No. 13 Orange Looks To Topple Second Top-10 Team In A Row At No. 7 Virginia
3/2/2006 12:30:45 PM | Women's Lacrosse
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The 13th-ranked Syracuse Orange travels to Virginia to take on the seventh-ranked Cavaliers on March 4 at 12:00 p.m. in its first road contest of the 2006 season. On Feb. 27, SU defeated No. 3 Dartmouth, 11-10, thanks to a last-second goal in overtime by Caitlyn Dragon (Jackson, N.J.). This is Syracuse's only road game in the month of March. It begins a seven-game home stand on March 11 against Binghamton.
Syracuse Visits Virginia For First Road Test
After a successful 2-0 start to the season at home, the No. 13 Orange travels to Charlottesville, Va. on Saturday, March 4, to take on the No. 7 Cavaliers. SU began the season by taking down Harvard, 15-9, and then defeating No. 3 Dartmouth in stunning fashion, 11-10, in overtime. It was the first time SU had beat the Big Green in five tries with its last win coming in 2002.
The last time SU visited the Cavaliers, UVA was ranked No. 3, and the Orange came away with a 14-13 win. Syracuse trailed by four goals three times in the game, including twice in the second half, but the Orange scored six of the contest’s last seven goals to earn the upset.
Leigh-Ann Zimmer paced SU with a career-high seven points on a personal-best six goals. Monica Joines added two goals and two assists. Melody Agnew recorded a goal and an assist and Jill DePetris also had one goal.
With :01 Left, Dragon Delivers
Senior Caitlyn Dragon scored with one second remaining on the clock in overtime to lead No. 13 Syracuse to an 11-10 victory against No. 3 Dartmouth on Feb. 27 at the Carrier Dome. The Big Green scored with 17 seconds left in overtime to tie the game before Dragon tallied the game winner.
Junior Chelsea Strodel secured the draw control with just six seconds left. Strodel then found classmate Jill DePetris who found an open Dragon right in front of the net. Dragon turned and fired a shot past the Dartmouth goalkeeper to push SU to the win.
Dragon finished the game with three goals and freshman Megan Mosenson also tallied a hat trick and assisted on another goal. Freshman Kathryn Rowan notched two goals for the Orange. DePetris had three assists, including the game-winner. Senior goalkeeper Jen Kasel saved 10 shots for SU in the win.
Freshmen Leading The Way
The Orange freshman class has made an immediate impact in SU’s first two games. Against Harvard on Feb. 25, Megan Mosenson and Kathryn Rowan had a hand in eight of Syracuse’s 15 goals. Mosenson had three tallies and one assist while Rowan scored four times.
Rowan was selected to the BIG EAST Honor Roll for her four-goal performance.
In SU’s 11-10 win against Dartmouth, Mosenson put up the same numbers as she totaled three goals and an assist. Rowan scored twice, including a tally in overtime that put the Orange up, 10-9.
Mosenson leads the team with eight points on six goals and two assists. She is also second on the team with six draw controls and three caused turnovers. Rowan is second on the team with six points. The two have combined for .412 percent of the team’s points.
The Syracuse-Virginia Series
The Cavaliers own a slight edge in the all-time series, 4-3, including a 15-7 win in the Dome last season. SU downed the third-ranked Cavaliers the last time the two teams played in Charlottesville, 14-13. Four of the seven times they have met, the difference has been two goals or less.
Syracuse vs. Virginia Series Information
All-Time Series Virginia leads, 4-3
First Meeting March 6, 1999 (Virginia 15, Syracuse 6)
Last Meeting March 5, 2005 (Virginia 15, Syracuse 7)
Current Streak: Virginia, 1
Scouting The Cavaliers
Virginia owns a 2-1 record but lost to Richmond, 8-7, in its most recent outing on Wednesday night. Its two wins came against No. 15 Vanderbilt and Temple, 10-9 and 10-8, respectively. Blair Weymouth leads the team with 13 points on eight goals and five assists. Tyler Leachman, who is on the preseason Tewaaraton Watch List, is right behind her with eight goals and four assists. Nikki Lieb, another Tewaaraton candidate, leads Virginia with six caused turnovers and six draw controls. Head coach Julie Myers is in her 11th year in Charlottesville and owns a 154-49 record.
Dragon There When SU Needs Her
Caitlyn Dragon avenged SU’s loss to Dartmouth in the NCAA Tournament last year when she tossed a shot with one second left in overtime past the Big Green goalkeeper on Feb. 27. The game-winner gave Syracuse a thrilling 11-10 win over No. 3 in the nation.
Dragon, who is currently enrolled at graduate school at Syracuse, is tied for third on the team with five goals. She has also picked up four ground balls.
Last season, the Jackson, N.J. product finished fifth on the all-time single-season ledger with 40 goals and 55 points. Her 15 assists ranks ninth all-time in a single season. Dragon missed the 2003 season and earned a medical redshirt for the time she missed.
Going into last year, Dragon had compiled just seven goals in her previous three years. She played in just 15 games from 2002-2004. Last season, she played in 16 of the Orange’s 17 games. For her efforts, she was named to the All-BIG EAST First Team. Dragon also earned IWLCA/US Lacrosse Division 1 North All-Region First Team honors and was named a third-team All-American. This season, she earned Preseason All-BIG EAST honors.
DePetris Sets Up Game-Winner
Junior Jill DePetris leads the Orange with three assists this season, all coming in SU’s thrilling overtime win against Dartmouth. She totaled only seven helpers the entire 2005 season. DePetris also leads the team with four caused turnovers and is third in ground balls with six.
DePetris was also named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team after earning second-team All-BIG EAST honors last year. In 2005, she started all 17 games and recorded 18 goals and seven assists. She also led the team in ground balls with 36. Her 18 goals topped her 2004 total by one. In her three seasons in Orange, the Radnor, Pa. product has not missed a game, starting all 34 contests.
Good Fortune
Junior Gaddy Fortune has provided the Orange with some offense early this season. So far, she has totaled five goals and one assist and her six points are tied for second on the team. In 15 games played last year, she compiled just 10 goals. The assist she tallied against Harvard in the season opener was the first of her career.
Brady Picking Up The Slack
Sophomore Kristin Brady snagged every loose ball she could against Harvard as she picked up a career-high 10 ground balls in the 15-9 triumph. In the 13 games she played in last season, she recorded just two ground balls.
Queen Of The Kasel
Senior Jen Kasel campe up huge for the Orange in its win against Dartmouth. She saved seven free-position shots in the game to hold the Big Green at bay. She has also proven herself as one of the most dominant goalkeepers in SU history. Her 119 saves last season was the fifth-highest total in a single season. The previous year, she stopped 181 shots, just five behind the single-season leader, Clothilde Ewing. On the all-time ledger, the Mountain Lakes, N.J. native ranks second in saves with 313 in her career. The all-time leader in that category is Carla Gigon, who saved 475 shots in her illustrious career.
Kasel also made a mark in the single-game saves record books. On April 3 of 2003, she stopped 23 shots against Rutgers in a 15-5 victory. Ewing holds the record for saves in a game with 25. She achieved the feat on the same exact day in 1999.
Kasel has started every game in net the last three seasons for the Orange.
Singing A Melody
Senior Melody Agnew, a native of Winchester, Mass., couldn’t help but let her teammates score a year ago. She compiled 25 assists in 2005, the second-highest single-season total in school history. She also added 16 goals as she started all 17 games, which placed her third on the team in scoring. Kim Wayne is the only other student-athlete in Orange history who has amassed more assists in a season. She notched 25 helpers in 2003, and holds the record for assists in a season with 33 in 2002.
Before last season, Agnew had registered just four assists in her career and those all came in 2004. On the all-time career list, she ranks fourth with Kara Hanover who also totaled 29. Katrina Hable is next on the list with 56 dimes.
Ain’t Nothin’ But A "D" Thing
The Orange defense has proved strong over the course of the first two games. The back line is allowing 9.05 goals per game and has caused 25 of the 34 turnovers it has forced in two games.
Syracuse brought back every starter from last year’s defense that allowed a mere 8.76 goals per game, which ranked 18th in the nation. Junior Melissa Pearsall and sophomore Bridget Looney led the team in caused turnovers with 21. Pearsall started every game a year ago and and was third on the team with 30 ground balls. Looney participated in every game last season, starting 14. She was also second on the team in draw controls with 24 and picked up 22 ground balls. The Orange also returns sophomore Stephanie Bissett, who played in 16 games in 2005 and started 14.
Clear The Way
Syracuse has been almost invincible when trying to clear the ball out its opponents’ zone. The Orange is 31-32 (.969) when attempting to clear the zone, with its lone failure coming against Harvard at the 22:53 mark of the first half. Since that point, SU has cleared on 28 consecutive chances.
Nothing Comes Free
The SU defense on its opponents’ free position attempts has been impressive. The Orange has allowed just eight goals on 20 shots, a .400 percentage. The Orange has only had six free position shots, but four of them have reached the back of the net, a .667 clip.
2005 Orange Among Nation’s Best
Syracuse ranked among the country’s elite in team stats in 2005. Here is a breakdown of the ledgers:
Scoring Offense: 12.06 (13th)
Scoring Defense: 8.76 (18th)
Scoring Margin: 3.29 (14th)
Win Percentage: .706 (13th)
March Madness
The 2005 schedule features 11 home games, which is the most since SU played 11 at home in 2001. The Orange went 10-5 that season. SU also hosts seven-consecutive home games in the month of March, which will be the longest home stand in the program’s nine-year history. The schedule consists of six teams that competed in last year’s Women’s Lacrosse Championship, including defending national champion Northwestern and national runner-up Virginia.
Home Games To Be Streamed Live On suathletics.com All-Access
Syracuse University Director of Athletics Dr. Daryl Gross announced today that it will offer live video streaming of all home men’s and women’s lacrosse games as part of the department’s All Access subscription service on www.suathletics.com. To subscribe to the Orange All Access package click on the Orange All Access on the school’s athletic website.
For optimal results in viewing streamed video, computers must have a high-speed internet connection and the latest version of Windows Media Player (a free download at www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia). Bandwidth constraints of service providers can affect the quality of the picture.
The All-Access service includes comprehensive video highlights, interviews, press conferences and behind the scenes features of all sports. All Access also includes live streaming audio of game broadcasts, as well as archived features and coaches shows. Cost of the All Access subscription service is $9.95 per month or $79.95 for a full year.
