Albany Upsets Syracuse in Double OT

For the Albany Great Danes, their season couldn’t have started any better; beating Syracuse. The Danes went into the game as underdogs against a historically great Syracuse team.

From the beginning of the game, Albany set a serious tone, going up 4-0 to start. Perhaps the biggest reason for the Danes’ win; the Thompsons. The three Thompsons combined for 10 of Albany’s 16 goals and accounted for a total 18 points. The game came down to a thrilling end, finishing in double overtime with a behind the back goal from Miles Thompson to end with a 16-15 score. Despite the score, Syracuse won the majority of the statistic-categories; out-shooting Albany 47-45, 36-32 in groundballs and winning 20 of 35 face-offs.

Lyle Thompson led the Danes with 8 total points behind two goals and six assists, five of which went to either his brother Miles or cousin Ty.  With a team high 5 goals, Ty Thompson was also very much felt by the Syracuse defense. Lyle’s brother Miles scored 3 goals and dished two assists as the Thompson family absolutely took over the game. Four other players scored for the Danes; Ryan Feuerstein, Will Fuller, Derrick Eccles and Will Stenberg. Goalie Blaze Riorden (possibly the coolest first name ever) made 13 saves for the Great Danes.

The loss against Albany was the first ever for the Syracuse Orange, who was led by senior JoJo Morasco with 8 total points (3 goals, 5 assists.) Morasco fed Dylan Donahue in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 15 and send it to overtime. Donahue finished with three goals for the Orange, tying Morasco for the team best. Goalie Bobby Wardwell had a tough day, making 7 saves for Syracuse.  11 different players scored goal for Syracuse including Morasco, Donahue, Brian Megill, Luke Commetti, Kevin Rice, Matt Walters, Ryan Barber, Scott Loy, Billy Ward, Derek Maltz, and Henry Schoonmaker.

Next up for Albany, they take their 1-0 record to Drexel to face the 0-1 Dragons. For the Orange, they’ll try to win their first game of the year against Army at home in Syracuse.