It's Playoff Time

#11 SYRACUSE at #7 LOYOLA \| NCAA FIRST ROUND
Game Details	Saturday, May 11 \| Ridley Athletic Complex \| 12 p.m.
Game Coverage	Live Coverage: Stats Watch: ESPNU \| WatchESPN Listen: Cuse.com \| TK99/105 \| Syracuse Sports Network from Learfield IMG College TuneIn \| WAER Twitter: @CuseMLAX Instagram: @CuseMLAX Facebook: /CuseMLAX
Syracuse Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Game Notes
Loyola Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Game Notes

THE GAME
- Syracuse plays Loyola in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Ridley Athletic Complex, marking the first true road game in the NCAA Tournament since 2012 for the Orange.
- The game will be broadcast on ESPNU with Anish Shroff 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.

THE LOYOLA SERIES
- In a series that dates back to 1967, 'Cuse and Loyola will square off for the first time in 10 years on Saturday, last meeting in 2009, a game the Orange won 14-13 at Loyola, before the completion of the Ridley Athletic Complex.
- This will be the fourth postseason meeting between the programs. Headlined by 'Cuse winning the 1990 NCAA title game, the teams also met in the 1997 and 1999 NCAA Quarterfinals. In the 1990 matchup, Greyhounds head coach Charley Toomey was the starting goalkeeper.
- Syracuse is 3-0 in the postseason against the Hounds.
- Overall, Syracuse is 19-5 against Loyola, including a 9-3 mark under Head Coach John Desko.

LORDS OF THE RING
- Syracuse is on its quest for a 12th NCAA Championship (and 16th national title, including four USILA championships).
- The Orange owns the some of the best marks in NCAA Tournament play by a number of metrics, including most NCAA Championships (11), highest winning percentage (.708), second most wins (68) and fourth most appearances (37).

TEN BELOW
- Syracuse has won 59-straight games when holding opponents to under 10 goals in a game.
- Since the calendar flipped to April, the Orange have not allowed double-digits, winning four-straight games by holding the opposition under 10.
- 39 of those 59 games have come since the start of the 2015 season, including a high of 11 in 2016. Syracuse has done so six times this year.
- The last time Syracuse failed to win when keeping its foe to single digits was on April 28, 2012, when the Orange fell at Notre Dame, 8-6.

MELLEN THE MAGICIAN
- Redshirt-junior Nick Mellen has made his opponents disappear this season, having not relinquished a goal to the man he's been guarding since the calendar flipped to April.
- Brendan Gleason at Notre Dame was the last attackman to score on Mellen, holding five-straight off the scoreboard.
- On the season, Mellen has allowed 0.85 goals per game, while his opponents are averaging 1.78 goals per game on the year. He's also let up a total of 2.15 points per game, while they average 3.5 on the year. The stats have come against some of the nation's best as well, guarding two of the top-15 scorers in points per game nationally.

DESKO IS THE MASTER OF MAY
- Head coach John Desko took over the program in 1999 and has guided the Orange to 20 NCAA Tournaments in his 21 seasons, including five NCAA Championships (2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009).
- Desko's clubs combine for an overall record of 34-14 in NCAA Tournament play, good for a .708 winning percentage, which is the fourth-best all-time of any coach who has coached 10 or more games.
- Desko is third all-time with five NCAA Championships, one behind predeccessor Roy Simmons Jr. and tied for third all-time with 34 NCAA Tournament wins with Simmons Jr. and John Danowski of Duke.

ORANGE IN BOUNCE-BACK GAMES
- Head coach John Desko has had tremendous succes in getting the Orange back on track following a loss.
- 'Cuse is 48-23 in games following a loss during a season under Desko (this record does not include the season opener following season-ending losses).
- Under Desko, 'Cuse has only had 12 "losing streaks" (two or more consecutive losses).

DESKO CLIMBING THE RANKS
-Desko enters the NCAA Tournament tied with legendary SU head coach Roy Simmons Sr. for second in Syracuse history and 17th in NCAA DI history at 253.
- The last win over Carolina moved him past former Maryland coach Jack Farber (251).
- He passed Avery Blake (Swathmore 1931-59, Penn 60-69) and Al Heagy (Maryland 1931-65) with his win over Johns Hopkins.
- Three of Syracuse's four coaches all-time now rank inside the top-17 in NCAA Division I wins.

SOLOMON'S GOING STREAKING
- Senior attackman Nate Solomon enters Saturday's game having registered a point in 30-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' 44-game streak, and ranks T-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 66 games of his career - is the nation's current active leader.

A WIN AGAINST LOYOLA WOULD...
- Be the program's 913th victory, second all-time behind Johns Hopkins.
- Improve SU's record to 67-27 since the start of the 2014 season.
- Give John Desko his 35th career win the NCAA Tournament.
- Send SU to the quarterfinals for the 15th time in Desko's 21 years as head coach.
- Give John Desko 254 career wins as head coach, passing Roy Simmons Sr. for the second most wins by a head coach in SU history.

#11 SYRACUSE at #7 LOYOLA \| NCAA FIRST ROUND
Game Details	Saturday, May 11 \| Ridley Athletic Complex \| 12 p.m.
Game Coverage	Live Coverage: Stats Watch: ESPNU \| WatchESPN Listen: Cuse.com \| TK99/105 \| Syracuse Sports Network from Learfield IMG College TuneIn \| WAER Twitter: @CuseMLAX Instagram: @CuseMLAX Facebook: /CuseMLAX
Syracuse Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Game Notes
Loyola Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Game Notes

Syracuse University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Dylan Donahue

Nick Mellen

Nate Solomon

Related Videos