No. 13 Orange Faces Albany Today At 4:00 p.m.
3/28/2006 10:22:25 AM | Women's Lacrosse
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - No. 13 Syracuse welcomes in-state opponent Albany to the Carrier Dome today for a 4:00 p.m. clash. It is the first of two home games this week to cap a seven-game home stand, the longest in school history. SU holds a 3-0 record against the Great Danes, and is 19-4 overall against Empire State foes.
Albany Visits No. 13 Syracuse For Empire State Showdown
The No. 13 Orange welcomes in-state foe Albany to the Carrier Dome on Tuesday, March 28 at 4:00 p.m. It is the sixth-consecutive home game for Syracuse, which is 4-1 in the current home stand. The contest is part of an SU lacrosse doubleheader as the men host Hobart following the women’s game at 7:00 p.m.
The Orange is 3-0 all-time against the Great Danes, outscoring them 58-11 in those games. Albany is averaging just 3.66 goals against SU, while Syracuse averages 19.3 goals.
Kasel and Rowan Named To BIG EAST Honor Roll
Senior Jen Kasel and freshman Kathryn Rowan have both been selected to the BIG EAST Honor Roll, announced Monday by the conference office. Kasel was credited with 11 saves in SU’s 13-7 win against Connecticut while Rowan posted three goals and three assists.
Kasel, last week’s BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week, continued her impressive goaltending against UConn. She anchored the Syracuse defense that allowed just one UConn goal in the second half on Sunday. The Huskies were held scoreless for a span of 25:58 while the Orange scored six-straight goals to seal the win. It was the second-longest length of time this season that an opponent was held without a goal.
In the five weeks of the Honor Roll being selected, this is Rowan’s third appearance. The only other student-athlete in the BIG EAST to earn three spots on the Honor Roll is Kate McHarg of Loyola. Rowan’s three assists and six points were both new career highs in leading the Orange to victory. With the score tied 6-6 heading into the second half, she had a hand in three of the Orange’s next four goals to give SU a 10-6 lead. She assisted junior Jill DePetris on Syracuse’s seventh goal that put the Orange up for good and added two more of her own. It was Rowan’s fifth hat trick of the season, a team best.
Last Time Out
Freshman Kathryn Rowan recorded a season-high six points on three goals and three assists to lead No. 14 Syracuse to a 13-7 win against Connecticut on March 26 at the Carrier Dome. After falling behind 5-2 with 8:55 left in the first half, the Orange finished the game with an 11-2 scoring stretch for the win.
It was Rowan’s fifth hat trick of the season and her three assists is a season-best. Graduate student Caitlyn Dragon and freshman Megan Mosenson both added hat tricks in the win. It was Dragon’s second three-goal performance of 2006, and Mosenson’s third. Junior Gaddy Fortune recorded two goals and reigning Defensive Player of the Week Jen Kasel was stellar in goal again with 11 saves.
No Place Like Dome
The Orange has been dominant at the Carrier Dome since the program began in 1998. In its inaugural season, SU went a perfect 5-0 at the Loud House. It lost just one game in three different seasons (1999, 2003, and 2005). The Orange owns a 56-14 all-time record at home and 11 of its losses came against top-10 teams.
The Syracuse-Albany Series
This is the fourth meeting in the series, with SU winning the previous three. The two teams met in 1998 and 1999, the Orange’s first two seasons, and then did not play again until last season. In the first meeting, Syracuse set the team record for goals in a game in a 23-4 win, the second-most lopsided win in school history.
Syracuse vs. Albany Series Information
All-Time Series SU 3-0
First Meeting March 26, 1998 (Syracuse 23, Albany 4)
Last Meeting February 27, 2005 (Syracuse 17, Albany 4)
Current Streak: SU 3
Scouting The Great Danes
Albany enters the game at 5-3, but the losses have been by a combined four goals. The Great Danes lost to Massachusetts 11-10 on their home field. Krissy Rajczak leads Albany with 28 points on 19 goals and nine assists. Albany has two more student-athletes with 20 points or more in Sarah Spillett, who has nine goals and 15 assists, and Kate Fontana who has 16 goals and five assists. Fontana has also totaled 38 ground balls, 15 draw controls, and 21 caused turnovers.
Defense Holds Off UConn For 25:58
The defense came up big for the Orange against Connecticut on March 26. After allowing the sixth Husky goal at the 3:05 mark in the first half, the back line did not allow another goal until there was 7:07 left to go in the game. UConn was held scoreless for 25:58, the second-longest scoring drought for an SU opponent this season. The longest the defense has held without allowing a goal is 47:19 against Binghamton on March 7. In the 7-5 win against Towson, the Tigers could not find the back of the net for 24:36.
The SU defense has gone three-straight games without allowing 10 goals. The last time that happened was in the last three games of the 2005 season. The last time an Orange defensive unit went four-consecutive games without giving up 10 goals was in the 2003 season. UMass and UConn were both a part of that streak as well.
New York State of Mind
Since the program’s start in 1998, Syracuse has proved itself as the the top lacrosse team in the state of New York. Against in-state opponents, the Orange owns a 19-4 record, with all four losses coming against Cornell. SU still owns a winning record against the Big Red at 5-4. Syracuse is undefeated against Albany, Binghamton, Colgate, and Siena. SU has beaten Colgate the most with an 8-0 record against them.
March Madness
The 2006 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.
SU’S Most Lopsided Wins
The win against Binghamton on March 7 was one of the most lopsided in school history. The Orange beat the Bearcats 21-2. The largest margin of victory came in the program’s first year existence when it beat Connecticut 20-0 in 1998. That same season, SU topped Siena 19-0 and Albany 23-4. SU has outscored opponents by 19 four times.
Freshmen Leading The Way
The Orange freshman class has made an immediate impact in SU’s first seven games. Megan Mosenson and Kathryn Rowan have had a hand in 43 of Syracuse’s 98 goals, which is 44 percent. As a class, the freshmen have accounted for 41 percent of the team’s points.
Rowan leads the team with 27 points on 23 goals and four assists. Mosenson is fourth on the team with 16 points. She has registered 12 goals and four assists.
Three Orange rookies tallied their first career goals against Binghamton on March 7. Maggie Martin and Allison Smuts both notched a pair of goals in the 21-2 triumph. Bridget Hamm also got on the board with a goal of her own.
Dragon A Steady Force
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 third on the team with 13 goals and 16 points.
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 Always There
Junior Jill DePetris leads the team with six assists this season, with three of them coming in SU’s thrilling overtime win against Dartmouth. She totaled only seven helpers the entire 2005 season. DePetris also leads the team with 14 caused turnovers and 24 ground balls. She posted her first hat trick of the season as she scored three times against Binghamton on March 7. She has totaled seven goals on the year.
She has started every game since her arrival on campus, beginning all 40 of the games she played in since 2004.
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 a lot offense early this season. So far, she has totaled 20 goals and two assists and her 22 points is second on the team. In 15 games played last year, she compiled just 10 goals. She has also totaled 15 ground balls, six draw controls, and seven caused turnovers.
Against Binghamton on March 7, Fortune had the game of her career as she totaled five goals and six points, both career bests.
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.
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.
Agnew, who was held scoreless in the Orange’s first three games, broke out against Binghamton on March 7. She notched five assists, all in the first half, to lead SU to victory. That number is tied for second for the most assists in a game in the country this season. The assist total set a new career high for the senior who also scored a goal. The Winchester, Mass. native ranks fourth all-time at Syracuse in assists with 34 in her career.
Queen Of The Kasel
Senior Jen Kasel came up huge for the Orange in its wins against Dartmouth and Towson. She saved 10 shots in the game to hold the Big Green at bay on Feb. 27. Against Towson, she stopped a season-high 15 shots to lead SU to the 7-5 win. For her performance, she was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week. Kasel currently ranks 16th in the nation in goals allowed per game at 8.14.
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 365 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.
Ain’t Nothin’ But A "D" Thing
The Orange defense has proved strong over the course of the first eight games. The back line is allowing 8.25 goals per game and has caused 96 of the 142 turnovers it has forced in eight games, which comes out to 68 percent. The defense has also been strong on free position shots, as opponents have scored just 16 times on 63 attempts, a 25 percent clip. The SU scoring defense ranks 17th in the country and its 10.50 caused turnovers per game is tied for 20th.
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.
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)
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.
