Orange Watch: The goal for NCAA No. 1 seed Syracuse lacrosse – get to Philly

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It has been an incredible year in Syracuse athletics

Item: The men’s and women’s lacrosse Final Fours are both in the Philly metro area, what a Memorial Day weekend for Orange lax fans if both teams, off winning Big East championships, can advance that far.

First things first, of course, each team needs a couple of victories before moving on to the sport’s biggest stage when the men move into NFL stadiums (68,532 seat Lincoln Financial Field) , and the women into college football stadiums (12,500 seat Villanova Stadium) for the Final Four events, and with parity in college lacrosse the rule for men, and with undefeated Maryland being chased by the other four top-ranked women’s teams (Syracuse is fifth ranked), getting there will be an accomplishment.

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Syracuse won its second straight Big East lacrosse championship and was named the top seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament

» Related: Syracuse defeats Villanova for Big East championship

The men’s team is simply playing its best lacrosse at the right time. Suburb defense, a goalie seeing the ball, and offensive production from so many sources that there always seems to be someone to pick up the slack, resulting in the end sprint of the season-long marathon pulling out the top seed of the 16 team field and hosting NEC surprise champion Bryant (8-10) in the NCAA first round on Sun. May 12 at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPNU).

That thought of being the No. 1 seed would not have been likely just 19 days ago when the ‘Cuse got edged by upstate rival Hobart for the Kraus-Simmons Trophy. But by playing its annual competitive schedule which resulted in more top five and top 20 victories than any other post-season team, combined with winning its conference championship, the Orange is for now the team on top of a very close bunch.

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About Brad Bierman 848 Articles
Now in his sixth decade of covering SU sports, Brad was sports director of WSYR radio for eight years into the early 1990s, then wrote the Orange Watch column for The Big Orange/The Juice print publication for 18 years. A Syracuse University graduate, Brad currently runs his own media consulting business in the Philadelphia suburbs. Follow him on Twitter @BradBierman.