Orange, Tar Heels Meet in Final Four

NCAA SEMIFINALS No. 5 Syracuse (19-2) vs. No. 1 North Carolina (22-1)
Game Details	Friday, Nov. 16 \| Norfolk, Va. \| 2 p.m. Powhatan Sports Complex \| Tickets
Game Coverage	NCAA Championship Central \| Bracket Live Stats Twitter: @Cuse \| #cusefh Facebook: /SUFieldHockey
Syracuse Links	Game Notes \| Roster \| Schedule \| Stats
UNC Links	Game Notes \| Roster \| Schedule \| Stats

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The No. 5 Syracuse field hockey team (19-2) heads to Norfolk, Va. this week to compete for the second time in program history at the NCAA Final Four. The Orange plays No. 1 North Carolina (22-1) in the national semifinals on Friday at 2 p.m. with the winner facing the winner of No. 2 Princeton (19-1) and No. 6 Maryland (18-5) for the NCAA title on Sunday at 1 p.m. All games will take place at Old Dominion University's L.R. Hill Sports Complex.

• BIG EAST Coach of the Year Ange Bradley's Orange is making its fifth-straight NCAA appearance and eighth in program history. The Orange's other Final Four appearance was in 2008.

• Syracuse, the BIG EAST regular season champion (6-0), defeated No. 16 Massachusetts (4-2) and No. 3 Penn State (5-2) in the first and second rounds at University Park, Pa.

• The Orange has faced two of the other Final Four teams this season, beating both for their only losses. SU won vs. current No. 1 North Carolina, 1-0, in OT on Sept. 1 and at No. 2 Princeton, 2-0, on Sept. 23. The Orange is 10-1 vs. ranked teams.

GAME COVERAGE

• All games will be webcast live on NCAA.com. Free live stats will also be available via NCAA.com. Links to both will be provided at SUAthletics.com.

• Fans can also follow the Orange on Twitter.com/cuse, the official Twitter home of Syracuse Athletics, or search #cusefh, as well as on Facebook at Facebook.com/SUfieldhockey.

SU IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

• The Orange is making its fifth straight NCAA appearance and eighth overall. It is now 9-7 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, including 7-4 under Ange Bradley.

• Syracuse has also made NCAA appearances in 1993, 1995, 2001, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. It has advanced to the quarterfinals in three straight seasons and five time overall, while making one Final Four appearance in 2008.

• SU went 1-1 last season, winning its first round game vs. Richmond, 2-0, before falling to host and eventual national champion Maryland in the second round, 3-2 in overtime.

• The Orange played at Penn State in the 2010 NCAA Tournament, beating the host Nittany Lions in the first round, 2-1 in overtime, before losing to Ohio State in the second round, 3-2 in overtime.

• The current Orange senior class is 5-3 with three second round appearances to go with this Final Four.

ORANGE CHAMPIONS

• Two victories for the Orange this week would capture Syracuse its first NCAA national championship in a women's team sport. Women's lacrosse came the closest most recently, reaching the national finals in 2012, losing to Northwestern. Field hockey reached the Final Four in 2008, losing to Wake Forest in the semifinals, 3-2.

• Syracuse's last national champion is also its most frequent - men's lacrosse. Its 2009 title was its 11th.

• In all, Syracuse has had 26 teams win national championships, 12 of which were NCAA titles (11 men's lacrosse, one men's basketball in 2003).

REGULAR SEASON SUCCESS

• Syracuse's 16-1 regular season record tied the program record for fewest losses with 2008, when SU went 18-1 before finishing 22-2 in the Final Four. 2012 is also the second-best winning percentage (.941) behind only 2008 (.947).

• The Orange started the season 12-0, the second-best start in program history.

• The last time SU started 12-0 was in 2008 when it went on to start 14-0 on the way to a BIG EAST Championship and NCAA Final Four appearance.

BRADLEY REACHES MILESTONE

• Head Coach Ange Bradley recorded her 100th win at Syracuse with a 4-1 victory vs. No. 13 Stanford on Oct. 12 in Amherst, Mass., reaching the milestone in just her 123rd game, making her the second-fastest in Syracuse history in any current varsity sport behind men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim (117 games) and ahead of the men's lacrosse coach John Desko (133 games).

• Now in her sixth season with the Orange, Bradley is currently 106-24 at Syracuse and 241-85-2 overall in her 16-year career.

ORANGE AT NO. 5

• Syracuse is ranked No. 5 this week in the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I Coaches Poll.

• The Orange was No. 3 for three straight weeks in the poll after spending the previous three weeks at No. 1.

TOP STREAK REACHES 53 WEEKS

• The Orange has now been ranked in the top 10 of the NFHCA poll for 53-straight weeks, dating back to Aug. 28, 2008.

• The Orange was ranked No. 1 for three weeks this season after spending three weeks at No. 2 and debuting at No. 7 in the preseason poll.

• Syracuse was No. 5 in the preseason poll in 2011 and spent nine of 11 weeks in that fifth position before finishing the season ranked No. 3 in the final poll.

VS. RANKED OPPONENTS

• Syracuse is 10-1 against ranked teams this season.

• Syracuse is 43-52 against ranked teams since 2007, but is an impressive 17-5 in its last 22. SU is 10-1 in 2012 and was 7-4 last season, including a 3-2 win over No. 4 Connecticut in the BIG EAST Championship game.

• SU has defeated each of the current top three teams in the country in RPI (UNC, Princeton, UConn).

• The only loss to a ranked team this season was to No. 5 UConn, 4-3 in the BIG EAST Championship.

• The Orange is 18-32 against top 10 teams since 2007.

ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR

• Syracuse reached this weekend by defeating No. 16 Massachusetts, 4-2, in the first round and No. 3 Penn State, 5-2, in the second round.

• Four goals by four different scorers led SU to a 4-2 victory over UMass last Saturday at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex. In a rematch of its lone regular season loss, 2-1 on Oct. 11, the Orange seized control of the game early, scoring three first-half goals and outshooting the Minutewomen, 20-1, in the opening period.

• Lauren Brooks, Kelsey Millman and Jordan Page scored the first-half goals and Stephanie Hussey scored early in the second half to give Syracuse a 4-0 lead before UMass got on the board with two late tallies by Thando Zono.

• Jordan Page scored two goals to lead the offense in SU's 5-2 win over the host Nittany Lions on Sunday. The defense, led by Leann Stiver's season-high 13 saves, fought off 15 Nittany Lion penalty corners, 11 of which came in the second half.

• Gillian Pinder, Liz McInerney and Iona Holloway also scored for SU as it won two NCAA games away from home in the same NCAA Tournament for the first time.

SERIES HISTORIES

• Syracuse is 1-3 all-time against North Carolina with the lone win being this season.

• The Orange is 5-11 all-time against Princeton and has won two in a row, this season (2-0) and last season (5-0 at Coyne Stadium).

• SU is 1-4 all-time against Maryland. The last meeting was a 2-1 OT loss to the Terps in the 2011 NCAA second round in College Park, Md.

SU KNOCKS OFF NO. 2 TAR HEELS

• Freshman Emma Russell scored off a penalty corner with 9:03 left in overtime to give No. 7 Syracuse a monumental 1-0 victory against No. 2 North Carolina on Sept. 1 at J.S. Coyne Stadium, running the Orange's home winning streak to 30 games.

• With the win, the Orange defeated its highest-ranked opponent since a 2-1 victory at No. 1 Maryland on Sept. 13, 2008.

• "It was such a monumental moment for our program," head coach Ange Bradley said. "This group of seniors has been working so hard throughout their careers and this is the first time they have gotten a win like this. It was an honor to have a program with the tradition of North Carolina at Coyne, and to get the result we wanted is just awesome."

• It is the first time the Tar Heels have been shut out since 2009, 1-0 vs. Maryland in the ACC Tournament.

ORANGE SLAYS NO. 3 TIGERS

• Leonie Geyer and Emma Russell scored second-half goals to lead No. 2 Syracuse to a 2-0 victory at No. 3 Princeton on Sept. 23 at Bedford Field as the Orange stayed undefeated on the season and beat its second top-three ranked opponent.

• The victory improved the Orange to 9-0 on the season and the loss was Princeton's first of the season, leaving Syracuse and Connecticut as the only unbeaten teams remaining in NCAA Division I.

• Senior goalkeeper Leann Stiver and the SU defense stymied the nation's top scoring offense and the nation's top scorer, Kathleen Sharkey (four shots). Stiver made six saves to earn her second-straight shutout.

Syracuse University Athletics

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