The winningest goalie keeps on winning.
The #1 seed Syracuse Orange took on the Siena Saints from nearby Albany. With a trip to the NCAA Quarterfinals on the line Syracuse outlasted the Saints for the right to take on Maryland in Foxboro this coming weekend. Syracuse won 10-4 as the superior talent advances.
Syracuse took an early two point lead with big shots from Josh Amidon and Bobby Eilers. But Siena came right back and tied the game with good offense, faceoff wins, and a red hot goalie in Tom Morr. Syracuse then added two more goals before the end of the first half to go into the locker room 4-2 thanks mostly to Tommy Palasek scoring and then assisting to JoJo Marasco hitting a behind the back shot. Syracuse would then rattle off four more goals to take an 8-2 lead with ten minutes left in the fourth quarter. Siena would add two more goals, ending their 30-plus minute drought. But Syracuse would finish the game with two goals, sending them to the next round.
- JoJo Marasco led Syracuse in goals with three. Josh Amidon and Bobby Eilers each added two.
- Tommy Palasek had four assists in the game and added a goal to finish with five points.
- Joel White continues to be a ground ball machine. He led the team with five in the game.
- Jeremy Thompson didn't take the majority of faceoffs in this game. Good thing. He was 1-4. Ricky Buhr was 5-10. Chris Daddio was 3-3.
- John Galloway played all but one minute of the game. He had seven saves and four goals against in the win. Backup Matthew Lerman had one big save in the last minute of the game.
- Syracuse led massively in the shots category. They had 51 to Siena's 22.
- Syracuse had 34 ground balls and Siena had 15.
- Syracuse finally again led in faceoff wins. Syracuse was 9-17 overall. Siena had 8.
- Syracuse's ride worked well as Siena only cleared 17-23. Syracuse was 24-25.
- Siena failed to capitalize on the one SU penalty. Syracuse was 2-6 on EMOs.
- Siena had 19 saves thanks to Morr. Syracuse had 8 combined.
- Siena had 19 turnovers in the game, pretty close to their season average. Syracuse had 11.
- This was the first game in Division 1 lax that has used replay. The NCAA approved it for last year's tournament but it was only utilized this season in this game to correct the massive timing/scoreboard malfunction before the end of the first half going from about 2:45 remaining to :03.
- Syracuse has had pretty goals all season, but the Palasek to Marasco goal in the first half was just as pretty as any. A quick feed in the crease to a streaking Marasco for a behind the back goal. Awesome.
- The first half was slow, but anytime Syracuse goes on a six goal run the other team is probably losing the game.
- Big kudos to Morr from Siena who probably played the best possible tournament game against a top seeded team you could. Despite the loss, Siena is solid between the pipes next season.
Labels: Lacrosse, May Madness, NCAA Tournament
Orange::44 Bracketology - 2011 NCAA Lacrosse Tournament
0 Comments Published on 5.11.2011 by Brian Harrison
Welcome back to May Madness.
Syracuse may be the #1 seed, but that isn't all we're focused on here at Orange::44. We love may madness, and as John and I have done for the past few years, we've each filled out a bracket for this year's NCAA Lacrosse Tournament. I explain my bracket, as well as talk about the tournament and Syracuse's road, on Matt Mc's Sports Fix, which you can listen to by clicking here. That should explain my picks. I asked John if he wanted to write anything to explain his picks below. He literally just told me "Just put something to the effect that I've done really well in lax brackets in the past, so I just know how to pick 'em." Whatever you say chief. His bracket is below. Mine is above. We'll see who the better picker is. Also, enjoy the commentary above.
Labels: Lacrosse, May Madness, NCAA Tournament
Kapow! Didn't know the scoreboard went that high.
Syracuse's 2011 campaign is in the books. In only the second year of Big East Conference play, Syracuse has won the trophy again. But that is not the trophy the Orange really want to hoist. That trophy comes at the end of the month if you're good and lucky. But that's something to discuss later. First, Syracuse had to handle one final regular season team in St. John's heading to the Carrier Dome.
Syracuse started the game with Joel White scoring with the long stick, becoming the leading scorer with the long poll in school history. Then less than a minute later, St. John's best player Kevin Cernuto scored in coming from behind the cage on John Galloway. But then the Orange went on a four goal run, leading the Johnnies 5-1. Cernuto added one more before Syracuse added two to end the first quarter up 7-2, the last with a bounce shot from Jeremy Thompson off a long pass from John Galloway. The second quarter saw a three goal run from St. John's before Syracuse added a four goal run of their own as the teams went to the locker rooms with Syracuse up 11-5. St. John's then added one more final goal at the start of the third quarter before Syracuse went on a nine goal run to end the game. Two in the third quarter and seven in the fourth. Syracuse finished the game with their highest goal total of the year 20-6.
- 15 different Syracuse players contributed to the 20 goals. Tommy Palasek, JoJo Marasco, Stephen Keogh, Derek Maltz, and Joel White each had two goals.
- Pakasek and Collin Donahue each added two assists, with eight other players contributing one assist.
- Palasek led in points with four in this game. Donahue had three.
- John Lade lead the orange in ground galls with five. White is also the leading player for ground balls for long polls at Syracuse as well.
- Six players took faceoffs for the Orange. Thompson was 3-9, Ricky Buhr was 5-8, Josh Knight was 2-4, Chris Daddio was 1-5, Drew Jinkins was 1-1, and Kyle Carey was 0-1. Perhaps Thompson should take more of a midfield role and let Daddio take more of the faceoff responsibilities.
- Syracuse led all quarters in scoring, but they led the first 7-2 and the fourth 7-0.
- Syracuse almost doubled St. John's shots 50-26.
- SU led ground balls 41-34.
- St. John's won 16 faceoffs to Syracuse's 12.
- Both teams only failed to clear twice in the game. SU was 31-33 while St. John's was 22-24.
- Syracuse continued to have tough extra man defense. St. John's was 0-4. Syracuse was 2-5.
- Both teams had 13 saves. Galloway had 9 saves and six goals against in the 50 minute win. Matthew Lerman had 1 save, Ben Levy had three, and Paul Dubas had zero. None of the three allowed a goal.
- St. John's had 24 turnovers to Syracuse's 15.
- The complete box score can be found here.
Syracuse wins the Big East as the final standings shake out like this, with NCAA seeding information included:
1. #1 Syracuse 14-1 (6-0)*
2. #4 Notre Dame 10-2 (5-1)
3. Georgetown 7-7 (4-2)
4. Unseeded Villanova 11-4 (3-3)
5.St. John's 4-10 (2-4)
6. Rutgers 6-9 (1-5)
7. Providence 3-12 (0-6)
*Big East Regular Season Champion
Three Big East teams make the post season, but reflecting on Syracuse they win their regular season finale, the seniors' last game in the Carrier Dome for the regular season. They are the winningest class in Syracuse history. They also have never lost a Big East game, despite the fact it's only been two years. We thank them for everything they have done and here's hoping they leave on top, winners of three National Championships. But time will tell. Meanwhile they have put in the work, gone through the season with only one loss, and have been rewarded with the #1 seed in the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
Stay tuned here for some orange flavored bracket analysis, but also be sure to check out College Crosse for all sorts of tournament analysis, as well as my musings on what is ahead in May Madness from a wider perspective.
Labels: Big East, Lacrosse, May Madness, NCAA Tournament