pleasure of taking in the Virginia-Syracuse lacrosse game in the Carrier Dome on Friday night. I hadn't been in the Dome for lacrosse since 2011, so it was nice to get back into the swing of things. And what a better game to see than longtime rivals Virginia and Syracuse? While it's no secret that Syracuse lacrosse is "down" this year, especially after losing that first game against Albany, you always carry a little bit of hope with you that Syracuse could find a way to win.

And I admit it: I wasn't giving Syracuse a chance in Hell to beat Virginia on Friday night. Couple that pregame sentiment with a couple costly early game penalties against Syracuse that resulted in man-up goals for Virginia, and the 2-0 deficit may as well have been 200-0. But then, much to my delight, Syracuse settled in and rattled off four goals in the first, and ended the quarter with a 4-3 lead.

The second quarter sped by, but Syracuse surrendered three goals to Virginia without scoring themselves to trail 6-4 at the half. At that point, you really didn't know where this game was going; it was a relatively low-scoring event for these two teams, with a lot of running back and forth down the field with turnovers and good goal play. It was mostly a fast-paced game, save for a curious stall warning on Syracuse at one point.

In the third quarter, Syracuse did to Virginia what Virginia did to Syracuse in the second: rattling off three goals while holding the opponent scoreless. The Orange had all the momentum in the third quarter, and I had a Panda Paws waffle cone, so all was good in the world.

And so, Syracuse went into the fourth quarter with a 1-goal lead, up 7-6. With the way the momentum had swung, and the excitement of the crowd, I think we all began to think that Syracuse not only could win this game, but they would. A couple of Virginia goals and a Syracuse goal knotted things at 8-8, and the last several minutes of regulation proceeded as if a national championship was on the line. Truly, it had that kind of atmosphere. Both teams had ample opportunities to cash in on possessions and put the ball in the goal, but neither could get the job done. Off to Overtime!

I'm pretty sure the entire crowd of 5,388 was standing the entire overtime period. Once Syracuse controlled possession, Coach Desko called timeout to draw up a play. We watched as it transpired, and Kevin Rice caught the feed from Dylan Donahue for the clinching goal -- #OrangeGoal! The Syracuse players mobbed each other on the field, as if they had just won the national championship. Even the players felt the atmosphere!

It all made for one of the most exciting lacrosse games I had seen in a while. Which, for me, was a great way to get back into watching lacrosse in person again.

For the Orange, only three of the team's nine goals were assisted. In all, eight different players scored goals for Syracuse, with only JoJo Morasco with two. Bobby Wardwell spent the entire game in the net for Syracuse, with nine saves and eight goals allowed. This game was certainly not without flaws for Syracuse. Of note, they really struggled on face-offs, losing that battle 16-5. The Orange also had trouble picking up ground balls, with Virginia having that edge 33-23. While this game did not see many penalties (seven total), it was Virginia who capitalized on the man-up opportunities (2-4) while Syracuse wasted their chances (0-3).

A win like this can, and should, give a team like Syracuse some serious confidence and momentum to go out there and play at a high level. This win improves Syracuse to 2-1 on the year, with a lot of lacrosse still to be played. Don't write off the Orange just yet; they're just getting started!

Labels: Lacrosse

Labels: Audio Euphoria, Lacrosse

Labels: Audio Euphoria, Lacrosse, Matt Glaude

Labels: Audio Euphoria, Lacrosse, Matt Glaude, NCAA Tournament, Syracuse Lacrosse

Labels: Audio Euphoria, Lacrosse, NCAA Tournament

Labels: Audio Euphoria, Lacrosse, Nunes/Magician

Labels: Audio Euphoria, Lacrosse, Matt Glaude