Syracuse University
#16 Army
Orange Hosts Army In NCAA First Round
5/14/2010 2:30:36 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Tickets | Listen Live | Gametracker | Game Notes | Bracket
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Second-ranked Syracuse (13-1), the two-time defending national champions, received the No. 2 seed in the 2010 NCAA Championship and will begin postseason play against Patriot League champion #16 Army (10-5) on Sunday, May 16. The Orange and Black Knights will square off at 7:30 p.m. at the Carrier Dome in the final game of the first round.
Sunday's clash is a rematch of a Feb. 28 regular-season encounter won by the Orange, 12-7. Syracuse earned the tournament's second seed on the strength of a 13-1 regular season and the Orange is currently riding an 11-game winning streak. The Black Knights are making their first trip to the postseason since 2005. They are 10-5 overall.
Tickets for the game are $10 for adults and $5 for youth 12 and under and available online at SUathletics.com, over the phone (1-888-DOMETIX), or in person at the Carrier Dome Box Office. Parking is $10 in the surface lots surrounding the Dome.
The game will be televised live nationally in its entirety on ESPN Classic. Due to a weather delay in the North Carolina-Delaware game, the Syracuse-Army game will be joined in progress on ESPNU following the conclusion of the Tar Heels and Blue Hens.
Fans can also hear the action live on the radio home of the Orange - TK 99 (99.5 FM). Live streaming audio is available on SUathletics.com as part of Orange All-Access.
FAMILIAR TERRITORY
The NCAA Tournament is familiar territory for the Orange. This is SU'S 30th trip to the postseason, the fourth-most NCAA appearances by any Division I program and it enters the 2010 tournament with a 61-18 postseason record. It's 61 tournament victories is the second-most behind Johns Hopkins and SU owns the all-time best postseason winning percentage at .772. The Orange has the most NCAA titles (11) of any Division I program and has reached the NCAA championship game 16 times.
NO. 2 SEED SUITS ORANGE WELL
This is the seventh time Syracuse has been seeded second in the postseason. The Orange owns a 15-3 record all-time when serving as the No. 2 seed, including winning the 1983, 2002 and 2009 national championships. Syracuse won its 11th NCAA title last year as the No. 2 seed with a 10-9 overtime win against Cornell at Gillette Stadium.
WHITE NAMED A TEWAARATON TROPHY FINALIST
Junior defensive midfielder Joel White has been picked as one of the five finalists for the 2010 Tewaaraton Trophy, which will be presented to the nation's top lacrosse player. White joins Ken Clausen (Virginia), Curtis Dickson (Delaware), Ned Crotty (Duke) and Kevin Crowley of Stony Brook as finalists for college lacrosse's most prestigious award.
The Tewaaraton Trophy has been presented to the national player of the year since 2001 and will be handed out on June 3 at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. This is the third straight year the Orange has had a finalist for the award. Matt Abbott was one of the final five in 2009 and Mike Leveille took home the trophy following the 2008 season.
ORANGE DOMINATES BIG EAST AWARDS
Syracuse had eight players recognized when the BIG EAST announced its inaugural men's lacrosse awards and all-conference teams on May 14. Overall, Syracuse placed seven players on the 14-man All-BIG EAST Team. Senior Chris Daniello and junior John Galloway took home individual awards. Daniello was named the BIG EAST Attack Player of the Year and Galloway was tabbed the BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year. In addition, junior Jeremy Thompson (specialty player), White (longstick midfielder), senior Cody Jamieson (at-large), junior John Lade (at-large) and junior Jovan Miller (at-large) joined the pair on the all-conference first team.
Junior Stephen Keogh and Thompson were voted to the All-BIG EAST Second Team as at-large selections.
DESKO OWNS HIGHEST NCAA TOURNAMENT WINNING PERCENTAGE
Head coach John Desko took over the program in 1999 and has guided the Orange to 11 NCAA Tournaments in 12 seasons and five NCAA titles (2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009). Desko's clubs are 27-5 in the NCAA playoffs, good for an .844 winning percentage. That mark is best among all head coaches that have coached at least 10 postseason games. Legendary Johns Hopkins mentor Henry Ciccarone is second with a .750 (18-6) winning percentage.
SCOUTING THE BLACK KNIGHTS
Army comes into the Carrier Dome on a roll having won its last seven games, including victories over Bucknell (9-7) and Navy (11-8), to win the Patriot League title and earn the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Close games have been a staple of the Black Knights' season. Army has played seven one-goal games this year, winning four, and has been involved in four overtime games in which it is 2-2.
Junior Jeremy Boltus, a native of Baldwinsville (N.Y.), is an All-Patriot League First Team performer and the team's primary offensive weapon. He is seventh in the nation in points per game (4.2) and leads the club in scoring (63 points) and assists (37). Boltus is complemented by 2010 conference rookie of the year Garrett Thul, who leads the Black Knights with 38 goals. Senior Tyler Seymour (29 points), junior Rob McCallion (22 points) and sophomore Sean O'Sullivan (21 points) round out the list of Army 20-point scorers.
The Black Knight's also boast the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year in Tully (N.Y.) native Bill Henderson. The 6-3 junior has 39 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers this year. Henderson's younger brother, Tim, is a sophomore LSM and earned all-league first-team laurels after collecting 48 ground balls and causing 28 turnovers. The Hendersons lead an Army defensive unit that boasts a team goals-against average of 9.17. Junior goaltender Tom Palesky has started all 15 games in the cage. He has 175 saves on the year, 21 of which came against Syracuse in the first meeting between the two teams on Feb. 28.
THE SYRACUSE-ARMY SERIES
Army leads the all-time series, 38-19. Army dominated the rivalry's early years, but has beaten the Orange just three times since 1980. Syracuse has won 14 of the last 15 meetings dating back to 1984, including a 12-7 win at the Dome earlier this season. Syracuse has won the only two postseason meetings between the clubs. The Orange defeated the Black Knights, 11-9, in the 1984 NCAA semifinals at the Carrier Dome and posted a 12-3 win in the first round of the 1996 NCAA Tournament in a game that was contested at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, N.Y.
