SU LACROSSE RETURNS TO BIG EAST PLAY SUNDAY AT RUTGERS

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 2 Syracuse (9-1, 2-0) returns to BIG EAST play on Sunday, April 18 with a 6 p.m. clash against Rutgers (5-5, 1-1) at Yurcak Field. It’s the first of four straight conference games for the Orange to close the regular season. Syracuse has won seven in a row, including an electrifying 8-7 triumph at Cornell Tuesday. Rutgers was also in action Tuesday, losing at Princeton, 10-8.

Sunday’s game will be televised live nationally on ESPNU. Fans can also hear the action live on the radio home of the Orange – TK 99 (99.5 FM). Live streaming audio of the radio broadcast is available on SUathletics.com as part of Orange All-Access.

THOMPSON CRACKS SEASON TOP 10 IN FACEOFF WINNING PERCENTAGE
Junior Jeremy Thompson (Nedrow, N.Y.) is currently sixth on the Orange’s season record list for faceoff winning percentage (min. 100 attempts). He is 65-for-101 (.644) at the faceoff X this year and he’s won better than 50 percent of his attempts in every game this season. Chris Cercy set the school season record in 2000, winning slightly better than 71 percent of his draws. Cercy is the only player in Syracuse history to finish with a season mark higher than 70 percent.

GALLOWAY JOINS 40-WIN CLUB
Junior goalie John Galloway (Syracuse, N.Y.) became the 15th Division I goalie in NCAA history to win 40 games on April 13 at Cornell. Galloway is 40-5 since 2008. He’s currently tied with Mike Federico (Johns Hopkins), Matt Palumb (Syracuse), Joey Kemp (Notre Dame) and Brian Carcaterra (Johns Hopkins) for 11th on the Division I career wins list. Galloway’s 40 career victories are the most of any active Division I netminder. Princeton’s Scott Bacigalupo is the all-time leader with 51 wins for the Tigers from 1991-94.

SYRACUSE VERSUS THE BIG EAST
Syracuse is 61-12 all-time against the other six members of the BIG EAST, including a 27-5 record under head coach John Desko. Syracuse is 15-4 against Georgetown; 3-0 versus Notre Dame; 1-0 against Providence; 37-8 versus Rutgers; 2-0 versus St. John’s and 3-0 against Villanova. The Orange has won 12 in a row against current BIG EAST teams since losing to Georgetown (10-8) in 2006. Syracuse notched a 15-12 win over the Hoyas earlier this season in its inaugural BIG EAST Conference game. It also drubbed Villanova, 20-6.

SCOUTING THE SCARLET KNIGHTS
Rutgers began the year 5-2, but has hit a rough patch lately. The Scarlet Knights have dropped their last three decisions to fall to 5-5 overall. Rutgers hasn’t won in the month of April. The last victory for head coach Jim Stagnitta and his team was on March 27 when the Scarlet Knights defeated Notre Dame (10-8) in its BIG EAST Conference opener.

Senior midfielder Justin Pennington is the engine that drives the Scarlet Knights. A preseason All-BIG EAST performer, Pennington leads Rutgers in goals (20), assists (12) and points (32). He also lists third on the club with 25 ground balls. Attackman Kory Kelly and midfielder Gerhard Buehning are tied for second on the squad with 19 goals. No other Rutgers player has more than nine goals.

Jacob Fradkin is the only Rutgers defender to start every game. He has 20 ground balls and leads the Scarlet Knights with 16 caused turnovers. Against Princeton, senior Sean Hover and junior Brian Shemesh joined Fradkin in the starting lineup. Goalies Rudy Butler and Billy Olin have shared time in the cage this season. Butler has seven appearances with six starts. He’s made 37 saves and owns an 8.08 goals-against average. Olin has played in six contests, starting four. He has 28 saves and a 9.72 goals-against average. Olin was between the pipes for all 60 minutes Tuesday at Princeton.

THE SYRACUSE-RUTGERS SERIES
Syracuse and Rutgers have played at least once every season since 1979. The Orange owns a dominating 37-8 lead in the series thanks in large part to a 20-game series winning streak from 1956 to 1995. Overall, the Orange is 14-6 in road games against the Scarlet Knights. The Orange has won the last five games in the series and has defeated Rutgers by an aggregate score of 79-39 in those five contests.

*************************************
Mike Morrison
Asst. Director of Athletic Communications
Syracuse University
Manley Field House
Syracuse, NY 13244
Ph: 315-443-2608
Fax: 315-443-3405
www.suathletics.com

Syracuse University: New York’s College Team

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WASHINGTON, D.C. -  Georgetown tied a season-high with six goals in a quarter and junior Scott Kocis (Huntington, N.Y./Huntington) recorded his second-straight hat trick as the 17th-ranked Hoyas posted a 15-7 win over Rutgers in a key ECAC matchup in front of 931 fans at a sun-soaked Multi-Sport Field Saturday afternoon.

It was the fourth win in the last five games and the fifth in the last seven games for Georgetown, who improves to 7-6 overall and 3-3 in the ECAC.  Rutgers falls to 4-10 overall and 2-4 in the league.

Eleven different players scored goals for Georgetown and 17 different players finished with at least one point as the Hoyas posted their highest score since beating Delaware, 18-10, in the fourth game of the 2007 season.  The Hoyas jumped out to a 6-2 lead after the first quarter, led 8-2 at the break and 10-3 after three quarters before taking a 15-4 lead in the fourth quarter, the team’s biggest lead this season.

It did not appear to be Georgetown’s day in the early minutes.  Junior Craig Dowd (East Northport, N.Y./Northport) gave the Hoyas a 1-0 lead at 13:41, but Rutgers responded immediately, two goals from Tad Stanwick giving the Scarlet Knights a 2-1 at 10:25.  Georgetown, however, would score nine-straight goals to open a 10-2 lead and held Rutgers without a score until there was 2:52 left in the third quarter – a scoreless stretch of 37:33.

Senior Jake Samperton (Bethesda, Md./Landon) scored off a Dowd assist to tie the game at 2-all in the first quarter, and the Hoyas scored four more times – two from Kocis and one apiece from junior Rickey Mirabito (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Forks) and senior Chris Taylor (Mercer Island, Wash./Mercer Island) – to take a 6-2 lead.

Kocis scored his third goal of the day with 10:08 to play before the half, giving the Hoyas a 7-2 lead.  Dowd picked up his third point of the day, and his second assist, when he fed junior Eric Reinhardt (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) for a score with 7:48 to play in the second quarter.

Samperton scored his second goal of the game – off an assist from junior Chris Nixon (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) – four minutes into the third quarter and the lead grew to 10-2 when Mirabito assisted junior Chris Schuville (Lloyd Harbor, N.Y./Cold Spring Harbor) with 3:16 to play.  Justin Pennington from Rutgers scored with 2:52 to play in the third quarter to end the scoreless streak.

Rutgers pulled to within 11-4 on a Pennington man-up goal early in the fourth quarter, but the Hoyas responded with five-straight goals to open a 15-4 lead.  Freshman Gerry Reilly (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) scored his first career goal at 7:30, senior Stoddie Nibley (Bethesda, Md./Landon) scored his second career goal at 4:46, freshman Francis McDonough (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) notched his first career score at 3:33 and sophomore David Shriver (Timonium, Md./Boys’ Latin) closed out the scoring at 2:13, with an assist from sophomore Jon Schoen (Darien, Conn./Darien).

The Hoyas won 14-of-25 face-off attempts, with senior Michael Shotwell (Fairfax, Va./St. Stephens-St. Agnes) capturing 10-of-15 and senior Dan Vinson (Pleasant Hill, Calif./DeLaSalle) winning 4-of-6 attempts.  Shotwell added a team-high seven ground balls.  Junior goalie Jack Davis (Glen Ridge, N.J./Glen Ridge) had another solid day in net, making 11 saves.

Georgetown held a 44-33 advantage in shots and won the ground ball battle, 32-29.

The Hoyas close out the regular season next Saturday, May 2, hosting ECAC rival Penn State.  The game is slated to face-off at noon and it will air on a tape-delayed basis on Verizon FiOS.

-30-
mex

ORANGE DEFENSE KEYS 10-3 WIN AGAINST RUTGERS

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The fifth-ranked Orange men’s lacrosse team received a dominating performance from its defense and cruised to a 10-3 win against Rutgers in front of 5,112 fans at the Carrier Dome on Saturday, April 11. The three goals allowed by the Orange matched its season low. The Orange also limited Providence to three goals in the season opener on Feb. 15.

With the victory, Syracuse improved to 9-2 overall and 7-1 at home this season. Rutgers is now 4-8.

Syracuse shut out the Scarlet Knights in the first half and kept them off the scoreboard for 31:42 to start the game before Justin Pennington scored Rutgers’ first goal with 13:18 remaining in the third period. However by that time, Syracuse led 6-0 and was well on its way to the triumph.

The scoring drought marked the second time this season the Orange defense held an opponent without a goal for more than 30 minutes, a feat it also achieved against the Friars.

SU goalie John Galloway (Syracuse, N.Y.) was on his game from the start and finished with eight saves in three quarters of action. The sophomore had six saves in the first half, including two early stops on Jeff Rommel and Pennington. Junior Al Cavalieri (Lathrup Village, Mich.) played the fourth quarter and made four saves.

SU’s stingy defense served as a spark for the offense as two of its five goals in the first half were the result of caused turnovers.

Ahead 1-0, the Orange extended its advantage to two after a vicious hit by senior defenseman #Sid Smith# resulted in a turnover that led to a transition goal by junior Chris Daniello (Cross River, N.Y.) with 5:03 left in the opening quarter. Another miscue by Rutgers led to SU’s third goal as sophomore long pole Joel White (Cortland, N.Y.) intercepted a pass, raced across midfield and dumped the ball in to classmate Stephen Keogh (Toronto, Ontario) for an easy score to push the hosts’ lead to 3-0 with 5:51 to go in the first half.

For White it was just the beginning of his offensive contribution. A little over three minutes later, he gave the Orange a 4-0 lead when he tried to thread a pass to Keogh, however, Keogh moved his stick and the ball zipped right past Rutgers goalie Billy Olin and into the cage. A Kenny Nims (Watertown, N.Y.) goal with four seconds left in the quarter extended the SU lead to 5-0 at the half.

Syracuse increased its lead to six as Daniello opened the second half with an unassisted goal, and the Orange outscored the Scarlet Knights, 4-1, overall in the third quarter to claim a 9-1 lead and seal the victory.

Offensively, Keogh and Daniello both had hat tricks for the second straight game. Daniello’s three goals equaled his personal best. Nims also finished with three points (1g, 2a) on the day to extend his scoring streak to 27 games.

Midfielder Gerhard Buehning notched the last two goals of the game to pace Rutgers. Olin finished with seven saves in a little more than 52 minutes of action in goal. Backup Peter Pantages played the remainder of the contest and had two saves.

Syracuse dominated the Scarlet Knights in the faceoff circle Saturday, winning 10 of the game’s 14 draws, including seven of the eight faceoffs in the second half. Junior Gavin Jenkinson (Stuart, Fla.) paced the Orange at the X, going 7-for-9 (.778).

The Orange returns to action on Friday, April 17 with a 7 p.m. match against Albany at the Carrier Dome. The game will be televised live in Central New York on Time Warner 26.

Game Notes: The Orange improved to 15-1 all-time against the Scarlet Knights in the Carrier Dome … SU has won the last five meetings with the Scarlet Knights … SU improved to 7-0 this season when scoring the game’s first goal … The contest marked White’s first career multi-point game … The last time the Orange shut out a team for an entire half was on April 26, 2008 versus Massachusetts.

*************************************
Mike Morrison
Asst. Director of Athletic Communications
Syracuse University
Manley Field House
Syracuse, NY 13244
Ph: 315-443-2608
Fax: 315-443-2076
www.suathletics.com

Syracuse University: New York’s College Team