No. 18 Orange Entertains No. 20 Penn On Senior Day
5/6/2006 11:08:08 AM | Women's Lacrosse
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - No. 18 Syracuse welcomes the No. 20 Quakers to the Carrier Dome on Sunday, May 7 at 1:00 p.m. on Senior Day. Melody Agnew, Caitlyn Dragon, Jen Kasel, Evelyn Long, and Meghan O'Connell will all play their final home game at the Loud House in the first-ever meeting between the two squads. The game can be viewed live via SU All-Access by clicking here.
Season Finale Features Penn At Dome On Senior Day
No. 18 Syracuse returns to the Carrier Dome for the first time in 25 days when No. 20 Pennsylvania visits the Orange on May 7 at 1:00 p.m. It is senior day at the Dome and all five seniors will be honored. Melody Agnew, Caitlyn Dragon, Jen Kasel, Evelyn Long, and Meghan O’Connell will all be playing in their last game at the Loud House.
This also marks the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Syracuse has an 11-12 record all-time against Ivy League schools, including a 5-5 mark against Cornell and a 1-2 record against Yale. SU topped the Bulldogs in the ECAC Championship game in 1999, 9-8, in New Haven.
Last Time Out
No. 7 Notre Dame scored with no time left in regulation to escape with an 11-10 victory against the No. 13 Orange at Moose Krause Stadium on April 29. Heather Ferguson found Meghan Murphy at the top of the circle and Murphy tallied the game-winner as time expired. Junior Gaddy Fortune led Syracuse with three goals in the game.
Junior Jill DePetris added a goal and two assists for the Orange and senior Jen Kasel was credited with 14 saves in a losing effort.
The Irish dominated Syracuse in draw controls, owning an 18-4 advantage in the game. In the first half, Notre Dame secured all 12 draws.
Pair Chasing History
Orange junior Gaddy Fortune and freshman Kathryn Rowan are both chasing the same record, and that is the single-season goals scored mark. Fortune’s ninth hat trick at Notre Dame gives her 46 this season, which is second all-time. Leigh-Ann Zimmer holds the record with 52 goals in 2004. Rowan has compiled 43 goals, which is tied for fourth in a single season. Her 53 points are seventh all-time in a single season, just four away from the second-place spot, held by Katrina Hable and Kim Wayne. Zimmer recorded a record 74 points in 2004.
In SU’s 18-8 victory at Rutgers, Rowan exploded for a season-best six goals. It was the most goals scored by an Orange woman this season and it was one goal short of the SU freshman record. The six goals were the most scored by an individual at Syracuse since 2004 and it was the most by a freshman since 1998, the first year of the program.
The Syracuse-Pennsylvania Series
This is the first-ever meeting between the Orange and the Quakers. Syracuse has an 11-12 record all-time against Ivy League schools, including a 5-5 mark against Cornell and a 1-2 record against Yale. SU topped the Bulldogs in the ECAC Championship game in 1999, 9-8, in New Haven.
Scouting The Quakers
Penn has shared a few common opponents with SU this season. The Quakers have hosted Northwestern as well and lost 17-8. They defeated Towson, 10-6, and lost at Cornell 12-4. They also took down Harvard at home, 15-4, and they lost to Dartmouth, 8-4, in New Hampshire. Rachel Manson leads the Quakers with 31 points on 20 goals and 11 assists. Ali Ryan is the leading goal scorer with 23, and Chrissy Muller leads the squad with 15 assists. She also has 16 goals for 31 points. Penn has two goalkeepers with significant playing time. Karrie Moore allows a mere 7.14 goals per game and has a save percentage of .453. Sarah axman allows 9.29 goals and owns a .441 save percentage.
Hope Floats
With a 9-6 overall record, the Syracuse Orange are on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament. However, if SU defeats Penn, its 10-6 record could sneak the Orange into the postseason. In 2002 and 2003, Syracuse also finished with a 10-6 mark and made the Tournament both seasons. This season, the Orange has had a pair of two-game losing streaks. Oddly enough, the only other times that has occurred is also in 2002 and 2003.
What Goes Around...
Syracuse was on the losing end of a dramatic ending at Notre Dame on April 29 in Indiana. Heather Ferguson found Meghan Murphy at the top of the circle and Murphy tallied the game-winner as time expired. It was the second game of the season decided in the last second. On Feb. 27 against No. 3 Dartmouth at the Carrier Dome, Caitlyn Dragon slipped a shot past the Big Green goalkeeper with one second left in overtime. Both games ended with an 11-10 score.
Devastating Duo
Junior Gaddy Fortune and freshman Kathryn Rowan have become one of the most prolific scoring combinations in Syracuse history. The two have combined for 89 tallies, which is the second-best of any two student-athletes in the same season. The only other pair to have more goals is Leigh-Ann Zimmer and Monica Joines, who combined for 92 goals in 2004.
Join The Club
Senior Jen Kasel became just the second Orange student-athlete to reach the 400 saves plateau at Cornell on April 19. She was credited with nine saves against the Big Red, which gave her exactly 400 for her career. The only other SU student-athlete to reach 400 saves is the all-time leader in the category, Carla Gigon, who amassed 475 saves in her career.
New York State of Mind
Since the program’s start in 1998, Syracuse has proven itself as the the top lacrosse team in the state of New York. Against in-state opponents, the Orange owns a 21-5 record, with all five losses coming against Cornell. SU and the Big Red are even in the all-time series, 5-5. Syracuse is undefeated against Albany, Binghamton, Colgate, and Siena. SU has beaten Colgate the most with an 9-0 record against them.
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 58-15 all-time record at home and 12 of its losses have come against top-10 teams.
Northwestern Draws Largest Home Crowd
The Syracuse-Northwestern matchup drew the largest attendance, on record, to the Carrier Dome for a women’s lacrosse game that was not part of a doubleheader with the men’s team. A total of 830 fans flowed through the turnstiles to catch the Orange battle the defending national champion and top-ranked Wildcats. The crowd was not disappointed as Syracuse gave the Wildcats all it could handle before losing, 13-11, the closest SU has ever come to knocking off a No. 1 team.
Defending The Kasel
Senior Jen Kasel is cementing her place in Syracuse history this season. She has upped her career saves total to 414 and she is just the second student-athlete in Orange history to eclipse the 400-saves plateau. In her most recent outing at Notre Dame on April 29, she saved 14 shots, one off of her season high.
Prior to the Northwestern game, Kasel saved 10 shots in three-straight games. She saved 15 shots against Towson on March 19 to record her season-best. She followed that up with 11 saves against UConn and then 10 against Albany.
Kasel has stopped 10 or more shots in three-straight games twice before, once in 2005 and again in 2004. In 2004, Kasel ended the season saving 10 or more shots in seven of the Orange’s last eight games. That stretch included a career-best of four-consecutive games with 10 or more saves, the last four games of the season.
Stingy Defense
The SU defense went four-straight games without allowing 10 goals. 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.
The defense’s most recent stinginess came against Albany on March 28. The defense held Albany scoreless for a span of 28:15, the second-longest span this season. SU scored seven goals during that stretch to take an insurmountable 8-1 lead against the Great Danes.
The defense also 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 third-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.
Fire Starter
Syracuse scored quickly in each half against Albany on March 28. Gaddy Fortune started the scoring when she put a shot in the net 40 seconds into the game. That was the quickest goal scored by SU in a game since Caitlyn Dragon notched one 28 seconds in at Harvard on March 16 of last season.
Dragon started the scoring in the second half just 25 seconds in against the Great Danes. That was the fastest goal scored in any half since April 30, 2005, when Dragon notched a goal 22 seconds into the second half against Notre Dame.
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 hosted its longest homestand in program history in March with seven-straight home games at the Carrier Dome. The Orange went 5-2 in that stretch and 5-3 overall in the month of March.
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 of 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.
Good Fortune
Junior Gaddy Fortune has provided the Orange with a lot offense this season. So far, she has totaled a team-best 46 goals and three assists and her 49 points are second on the team. In 15 games played last year, she compiled just 10 goals. She has also totaled 25 ground balls, nine draw controls, and 13 caused turnovers.
Against Loyola on April 8, Fortune took the second half by storm. After taking just one shot in the first half, Fortune fired eight shots in the second and scored five times, which tied her career-high. In a 5-0 run that brought the Orange within one at 10-9, she contributed with two goals. Down 12-9 with 5:06 left, Fortune scored the next three Syracuse goals over a span of 1:50 to force overtime.
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 18 goals and 24 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 is second on the team with nine 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 20 caused turnovers and 50 ground balls. She posted her first hat trick of the season when she scored three times against Binghamton on March 7. She has totaled 12 goals on the year. DePetris has started every game since her arrival on campus, beginning all 47 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.
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 seventh 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 38 in her career.
Ain’t Nothin’ But A "D" Thing
The Orange defense has proved strong over the course of the first 13 games. The back line is allowing 8.56 goals per game and has caused 137 of the 221 turnovers it has forced in 12 games, which comes out to 66 percent. The defense has also been strong on free position shots, as opponents have scored just 30 times on 97 attempts, a 31 percent clip. The SU scoring defense ranks 15th in the country.
The defense has stifled some of its opponents on the offensive end. Against Binghamton on March 7, the Orange held Binghamton scoreless in the second half, the only time that has happened this year. SU only allowed the Bearcats two goals in the first half of that game. The back line has also held Harvard and Towson to two-goal halves. In the second half against UConn, Syracuse allowed just one goal and then carried that momentum to the first half against Albany when it also allowed only one goal.
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.
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 414 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.
Home Games To Be Streamed Live On suathletics.com All-Access
Syracuse University Director of Athletics Dr. Daryl Gross announced 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.
