Syracuse will wrap up its 2016 regular season when it hosts Colgate at the Carrier Dome in one final tuneup before the NCAA Tournament. Here is a look a the game:
BUILDING FOR 2017: Colgate may have found a spark plug for next season. In his first career start, sophomore attackman Joe Delaney scored five goals to lead the Raiders past Lafayette 14-9 in its Patriot League finale. It was the highest individual single-game goal total for Colgate this season, and its first win since a 7-6 decision against Hobart on March 8. “We are really banged up and as we say all the time it’s the next man up,” Colgate head coach Mike Murphy said after the game. “We started the week of practice and said we were going to give some guys a chance, so moving Joe Delaney to his natural high school position of attack and he played well with the five goals.” It improved Colgate to 4-9 in what has been a rebuilding season following its 2015 season, in which the Raiders made the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in school history.
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SCOUTING THE RAIDERS: Eight different players on Colgate have 10 points or more this season, headlined by freshman Sam Cleveland, who leads the way with 28 (15g, 13a). The best part for the Raiders is that only two of them (Tyler Rigo, Cam Williams) are seniors. Another underclassmen, sophomore attackman Anthony Abbadessa, is second on the team with 20 points (15g, 5a).
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING: Syracuse leads the all-time series 45-11-1. The last time these two teams faced each other was in the 2015 season, with the Orange narrowly winning a 9-7 contest in Hamilton, NY. Senior midfielder Nicky Galasso scored two late goals to break a 7-7 tie in the fourth quarter to finish with a hat trick.
GAME INFORMATION: May 7, 2016 at 1 p.m. at the Carrier Dome. TV: ESPN3.
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