Best year in sports history — 2012-13 Syracuse year in Review

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Orange women showing energy out of the gate

Each Friday during the summer, The Juice Online will be looking back to some of the biggest story lines in the 2012-13 Syracuse sports year. This week, we take a look back at Syracuse’s best year in athletics history.

If you were a Syracuse sports fan (and by reading this blog, you probably are), then this was a great year for you. Syracuse had its best year in school history across the board, placing four programs in the Final Four, and having many of its other sports have unprecedented years.

The Orange finished in the top 40 in the NACDA Directors’ Cup, its highest ranking ever, scoring a school-record 555 points.

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SU women’s hoops earned an NCAA berth

“This was the greatest finish across the board in SU Athletic history,” Director of Athletics Daryl Gross said. “We could not be more proud of our outstanding coaches and student-athletes for our historic performance in the Directors’ Cup.”

Syracuse’s major programs, men’s basketball, football and lacrosse all enjoyed successful years. The basketball team reached the Final Four for only the fifth time in program history. Football captured the Pinstripe Bowl in a blowout of West Virginia. And lacrosse made it all the way to the title game before losing to Duke.

Here were some of the other highlights from the 2012-13 year:

  • Women’s field hockey: Final Four
  • Women’s lacrosse: Final Four
  • Men’s soccer: NCAA berth
  • Men’s cross country: NCAA berth
  • Women’s basketball: NCAA berth
  • Men’s track & field: Donald Pollitt, All-American, NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships
  • Women’s track & field: Lauren Penney, All-American, NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships

Syracuse also reached new heights in the Capital One Cup, with the men finishing eighth and the women tying for 21st.

» More Year in Review: Lacrosse returns to championship weekend

WHAT WE SAID:

Besides Duke, the other ACC schools in the Top 25 were North Carolina (4th), Florida State (15th), and Virginia (17th). Accordingly, we have a feeling that the team the ‘Cuse really starts to develop a multi-sport rivalry with moving forward is fellow private school Duke. Not only the obvious basketball matchup, but now with three-straight years and counting of lacrosse meetings guaranteed, along with the fact the Blue Devils are a Top 10 NACDA school, it will only fuel the competitiveness. — Brad Bierman

WHAT THEY SAID:

Listen, we here at TNIAAM have made fun of DOCTOR Gross for his ability to seemingly be in the right place at the right time during photo sessions, or his and the athletic department’s NFL-protect-the-shield mentality when it comes to public relations at SU; but he and his staff have done one heck of a job building up all of Syracuse athletics. Here’s to hoping for a better finish next year. — Sean Keeley, Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician

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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.