Orange and Great Danes Set for Top-12 Battle in the Dome

#6 SYRACUSE vs. #12 ALBANY
Details	Sunday, Feb. 21 \| Carrier Dome \| 4 p.m.
Game Coverage	TV: TWCS/ESPN3 \| Radio: WTKW 99.5 FM (Syracuse) Cuse.com: Listen \| WatchESPN.com: Watch Tickets: Buy Tickets Twitter: @Cuse, @CuseMLAX
Syracuse Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Notes
Albany Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Notes

SYRACUSE vs. ALBANY
- The sixth-ranked Orange hosts No. 12 Albany on Sunday, Feb. 21 at the Carrier Dome, extending their annual matchup for the 13th-straight season.
- The game will be broadcast on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel, with Mark Larson and Dale Drypolcher on the call. The game will also be carried on TK99, with Matt Park and Kyle Fetterly on the call as well as WAER broadcasting.
- Syracuse was 13-3 last season and earned the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the team's 32nd NCAA appearance in the last 33 seasons.
- Syracuse enters the game 1-0 after defeating Siena 18-5 in the season opener. This is the first game of 2016 for the Great Danes, who finished 16-3 last season.

THE ALBANY SERIES
- SU leads the all-time series with Albany 12-1, with all-13 prior matchups played inside the Carrier Dome.
- The game has been decided in overtime in two of the last-three meetings, with the Great Danes picking up their only win of the series on Feb. 17, 2013 in two overtimes, and the Orange responding with a
- Four matchups between the teams have been decided by one goal.
- The games have also been for the most part high scoring affairs, Syracuse is averaging 15.6 goals per game all-time against the Great Danes.

VERSUS THE MAAC
- Syracuse is 7-0 all-time against the seven current members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
- In addition to its 4-0 mark versus Siena, the Orange has beaten Canisius twice and defeated Marist in the NCAA Tournament opener last season.
- Syracuse has never faced Detroit, Monmouth, Manhattan or Quinnipiac.

KEEPING IT 100
- This is the 100th anniversary season of Syracuse men's lacrosse, which began play in 1916 under head coach Laurie Cox.
- Syracuse has only had four head coaches in the 100-year span (Laurie Cox, Roy Simmons Sr., Roy Simmons Jr. and John Desko).
- To celebrate the 100 years, each game will be broken down into a different era, and the Carrier Dome will feature multiple in-game elements to honor that tradition. Today's game will be the first-of-two 'Roy Simmons Sr. Eras' celebrating the 1931-1950 seasons where the Simmons Sr. continued the success of the program, desipte a three-year span where the program was disbanded due to World War II.
- The Orange will also have other celebrations throughout the season, highlighted by inviting all former players back to be celebrated by the community on April 1, in conjunction with the Notre Dame game on April 2.
- Syracuse will also celebrate an all-century team, to be voted on by the fans, later in the season.

POLL POSITION
- The Orange enter this weekend ranked No. 6 in the USILA Poll, and No. 5 in the Maverik/Cascade Media Poll. Albany is ranked 12th in both.
- Syracuse has appeared in 42 consecutive USILA polls. The last time the Orange was not ranked was April 30, 2012.
- Overall, Syracuse has been ranked in 182 of the 185 USILA polls that have been released since 2000 and 400 of the 429 polls since the USILA began its national rankings in 1973.
- The Orange appeared in 272 straight polls from April 10, 1978 to April 30, 2007.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
- Syracuse finished 9-1 in 2015 versus non-conference opponents. The Orange's only loss to a non-ACC team came in the NCAA quarterfinals, 16-15, versus Johns Hopkins.
- Since joining the ACC, the Orange is 18-2 versus non-conference opponents, including a perfect 18-0 mark in regular-season, non-league contests.
- The time Syracuse lost a non-conference, regular-season game was on April 16, 2013 to Hobart by the score of 13-12.

MELLEN DOMINATES DEBUT
- Freshman defender Nick Mellen became the first true freshman to start a season opener on defense for the Orange since Brian Megill in 2010.
- Mellen caused four turnovers and picked up six ground balls in the contest.
- He won ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors for his performance, with Dylan Donahue winning the ACC Offensive Player of the Week award.

DONAHUE STREAKING
- By scoring the first goal of the season opener, Dylan Donahue extended the second-longest goal-scoring streak in the country. He has a goal in 26 consecutive games. The last time he failed to score was March 22, 2014 at Duke.
- Donhue has 73 goals during the streak, which started on March 29, 2014 versus Notre Dame, and the Orange is 21-5 is those 26 contests.
- Ryan Brown of Johns Hopkins owns the longest active streak in Division I lacrosse. Brown has a goal in 35 straight contests.

ANOTHER DONAHUE STREAK
- Dylan Donahue carries a point streak of 40 straight games into the 2016 campaign, the longest in the nation.
- The streak dates back to April 27, 2013 against Notre Dame. Donahue has 155 points (104 goals, 51 assists) during the stretch.
- The last time Donahue failed to find the scoring column was on April 20, 2013 at Georgetown.
- He has a point in 50 of his 53 career games.

Faceoff time for Ssunday's contest is slated for 4 p.m. Tickets are available at Cuse.com/Tickets, by visiting the Carrier Dome Box Office, or by calling 1-888-DOMETIX.

Orange and Great Danes Set for Top-12 Battle in the Dome

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Dylan Donahue

Nick Mellen

Syracuse University Athletics