Balanced Offense Leads SU On Senior Day

Saturday, May 2

Syracuse, NY

2 p.m.

Syracuse University

#19 Colgate

Matt Abbott moved into Syracuse's top 10 in career ground balls on Senior Day against Colgate.

5/2/2009 4:18:20 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score | Quotes | Photos

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The top-ranked Orange sent this year's senior class out victorious with a 13-7 win on Senior Day against No. 19 Colgate (9-6) on Saturday, May 2 at the Carrier Dome. With the victory, the Orange concluded the regular season with a 12-2 record for the second consecutive season.

The Orange never trailed in the contest and boasted 11 different goal scorers Saturday. Senior Dan Hardy and redshirt freshman Tim Desko led the way with two goals each. Senior Kenny Nims paced the offense with five points overall, including four assists.

Syracuse dominated the pace of play from the start, outshooting the Raiders, 15-3, in the first quarter and grabbing a 4-1 lead. The Orange scored three unassisted goals to start the game, two of which came off Colgate turnovers. A Raider miscue led to Saturday's first goal, scored by sophomore Jovan Miller 4:19 into the contest. Five minutes later, with SU ahead 2-0, classmate Joel White intercepted a pass during a Colgate clear and tossed it into the empty net to push the margin to 3-0. A goal by sophomore Jeff Gilbert gave the Orange a four-goal cushion before Rob Bosco got Colgate on the board with an unassisted score with 45 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

The roles reversed in the second 15 minutes as Colgate held the ball for long stretches on offense and outshot Syracuse, 13-3, in the stanza. However, the Orange scored on two of its three shots, including a laser by Hardy that found the mark from 12 yards out with less than a second to play to give the hosts a 6-2 lead at the half.

The Orange extended its lead to 9-2 lead with three straight goals to begin the third quarter. Junior Cody Jamieson opened the second-half scoring with the first goal of his Orange career at the 8:21 mark of the third when he bulled his way in close and beat Colgate goalkeeper Tim Harrington with a low shot. Goals by Hardy and sophomore Stephen Keogh followed before a score by Colgate's Michael Crown cut the margin to six, 9-3, with 4:49 to go in the period.

Nims' only goal of the day pushed the SU advantage back to seven, 10-3, at the 3:26 mark of the third quarter. But Colgate scored four straight times, including a man-up goal by Crown with White and senior defenseman Sid Smith both in the penalty box, to close the gap to 10-7. Patriot League Player of the Year Brandon Corp was critical in the Colgate spurt, assisting on the Raiders' first three goals in the run and scoring the fourth. However, that was as close as the Raiders got as Syracuse scored the game's final three goals to secure the win.

Corp led the Raiders with four points (1g, 3a). Nick Monastero was Colgate's only multi-goal scorer. He finished with two tallies. Kevin Colleluori also finished with two points (1g, 1a) for the visitors.

Smith marked Corp for the majority of the game and shut out the nation's leading scorer in the first half. Sophomore defenseman John Lade also had a solid day for Syracuse leading the club with five ground balls and limiting Colleluori, Colgate's second-leading scorer, to just the two points.

The win was the Orange's fifth in the row and gives the team some momentum heading into the postseason. Syracuse will learn its NCAA Tournament fate on Sunday, May 3 when the 16-team field for this year's championship is revealed live on ESPNU at 9 p.m.

Game Notes: Syracuse wore white jerseys with orange shorts for the first time this season … Saturday's game was the 200th men's lacrosse game contested at the Carrier Dome … The Orange is 176-24 all-time at the Dome … Nims extended his point-scoring streak to 30 games … Senior Matt Abbott collected four ground balls and now ranks 10th on the Orange's career ground ball list with 198 … The victory ended Colgate's two-game winning streak in the series … Senior Jake Moulton scored the first goal of his career in the fourth quarter ... Desko tied his career best with three points (2g, 1a) ... Syracuse improved to 9-0 this season when scoring the game's first goal.