Syracuse is playing St. John’s in the Cobb County Classic in Georgia. The event is the brainchild of former Orange attackman Liam Banks as part of his LB3 lacrosse organization. These teams played each other in the same event last year with Syracuse being the victors 14-8. All signs point to a similar outcome as Syracuse has looked the part of a team on a mission to overcome their NCAA tournament disappointment last year.
In their four games so far this season, Syracuse hasn’t allowed a single team to score double digits against them, while never scoring less than 12 themselves, which is good for the fourth best scoring margin in the NCAA. They haven’t had the easiest schedule either, in fact it is the second toughest in the country according to Laxpower’s measurement. They beat Cornell and Virginia (both ranked seventh in the latest polls) by a combined 14 points and No. 11 Army by three. The other game was Siena, who fell to the Orange 21-7. The bad news for St. John’s is they also played Siena, but lost 8-7.
The Orange are following their preseason script in that they are led offensively by the attack unit of Kevin Rice, Randy Staats, and Dylan Donahue who combine for 53 points. The midfield production has also been a nice surprise. They were thought of originally as much more of a supporting role, but the starting line of Nicky Galasso, Hakeem Lecky, and Henry Schoonmaker are all capable of winning their one on one matchups, forcing the defense to help or the goalie to make some saves no goalie should have to. To illustrate how efficient this offense has been, you need to look no further than their top two goal scorers in Donahue (14) and Galasso (10). Donahue is converting his shots at an even 50 percent, while Galasso is even better than that with 58.8 percent. Both of these figures are in the top 10 in the nation among shooters with more than 10 goals and they are the only teammates in that top 10.
Defensively, the Orange are ninth in the NCAA in scoring defense, anchored by the stellar play of Bobby Wardwell in goal. His time in Orange has been filled with benchings, splitting time and starts, but this has easily been his best year so far. With an outstanding JUCO transfer in Warren Hill waiting behind him for time, Wardwell has played well enough that there is no question that he deserves the No. 1 spot. He also captured national attention this past week for his part in a full field hidden ball trick, which is worth checking out . In front of him has been some outstanding defense. Led by Brandon Mullins, who is a true shut down defenseman, and Sean Young, who already has an NCAA defensive player of the week honor this year, is a rotation of players who have all been chipping in very well.
The other story developing with the Orange is the emergence of FOGO Ben Williams. Faceoffs have been the scapegoat in recent seasons for many Orange critics, but that has turned around this year and in a big way. Williams is doing much by himself, but also getting stellar support from his wings who are on pace to shatter their own personal loose ball records. It’s a long season ahead, and he has struggled mightily in one game so far against Cornell, but his current win percentage would be the best in Orange history, which is saying quite a bit.
For St. John’s, they have the unenviable task of trying to replace most of their scoring from a year ago and to do it without reigning MLL Rookie of the Year Kieran McArdle. Leading the way so far is Eric DeJohn, who is actually an Orange transfer and spent two season in Syracuse. Behind him are Jason DeBenedictis and Stefan Diachenko. Their numbers will have to increase dramatically today to have a shot at upsetting the Orange. Their defense is in better shape as they return their core as well as goalies Harry Burke and Joseph Danaher who split time in their games so far. Their goals against average is still higher than you’d want heading into a matchup with an offense like this, but experience together and good communication is the best tool you can have against Syracuse. The other knock against the Red Storm is they are facing off at a rate of 41.2 percent; not a good sign when getting ready to go against one of the best in the country.
All the numbers in this game point to Syracuse as the expected winners, and probably by a high margin. Working for St. John’s is the fact that this is the first road game for Syracuse which also means it’s their first one outdoors. Unfortunately, it is shaping up to be a picturesque day in terms of weather, so that might not be much of an advantage. St. John’s has been in many close games. Three of their losses are by one goal, including two overtime games and the other is by two points. St. John’s has to hope Syracuse comes out a little flat so they can take advantage of it. The one thing Syracuse hasn’t done this year is fade through a game. If St. John’s can minimize mistakes and run their offense efficiently, an upset is possible. If they let Syracuse play their brand of lacrosse, this will be a long day for the Red Storm.
