Terps Await Orange In NCAA Quarters

NCAA Quarterfinals - #1 Syracuse (15-1) vs. #8 Maryland (11-4)
Game Details	Sunday, May 22 \| Foxboro, Mass. \| 12 p.m. Gillette Stadium \| Tickets \| Weather
Game Coverage	TV: ESPNU \| Radio: WTKW 99.5 FM Orange All Access: Audio \| Live Stats Twitter: @suorangeempire
Syracuse Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Stats \| Guide \| Notes
Maryland Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Stats \| Guide \| Notes
NCAA Lacrosse Links	News \| Championship Info \| Bracket

FOXBORO, Mass. - The top-seeded Orange (15-1) continues its quest for its 12th NCAA Championship on Sunday, May 22 when it meets ACC champion Maryland (11-4) at 12 p.m. at Gillette Stadium in the quarterfinal round. On the line is one of the four tickets to championship weekend and the Division I national semifinals.

Syracuse advanced to the quarterfinals for the 29th time in school history with a 10-4 victory versus Siena at the Carrier Dome in the tournament's opening round. The Terrapins moved on with a 13-6 triumph over No. 8 seed North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Sunday's game will mark the second quarterfinal meeting between the two schools in the last three years. The Orange defeated the Terps in the 2009 quarters, 11-6, on its way to the national championship.

The game will be televised live nationally on ESPNU. Fans can also hear the action live on the radio home of the Orange - TK 99 (99.5 FM). Live streaming audio is available on SUathletics.com as part of Orange All-Access.

NOT COMPLETELY UNFAMILIAR
Maryland is the only team remaining in the 2011 tournament field that SU didn't face in the regular season, but that doesn't mean the Orange is unfamiliar with the Terps. SU and Maryland scrimmaged one another on Feb. 10 at the Carrier Dome and the Orange emerged victorious, 11-9. Sophomore JoJo Marasco had four points (2g, 2a) in the contest. Senior Stephen Keogh and redshirt junior Tim Desko each had three goals.

ORANGE IN THE NCAA QUARTERFINALS
Syracuse is 26-2 all-time in NCAA quarterfinal games. The Orange has won its 25 quarterfinal-round pairings dating back to 1983 and hasn't lost a quarterfinal contest since 1981 versus North Carolina. Syracuse head coach John Desko is 9-0 during his career in NCAA quarterfinal games.

FOND MEMORIES
The Orange is 5-0 all-time at Gillette Stadium, including a 4-0 record in NCAA Tournament contests. The Orange won both the 2008 and 2009 national titles at the facility. Syracuse defeated Virginia, 12-11, in two overtimes in the 2008 NCAA semifinals before beating Johns Hopkins, 13-10, to win its NCAA-record 10th national championship. The following year, the Orange routed Duke in the national semifinals then pulled off a remarkable come-from-behind victory against Cornell to repeat as NCAA champions. Earlier this season, the Orange beat Providence, 13-3, at Gillette in the opening game of the New England Lacrosse Classic.

ORANGE CAN TIE SEASON WINS RECORD
With one more victory, the 2011 Orange will tie the school record for wins (16). Syracuse is currently 15-1 heading into its NCAA quarterfinal matchup with Maryland. The Orange has won 16 games three times previously, including the 2008 and 2009 national championship seasons. SU also recorded 16 wins in 1922.

LAST TIME OUT
Syracuse used a 6-0 run to fuel a 10-4 victory over MAAC champion Siena in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on May 15. The Orange held the Saints scoreless for 34:49 during that stretch to allow the offense to take control of the game. Junior Tommy Palasek paced SU with five points, including a career-high four assists. Sophomore JoJo Marasco tallied three goals in first career NCAA Tournament contest.

THE ERASER
Senior defenseman John Lade has made his mark as maybe the nation's best cover defender. Every week the 2010 USILA First Team All-American is tasked with marking the opposition's best attackman. Often times he shuts the them down. Below is a look at some prominent attackmen Lade has matched with and their stats against Syracuse this season:

Alex Demopoulos, Denver - 0 goals, 1 assist
Jeremy Boltus, Army - 1 goal, 2 assists
Steele Stanwick, Virginia - 1 goal, 2 assists
Chris Boland, Johns Hopkins - 0 goals, 0 assists
Kevin Cunningham, Villanova - 1 goal, 0 assists
Sean Rogers, Notre Dame - 1 goal, 0 assists
Bryan Neufeld, Siena * - 0 goals, 0 assists

* - Lade held Neufeld without a point for the first time in his career, ending Neufeld's 52-game point streak, which had been the longest in the nation.

MINISTERS OF DEFENSE
The Orange currently ranks fourth nationally in scoring defense (7.0 goals per game). Syracuse has held 12 of its 15 opponents to fewer than 10 goals, including the last six. The 2011 season marks the fourth straight year that the Orange is on pace to allow less than eight goals per game and it's the third consecutive season Syracuse is on pace to finish in the top five nationally in defense.

SU LEADS NATION IN MAN-DOWN "D"
Syracuse leads all of Division I in man-down defense efficiency. The Orange has killed 80.7 percent of its opponents' extra-man opportunities (47-58) and has allowed just 11 man-up goals in 2011. SU's last seven opponents are 2-for-24 (0.83) with the man advantage.

SCOUTING THE TERPS
Maryland won the 2011 ACC Championship under first-year coach John Tillman. The Terps defeated North Carolina and Duke to win the league title before falling to Colgate in its regular-season finale, 10-8. Last weekend, Maryland was the only unseeded team to advance out of the tournament's opening round, beating North Carolina again, 13-6.

The Maryland offense is an unselfish bunch. Seven players have at least 10 goals and 105 of the team's 168 goals have been assisted. Overall, the Terps rank second nationally in assists per game at 7.0. Attackman Ryan Young is the team's primary feeder. He leads Maryland in assists (24) and points (43). Grant Catalino and Joe Cummings are often on the receiving end of Young's passes. They lead Maryland with 25 goals each.

Defensively, Maryland boasts one of the best LSM duos in the country. Brian Farrell (7g, 6a) and Jesse Bernhardt (2g, 2a) love to go from defense to offense. Starting close defensman Brett Schmidt has 47 ground balls and a team-best 21 caused turnovers. Redshirt freshman goalie Niko Amato won the starting job in the preseason and has turned in a solid year. Amato has 135 saves and a .574 save percentage.

The Terps have benefitted from the success of Curtis Holmes at the faceoff X. Holmes has won 188 of his 303 attempts (.620) to propel Maryland to a .609 team faceoff winning percentage.

THE SERIES
Maryland holds the advantage in the all-time series, 8-6, on the strength of seven consecutive victories from 1931 to 1979. The Orange has the edge in recent matchups, winning five of the last six between the two schools. Each of the last five pairings have come during postseason, and Syracuse holds the overall advantage in NCAA Tournament meetings, 4-2.

UP NEXT
The winner of the Syracuse-Maryland matchup will face the winner of Notre Dame-Duke on Saturday, May 28 in the NCAA semifinals at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

Syracuse University Athletics

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