Orange Opens Regular Season Sunday

#8 Syracuse (0-0) vs. Albany (0-0)
Details	Sunday, February 19 \| Syracuse, N.Y. \| 2 p.m. Carrier Dome \| Tickets \| Weather
Game Coverage	TV: Time Warner Cable Sports/SNY \| Radio: ESPN Radio 97.7 FM Orange All Access: Video \| Audio \| Live Stats Twitter: @Cuse
Syracuse Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Stats \| Notes
Albany Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Stats

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The eighth-ranked Orange (0-0), winners of the 2010 and 2011 BIG EAST regular-season championships, host America East foe Albany (0-0) Sunday, Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. in the Carrier Dome in the season opener for both teams. The clash is the second game of a Division I college lacrosse tripleheader at the Dome. Rutgers and Air Force start things off at 11 a.m. Hobart and Siena wrap up of the day at 5 p.m.

Tickets are available online at SUathletics.com, over the phone (1-888-DOMETIX), or in person at the Carrier Dome Box Office during normal business hours. Cost is $10 for adults and $5 for youth ages 12 and under. 'Cuse Kids Club members get in free with their membership card. Parking is $10.

The Syracuse-Albany game and the Hobart-Siena game will be televised on Time Warner Cable Sports and the Orange and Great Danes will also air on SportsNet New York (SNY). Fans can hear the action live on the radio on ESPN Radio 97.7 in Syracuse. Live stats and live video for all three games will be available on SUathletics.com (NOTE: Video of the Air Force-Rutgers game will not have audio).

Syracuse posted a 15-2 overall record in 2011 and made its 31st NCAA Tournament appearance, advancing to the quarterfinals before losing in overtime to eventual national runner-up Maryland. The Great Danes were 5-10 a year ago and did not win a conference game.

SEASON-OPENING SUCCESS
SU owns an all-time record of 74-18 (.804) in season-opening games. It is 33-9 in campaign starters since 1970 and has won 15 straight, including all 13 under head coach John Desko. The Orange defeated Denver (13-7) in last year's season opener.

COMETTI FACES FORMER MATES
Syracuse junior midfielder Luke Cometti is certainly familiar with the Albany program. Cometti played the 2009 and 2010 seasons for the Great Danes before deciding to transfer to Syracuse for the 2011-12 academic year. At Albany, Cometti tallied 11 goals and six assists in 21 career games. He was named to the 2009 America East Conference All-Rookie Team.

FAMILY AFFAIR
SU sophomore Matt Harris will not be the only Harris on the field Sunday. His younger brother, Kevin, is a rookie defenseman at Albany. Matt played in 16 games last season as a backup long-stick middie. Kevin was a 2011 first-team all-state selection in Illinois. The Harris brothers attended the Stevenson School.

PALASEK AND DESKO LEAD ATTACK
Veteran attackmen Tommy Palasek and Tim Desko combined for 36 goals and 21 assists in 2011. Palasek played every game last year, starting eight in place of Desko after Desko went down with an injury. He tallied 35 points and tied for the team assists lead with 18. Desko notched 16 goals and three assists in just 10 games and was named to the All-BIG EAST Second Team.

MEGILL ANCHORS ORANGE “D”
Junior defenseman Brian Megill is the only returning starter on close defense from last season. Voted the co-BIG EAST Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, Megill recorded 34 ground balls and led the team's close defenders with 27 caused turnovers. Megill has started all 32 games since his freshman year.

ORANGE MIDFIELD FEATURES UNFAMILIAR FACES
Several new names are penciled into this year's midfield rotation. Among them is junior captain JoJo Marasco, who started every game on attack last year. Marasco is SU's returning leader in both points (41) and goals (23) and he is expected to play more up top this year. Others new faces include redshirt freshmen Hakeem Lecky and Henry Schoonmaker, Cometti and Onondaga Community College product Matt Pratt.

Senior captain Bobby Eilers and redshirt junior Steve Ianzito are SU's top returning midfielder scorers from 2011. Both players notched eight points. Ianzito on five goals and three assists, and Eilers on eight goals, all of which came in the Orange's last 10 games.

NEW NETMINDERS
With the graduation of NCAA all-time wins and minutes played leader John Galloway, Syracuse will have a new goalie for the first time since Galloway stepped in as a freshman in 2008. The Orange have seven netminders on the roster vying to succeed him. Redshirt sophomore Matthew Lerman and true sophomore Dominic Lamolinara received the lion's share of playing time in the preseason. Lerman was Galloway's backup in 2011. He appeared in seven games and totaled eight saves. Lamolinara spent last season at Maryland before transferring to Syracuse in the fall of 2011. He played in three games and stopped three shots for the Terps.

SCOUTING THE GREAT DANES
Albany is coming off a 5-10 campaign and did not win an America East Conference game for the first time in its history. This season, the league's coaches picked the Great Danes to finish third in the conference standings behind favorite Hartford and Stony Brook.

Albany returns three of its top four point producers from last season. Senior attackman Joe Resetarits is the team's offensive leader. He paced the Great Danes in points (44) and goals (31) in 2011. Resetarits is complemented offensively by the the Thompson trio - brothers Miles and Lyle, and cousin Ty. Miles Thompson ranked second to Resetarits last year in points (41) and goals (29). Ty Thompson contributed 26 goals and 30 total points. Lyle Thompson, a freshman, was one of the top recruits in the nation coming out of nearby LaFayette High School. Miles and Lyle are the younger brothers of former SU midfielder Jeremy Thompson.

Sophomore Edmund Cathers, who started 14 of the team's 15 games a year ago in goal, is reportedly ineligible. Senior John Carroll and freshman Max Huber are the other goalies on the Albany roster. Carroll played in nine games last season with one start. He totaled 23 saves.

Head coach Scott Marr is entering his 12th season with the Great Danes. Marr owns an overall record of 90-79. Under his direction, Albany has won four America East titles and reached the NCAA quarterfinals in 2007. For his efforts, Marr was named the 2007 USILA Division I Coach of the Year.

THE SERIES WITH ALBANY
The Orange has won all nine meetings with the Great Danes. The two schools have played every season since 2004, including twice that year as SU and Albany met in the first round of the NCAA playoffs. All nine pairings have taken place at the Carrier Dome and SU has scored at least 10 goals in each contest. The 2005 and 2006 meetings were the most competitive with Syracuse emerging as one-goal victors both times.

UP NEXT
The Orange will host Patriot League opponent Army on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. Syracuse won last year's meeting, 11-9.

Syracuse University Athletics

Related News

Related Videos