Moving On: Third-Seeded Orange Cruises to 20-3 Win Against Canisius in NCAA Opening-Round Contest

Sunday, May 11

Syracuse, NY

7:30 p.m.

Syracuse University

Canisius

Senior Mike Leveille became the 15th player in SU history to record 200 points with four goals and two assists versus Canisius.

Moving On: Third-Seeded Orange Cruises to 20-3 Win Against Canisius in NCAA Opening-Round Contest

5/11/2008 9:53:45 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Senior captain Mike Leveille (Delmar, N.Y.) became the 15^th player in SU history to record 200 career points in leading the third-seeded Orange (13-2) to a 20-3 victory against Canisius (10-6) on Sunday, May 11 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Carrier Dome. Leveille finished with a game-high six points (4g, 2a) and now has 202 points (125g, 77a) in his career.

With the victory, the Orange improved to 11-3 in first-round NCAA games and will make its 27^th trip to the tournament quarterfinals where it will meet sixth-seeded Notre Dame Sunday, May 18 at Cornell’s Schoellkopf Field. Game time is 3 p.m.

The Irish moved on by beating Colgate in overtime earlier Sunday afternoon. Top-seeded Duke will take on Ohio State in the site’s other quarterfinal matchup.

Tickets for the quarterfinal round are on sale at www.cornellbigredtickets.com or in person at the Cornell Box Office. They are $10 for adults and $5 for children and students. All tickets are general admission. No quarterfinal tickets will be sold at the Carrier Dome Box Office.

The Syracuse offense blitzed Canisius, scoring early and often Sunday. The Orange registered three scores in the first five minutes of the contest and jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first period. Juniors Dan Hardy (Tully, N.Y.), Kenny Nims (Watertown, N.Y.) and Greg Niewieroski (Watertown, N.Y.) each had two points in the quarter. The scoring spurt featured consecutive man-down goals by Niewieroski and Josh Amidon (Lafayette, N.Y.). They represented SU’s first man-down scores of the season and Amidon’s layup was the result of a ground-ball pickup and fastbreak started by Nims.

The Orange tacked on two more goals at the start of the second period before Canisius’ Adam Jones stopped the SU surge with an unassisted goal at 8:06 mark of the second quarter to make it 8-1. After an unassisted goal by junior Pat Perritt (Holtsville, N.Y.) pushed the lead back to eight, the Golden Griffins got a pair of tallies from Michael Blocho to close the gap to 9-3 at halftime.

Syracuse eliminated any hope of Canisius comeback, scoring seven goals in third quarter to claim a 16-3 margin heading into the final period, and it out-scored the Golden Griffins 11-0 overall in the second half to record the win. Leveille had four points in the third quarter, including an unassisted score at the 10:54 mark to reach the 200-point plateau. Freshmen Stephen Keogh (Toronto, Ontario), Joel White (Cortland, N.Y.) and Amidon recorded fourth-period goals to produce the final score. Keogh converted twice in the final stanza.

Overall, 11 SU players found the cage Sunday and seven had multiple goals. Nims totaled five points on two goals and three assists. Hardy had four points (2g, 2a) and his two helpers matched his career best. Amidon and Keogh’s two goals also equaled their career highs. Rookie Jeff Gilbert (Liverpool, N.Y.) made his NCAA debut Sunday and assisted on the final goal of the game to record his first collegiate point.

In addition to recording his 200^th point, Leveille also climbed the Orange’s all-time goals and assists lists against the Golden Griffins. He is now tied with Rob Kavovit for 12^th in career goals (125) and he passed Josh Coffman, Tom Marechek and Brad Kotz to move into 13^th on the school’s all-time assists ledger (77).

Senior faceoff specialist Danny Brennan (Farmingdale, N.Y.) started at the X for the Orange and won all four of his draws. He has 436 faceoff wins in his career, one shy of Chris Bickel for second on the school’s all-time list.

Rookie John Galloway (Syracuse, N.Y.) had eight saves in his first NCAA game and tied the school record for the fewest goals allowed in an NCAA game. He matched the feat of Jason Gebhardt, who held Army to three scores in 1996 . Galloway played the first three quarters before being relieved by Al Cavalieri (Lathrup Village, Mich.). Cavalieri played the fourth quarter and made three saves.

Canisius’ starting goalkeeper Chris Courteau allowed 12 goals and finished with four saves in 36:34 of action. He was removed in favor of Bryan Jack who stopped three shots and allowed eight tallies in the final 23:26.

Syracuse’s 17-goal margin of victory was its highest of the season and it marked the largest margin of victory for the Orange since 1994 when it defeated Cornell by 17 (22-5). It was SU's largest margin of victory in NCAA play since defeating Michigan State, 28-7, in the opening round of the 1991 NCAA Championship.

The victory improved the Orange's all-time NCAA playoff record in the Dome to 21-1, and Canisius' three goals is tied for the fewest ever scored against SU in the postseason.

Next week’s matchup with the Irish will be the third meeting all-time between the two schools and the second in the postseason. Syracuse defeated Notre Dame, 12-5, in the 2001 NCAA semifinals.