Achieving 100 in nearly anything is worth celebrating. Whether a person turns 100-years-old, or someone gets 100 wins, or someone gets 100% on a test, the number is a very magical one. For Syracuse, they turn 100 years old since first fielding a team back in 1916, and they will celebrate it all year long. It started in the fall with the team getting these chrome helmets:
And there will certainly be more surprises throughout the season, and hopefully a national championship to cap off the centennial celebration.
But to get there, the Orange will have to play games and win those games. They start year number 100 on Saturday in the cozy confines of the Carrier Dome as they host in-state rival Siena.
After last season’s early exit in the NCAA Quarterfinals to archrival Johns Hopkins, the Orange will have to replace many players, especially on offense. Gone are Kevin Rice and Randy Staats on attack, and the entire first midfield unit of Henry Schoonmaker, Hakeem Lecky, and Nicky Galasso. Redshirt-senior Dylan Donahue returns to anchor the attack, along with junior Jordan Evans, who will move from the midfield, and Brown graduate transfer Nick Piroli. In the midfield, we’ll see a lot of senior Tim Barber, redshirt-junior Sergio Salcido, and junior UMass transfer Nick Mariano. Senior Derek Dejoe, junior Nick Weston, and redshirt-sophomores Matt Lane and Ryan Simmons will also contribute to a balanced Cuse offense.
The team’s strength right now is defense, with many of their key returners on the defensive unit. At midfield, redshirt-senior Tom Grimm and redshirt-juniors Paolo Ciferri and Joe Gillis return as d-middies. Freshman Nick Mellen, a local product from nearby West Genesee (where Donahue and Barber went to high school), will join senior Jay McDermott and redshirt-senior Brandon Mullins as the starting poles. And after backing up Bobby Wardwell in goal last season, senior Warren Hill will be the team’s starting goalie. At the faceoff “x”, junior Ben Williams is back after giving the Orange a well-needed boost at the FOGO position. You might see some of the d-middies and Williams play a little offense as well.
The Saints graduated a ton of players from last season, 17 to be exact. FOGO Casey Dowd and attackman Richie Hurley were two of the graduates not on Siena’s team for 2016. Junior attackman Jordan Barlow is the team’s leading returning scorer from 2015, scoring 19 goals for a total of 27 points last year. Siena also has two good sophomores in midfielder Tim Cousin and attackman Chris Robertson. In last year’s meeting in the Carrier Dome, Robertson scored a hat-trick on four shots. In goal will be senior Tommy Cordts, who gave up nine goals in the first half last year against the Orange. He’ll try to have a bounce back year after starting just eight games and going 2-3 with a 10.30 goals against average and an under-50% save percentage (.493).
Luckily, this game isn’t being played outside. If you know Syracuse winters, it can get snowy and brutally cold up in Central New York. Game-time temperature outside will be -2°, with a windchill of -27°. Although the temperature early Sunday morning will reach -11°, the windchill will be at -24°, so it’ll technically be the coldest while the game will be going on. Be thankful that the game will be streamed live on ESPN3.
