Syracuse and Siena will meet in first round

The Syracuse Orange (14-1), which has been named the No. 1 overall seed, will play  (13-4) in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

STREAKING ORANGE: The Orange has reeled off five straight wins, culminating in a 20-6 win over St. John’s in its regular season finale on Saturday. After struggling through the middle of the season, it’s safe to say that Syracuse’s offense has gotten going. During a five-game stretch from March 26 to April 12, the Orange offense was scoring only 7.2 goals per game, including just six goals in Syracuse’s only loss of the season to Cornell on April 12. Since then, the Orange has averaged 13.8 goals a game, including scoring 11 goals on Notre Dame, the nation’s top defense, which had been allowing fewer than eight goals a game coming in.

SCOUTING THE SAINTS: The Saints won the MAAC Championship, crushing Detroit, 12-3. The win gave the Saints 13 for the season, which was the single-season program record. Colin Clive and John Rogener, Joe Vaccari and Brendan Meehan were named to the MAAC All-Tournament team. Rogener and Clive led the way in the finals with three goals apiece. Clive was named MAAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player after scoring nine points during the tournament. The Saints have now won 12 of their last 14, and are ranked No. 20, the first time in program history that they have achieved a national ranking.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING: The Orange has faced Siena just once in lacrosse, in the first round of the 2009 NCAA tournament. It was Siena’s first (and only) appearance in the lacrosse postseason. The attack unit of Kenny Nims, Stephen Keogh and Cody Jamieson combined for seven goals and five assists in an 11-4 win. It was the first step of Syracuse’s path to the 2009 National Championship.

AWAITING THE WINNER: Should Syracuse win, it would face the winner of the North Carolina and Maryland game. The quarterfinals will be played on May 21 at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

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About Wes Cheng 2907 Articles
Wes has worked for Rivals.com covering the New York Knicks, as well as for Scout.com covering Syracuse athletics. Wes has also been a contributing writer for the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), for SportsNet New York (SNY) as a news desk writer covering all of New York professional sports, and reported on the NBA and MLB for the New York Sportscene. A native of Long Island, New York, Wes graduated from Syracuse University in 2005 with a degree in journalism. Contact him at wes[at]sujuiceonline.com.