Orange Put Conference Win Streak to the Test on Saturday

#14 SYRACUSE vs. #10 VIRGINIA
Game Details	Saturday, March 2 \| Carrier Dome \| 12 p.m.
Game Coverage	Live Coverage: Stats Watch: ESPNU \| WatchESPN Listen: Cuse.com \| ESPN 97.7 \| Syracuse Sports Network from Learfield IMG College TuneIn \| WAER Tickets: GET TICKETS \| Walk-ups welcome! Twitter: @CuseMLAX Instagram: @CuseMLAX Facebook: /CuseMLAX
Syracuse Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Game Notes
UVA Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Game Notes

THE GAME
- Syracuse welcomes its third-straight top-15 opponent to the Dome in No. 10 Virginia on Saturday.
- The game will be broadcast on ESPNU with Chris Cotter and Quint Kessenich on the call. Brian Higgins and Kyle Fetterly will broadcast the action on TK99/105, Cuse.com and the TuneIn App, while WAER will also carry the game.

PROMOTIONS CENTRAL
- Saturday will be Youth and Team Day, presented by Chick-Fil-A.
- Numerous area youth groups and teams will be in attendance after filling out the complimentary ticket form. If area youth groups would still like to attend, youth tickets cost just $10 when sold individually, with group ticket packages available to all games by contacting 888-DOME-TIX.

THE VIRGINIA SERIES
- Syracuse and UVA have squared off in 35 meetings and the series is nearly as close as can be.
- Syracuse leads the all-time series 18-17. The Orange have scored 452 goals, UVA has netted 451. The game has been decided by one goal on 16 occasions, six of which coming in overtime.
- The teams split the two meetings last season, with UVA's ACC Semifinal win snapping a four-game Syracuse win streak over the Hoos.
- Cuse has not lost back-to-back games against UVA since the 2009-10 seasons and hasn't been beaten by the Cavaliers in the Carrier Dome since 2009.

CONFERENCE KINGS
- Heading into Saturday's ACC opener, Syracuse owns a nine-game winning streak in league play in the nation's most difficult conference.
- Following its win over North Carolina in the 2018 ACC regular season finale, Syracuse extended its winning streak in regular season conference games to nine. Including the ACC Tournament, Syracuse is 11-3 in its last-14 games against ACC competition.
- 'Cuse was 4-0 in league play in each of the last-two seasons. The last time the Orange lost was against Notre Dame in the 2016 season. The streak is the second-longest nationally, trailing only Denver's 26-game conference winning streak dating back to 2013.
- Just 14 of the 54 players on the Orange's roster have ever experienced a regular season conference loss.
- Since joining the ACC in 2014, Syracuse is 14-7 in regular season conference play.
- For that dominance, Head Coach John Desko has become the first coach in the history of the league to win ACC Men's Lacrosse Coach of the Year in four-straight seasons. No other coach has done so even three times.

TEWAARATON WATCH
- Nick Mellen and Brendan Curry were both tabbed to the first Tewaaraton Award Watch List on Thursday night.
- The Orange duo are two-of-50 players represented on the initial watch list for the sport's most prestigious award.
- This is Mellen's second time on the Tewaaraton Award Watch List, with Curry being added for the first time this year.

SOLOMON'S GOING STREAKING
- Senior attackman Nate Solomon enters Sunday's game having registered a point in 20-straight games, dating back to the Colgate game of 2017.
- Solomon's point streak is the second-longest in the ACC, behind Virginia's Michael Kraus' 36-game streak, and ranks 15th nationally.
- He's the first Syracuse player to reach the 20-game mark with a point streak since Dylan Donahue went 55 games from 2013-2016.
- Loyola's Pat Spencer - who has scored a point in all-55 games of his career - is the nation's current active leader.

PORTER IS PROVEN
- Junior Drake Porter has been nothing but phenomenal in cage for the Orange thus far in his first season of starting.
- The Aurora, Ontario native ranks in the top-10 nationally in all-three major goalkeeping statistics (save pct.; saves per game; goals against average).
- He's tops in the ACC with a .627 save percentage, a mark that ranks sixth nationally. His 14.00 saves per game number ranks ninth nationally and is also tops in the ACC. He is also allowing just 8.41 goals against, which puts him second in the ACC and eighth nationally.
- His career-high 16 saves against Army were the most by a Syracuse goalie since Evan Molloy stopped 17 Hobart shots in 2017.

X-FACTOR
- The Orange have a solid 1-2 punch at the faceoff X in incumbent starter Danny Varello with the emergence of Jakob Phaup.
- Phaup has seen an uptick in action over the first three games of this season and has been solid, ranking fifth nationally in faceoff winning percentage. He leads the ACC as well, winning 73-percent of his restarts.
- Albeit an extremely limited sample size thus far (just 27-37), Phaup's number would be the best single-season mark in program history, currently held by Chris Cercy at .711 (253-356).
- Cuse has won the faceoff battle in 2-of-3 games thus far, but the Albany game was close as well (10-of-21), an upgrade at a spot where the Orange won just .482 percent of restarts last season.

A WIN AGAINST VIRGINIA WOULD...
- Be the program's 906th victory, second all-time behind Johns Hopkins.
- Improve SU's record to 60-22 since the start of the 2014 season
- Give John Desko his 247th career coaching win, fifth among active Division I coaches and sole possession of 18th all-time at the NCAA Division I level.
- Make the Orange 19-17 all-time against Virginia.
- Give 'Cuse its 10th-straight victory in a conference game. The Orange have not lost to a conference foe when it factored into ACC standings since the 2016 season.

SEEBOLD RAISES FUNDS
- Orange sophomore midfielder Owen Seebold asked for a unique birthday gift this year.
- Seebold's fater - Bob - who played on Syracuse's first NCAA Championship team was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis when Owen was in high school.
- In lieu of gifts for Seebold's 21st birthday, he asked family and friends to donate to Hope for a Cure - an organization dedicated to finding a cure for M.S.
-Seebold's promotion of the charity through his Facebook page and a feature on the ACC Network Extra broadcast generated over $8,000 in donations to the charity.

CUNNINGHAM IN THE CLASSROOM
- Redshirt senior captain Marcus Cunningham was one-of-three Syracuse student-athletes selected as an ACC Postgraduate Scholarship recipient.
- Cunningham, who earned his B.S. in Biology last May is currently pursuing an certificate of advanced study in global health.

Orange Put Conference Win Streak to the Test on Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Marcus Cunningham

Brendan Curry

Dylan Donahue

Nick Mellen

Evan Molloy

Jakob Phaup

Drake Porter

Owen Seebold

Nate Solomon

Danny Varello

Syracuse University Athletics