Syracuse finished preseason play by defeating Maryland 11-9 and then losing to Canisius 11-10 in the following game.
WHAT HAPPENED: Freshman Kevin Rice scored his second goal with 16 seconds left to cap a furious Syracuse rally against Maryland. The goal gave Syracuse its first lead of the day and proved to be eventual game winner. The Orange went into halftime trailing 6-2 and was down by two with 3:08 remaining. But the Orange would score four unanswered goals from there, as Scott Loy, Bobby Eilers, Rice and Ricky Buhr all found the back of the net.
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WHAT IT MEANS: The Orange has some work to do on faceoffs. Although SU won the last five faceoffs of the game and went six for eight in the fourth quarter, the Orange also started the game by losing eight of 13. As for the goalies, Matt Lerman started the game, and could only stop two of the eight shots he faced. Former Terp Dom Lamolinara played in the second half, tallying five saves.
STAR GAZING: Matt Pratt had three assists while Eilers had a pair of goals and an assist to lead SU.
WHAT’S NEXT: Syracuse opens its season on Sun., Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. against Albany in the Carrier Dome. TV: TWCS/SNY.