Between the Lines

Trivia Question (Number One Edition): In light of the next game on the schedule, prior to March's number one vs. number one victory against Virginia, when was the last time the men's lacrosse team knocked off the nation's top ranked team?

Your Questions: Want them answered? Step one, ask. Your tweets always welcome @BrianHigginsSU.

This week: What isn't happening this week? The number one team in the country is in town. The Big East title will be decided. The number one seed in the NCAA tournament will likely be determined. Somehow that's all happening Saturday night in the Carrier Dome from 7:00 to a little after 9:00 when Notre Dame comes calling.

The main event Saturday night pits one defense that statistically is the nation's best against another that most fancy as actually the best in the country. The Irish lead the country currently giving up fewer than six goals a game. The Orange led the nation last year, and defensively are putting up even better numbers this season despite ranking currently just sixth.

“Stats are just stats,” Brian Megill said. “People choose to look at them or people choose not to. We'll see who's the number one defense when it comes out. Personally I think that we have a really good defense and they have a really good defense, but I think in the end we're going to come out on top and our defense is going to hold them.”

The backbone of said defense is senior goalie John Galloway. Currently a giant cardboard cutout of John in the form of a faux EA sports video game cover is staked out in the atrium of the Schine Student Center advertising Saturday's game. “I actually haven't seen that,” the non cardboard version said. “A couple of my buddies actually sent a picture to me on my cell phone the other day. But I haven't seen it, so I'm going to have to stop by before the game and check it out and hopefully try to snag it before someone else takes it.”

One final thought on Saturday's game. The first official NCAA RPI of the season, which is so integral in seeding the tournament, came out Tuesday. Lo and behold the Big East, in just its second year as a lacrosse conference, is sitting pretty with three of the top four teams. The Orange checked in at number one, followed by Notre Dame, and then most surprisingly up and coming Villanova was fourth. It looks like the path to this year's title will be running straight through the newest lacrosse conference out there.

Cuse Awards: The Fifth Annual Cuse Awards to be precise. Our yearly awards show for all of the coaches and student-athletes is Tuesday night at 8:00. A quick browse around suathletics.com will show you what awards are up for grabs and how to vote for the winners. Be sure to check it out locally Tuesday night on Time Warner channels 13 and 813 or right here on Orange All Access.

Higgo's Heroes: The Moody's. I told the tale of Rick Moody and his wife Sandra back during women's basketball season. But after four years in our midst the two Southerners are taking their indefinable charm back where it came from. Their current journey will return them home to spend time with Sandra's mom. Earlier this week while packing up his office, Rick told me that Sandra has always followed his basketball opportunities without question and it's time for him to return the favor.

I think I can safely speak for all that have come in contact with the Moody's here in Syracuse, that we'll miss having them around. I'm not sure who's on deck to replace the drawl and Southern wisdom they brought north, but hopefully someone is prepared to fill the void. To the Moody's, best wishes in your future life adventures and Roll Tide, you're this week's heroes.

Tastes from the Road (A Redux): There's something to be said for exploring new culinary opportunities when in a different city. There's also something to be said for finding a great place and sticking with it. As you may recall from the March 11th edition of this column, when in Hartford I go to Agave and eat fish tacos.

Usually the women's Big East basketball tournament is my yearly opportunity to scarf as many as possible. But this year the lacrosse gods were smiling. When the schedule popped up with Syracuse vs. Rutgers at Rentschler Field on April 23^rd, it might as well have said Brian drags some of the travelling party to Agave on the 22^nd for fish tacos.

I've lost count over the years of the sheer volume of out of staters I've started down the path of enjoying themselves some Agave. So if the good fish taco providers in Hartford are listening, hint hint(free tacos) hint, the next time Syracuse is in town I'll be back.

Tales from the Road: The fog. As far as non Carrier Dome venues for lacrosse go, Gillette Stadium and Rentschler Field were both excellent the last two weeks. Their one issue is that in between their New England locales and Syracuse sits the Berkshires. The last two weeks on the drive back said mountain pass, as it often is, was packed with dense thick fog. Kudos to our color guy and among other things road chauffer, Kyle Fetterly, for getting us through the fog and back to Syracuse in one piece.

Trivia Answer: 2004. Before this year, Syracuse's last win against number one came in the 2004 Final Four against Johns Hopkins. After getting demolished that March 17-5 by the also then top ranked Blue Jays at Homewood (incidentally that was the first game I called for the Syracuse Sports Network, it's a wonder Coach Desko didn't ban me for life), Syracuse returned the favor 15-9 at the Final Four in Baltimore. The coaching staff spent the whole preceding month installing a new zone defense knowing that they might lose before playing Hopkins, but they weren't going to win the 2004 national title without eventually going through the Blue Jays.

It's somewhat surprising that's the last win over number one, but opportunities have been limited. The Orange lost to Hopkins, Virginia and Cornell respectively in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Then Syracuse did not face a top ranked team in 2008, 2009 or 2010. What's the saying? In order to be the best, you have to beat the best. The less stated part is when you are the best, you can't play yourself.

Upcoming Schedule: Number one's in town and they're not wearing Orange. There's a good enough reason to go to the game already. Everything that could be on the line in a regular season game is when Notre Dame comes to town Saturday night. We'd love for you to break out the grill and tailgate the afternoon away before the game, mercifully the current forecast looks beautiful Saturday. If you can't make it to the Dome we've got you covered on TK99 and Orange All Access. We'll hear from both Joel White and John Desko on Orange Pregame starting at 6:30.

Syracuse University Athletics

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