Men's Lacrosse Entertains Albany Tonight at 7 p.m.
4/21/2006 8:41:19 AM | Men's Lacrosse
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A win against Albany on April 21 at the Carrier Dome will assure the No. 9-ranked Syracuse University men’s lacrosse team of at least a .500 record when the regular season ends. That will provide a big sigh of relief for a program that just 24 days ago was reeling from a 1-4 start and faced exclusion from postseason play. Now riding a four-game win streak, it seems as if the Orange is exactly where it wants to be.
The game versus the Great Danes begins at 7 p.m. It will be televised LIVE by Time Warner Sports 26 and webstreamed LIVE through Orange All Access right here at suathletics.com. The Syracuse ISP Radio Network's broadcast can be heard locally on 1260 AM and also through Orange All Access.
SU's 5-4 record includes hard-fought wins against then No. 6-ranked Princeton and No. 4-ranked Cornell. Last week, Coach John Desko’s team pulled out an important 13-12 overtime triumph on the road at Rutgers. Keys to the team’s turnaround include 1) the steady improvement of redshirt freshman goaltender Peter Coluccini, 2) the maturation of the defense, led by junior co-captain Steve Panarelli, and its ability to recognize and understand what opposing offense’s are trying to do, 3) the addition of sophomore Evan Brady into the lineup on defense, 4) the emergence of rookie midfielders Dan Hardy, Pat Perritt, Matt Abbott and Kenny Nims at a position that took a hit early in the season due to injury, 5) the aggressive and athletic play of defensive midfielders John Carrozza and Nathan Kenney, 6) the hustle and hard work of primary face-off man Jon Jerome to help win possessions and 7) the growing confidence and cohesiveness of the SU offense, led by three talented and dynamic attackmen in Brett Bucktooth, Mike Leveille and Joe Yevoli.
Albany comes into this contest with a 6-5 record, a 2-4 mark on the road. The Great Danes won their last two games against Yale (7-5) and Vermont (13-7). Their most impressive victory of the season was a 9-8 decision at No. 7 Massachusetts on March 14. They only lost to Johns Hopkins by two goals, 10-8, back on Feb. 25.
Frank Resetarits leads Albany in scoring with 45 points (33 goals). He is the fourth-leading point producer in the nation (4.09) and third-leading goal scorer in the country (3.00). Merrick Thomson can also put the ball in the cage as evidenced by his 23 goals. Brett Queener is the Great Danes’ starting goalie. He owns a .577 save percentage and a 9.86 goals against average. An added dimension to his game is that he likes to come out of the cage to advance the ball. Queener has scored two goals this season.
