.jpg&height=300&type=webp)
Men's Lacrosse with Chance to Avenge Last Year's NCAA Tournament Loss
4/26/2006 10:08:30 PM | Men's Lacrosse
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Red-hot Syracuse plays host to No. 11-ranked Massachusetts at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 29, at the Carrier Dome. The game will be televised LIVE by Time Warner Sports 26 and webstreamed LIVE by Orange All Access. The Syracuse ISP Radio Network's broadcast can be heard locally at 1260 AM and can also be heard through the internet via Orange All Access right here at suathletics.com.
With five-straight wins and a No. 9 national ranking, Syracuse (6-4) is one of the hottest teams in the country. The Orange guaranteed itself at least a .500 record when the regular season ends. It has two quality wins against Princeton and Cornell and has won its last two games in overtime. Last Friday, SU nearly squandered a six-goal lead, but survived against a feisty Albany squad in overtime, 14-13. Senior attackman Brett Bucktooth scored the game-winning goal with 2:20 remaining in the extra four-minute session. It was his career-high fifth goal of the game. Bucktooth, who leads the Orange this season with 22 goals, has totaled 14 goals in Syracuse’s last four games. He has tallied at least three goals in victories against Princeton, Cornell, Rutgers and Albany.
It won’t be hard for the Orange to get up for this game. SU lost its last two outings of the year in 2005 to Massachusetts, both decided by a single goal, and both played at Garber Field in Amherst. In the final regular-season game for SU, the Minutemen won a 14-13 overtime decision thanks to a rebound goal by Jeff Zywicki. Two weeks later in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Sean Morris ended up with the game-winning goal in a 16-15 affair that ended the Orange’s 22-year final four streak. It was the first time Syracuse lost a first-round playoff game since 1981.
An added incentive will be the Senior Day festivities in place for 15 members of the Orange lacrosse program. Those who will be honored before the game include: Jon Bone, Brett Bucktooth, Brian Crockett, Zack Fields, John Gallagher, Katie Hatch (team manager), Nathan Kenney, Kieran Murphy, Timothy Raschdorf, Greg Rommel, Andrew Sullivan, Thomas Theodorakis, Ed Warszycki, John Wright and Joe Yevoli.
UMass captured a dramatic victory against Fairfield Tuesday night to improve its season record to 9-3, 4-2 in the ECAC. The No. 11-ranked Minutemen scored three goals in the final 1:03 - all in a 29-second span - to defeat the Stags, 7-6, at Garber Field. Senior captain Jake Deane scored the game-winning goal with 34 seconds left after Sean Morris had tied the game with 49 seconds left. Junior Brian Jacovina began the scoring run at the 1:03 mark.
Syracuse leads the all-time series with Massachusetts, 25-7. The Minutemen are 0-11 playing at the Carrier Dome. The closest they came was 10-9 in overtime back in 1996.
