The Orange opened up their 100th season with a big bang, as they defeated in-state foe Siena 18-5 in front of 2,736 spectators who braved the extremely dangerous weather outside to watch some lacrosse inside the Carrier Dome. The highlight was Dylan Donahue’s nine points on the day, which included four goals and a career-high five assists in a new role as the team’s quarterback of the offense. The starting attack featured Donahue with graduate transfer Nick Piroli and junior Jordan Evans. Piroli and Evans each had two goals, while Piroli added an assist to his offensive totals on the day.
With an opponent like Siena, the Syracuse coaching staff rotated several players at attack and midfield. Before many of the backups and subs came in midway through the third quarter, redshirt-freshman Gale Thorpe saw some time with some of the starting attack unit, while the midfield was rotating several guys throughout the game, especially in the first half. The starting midfield consisted of senior Tim Barber, junior transfer Nick Mariano, and redshirt-junior Sergio Salcido. After that, Matt Lane, Derek DeJoe, Ryan Simmons, and Nick Weston all rotated at the second midfield unit. Even the third unit, which included redshirt-freshmen Pat Carlin, Brad McKinney, and Tyler Ford got some time early in the game.
Over on the defense, the entire unit played a solid job as a whole throughout the first three quarters, before backups came in. Senior goalie Warren Hill made five stops and gave up only two goals on 11 shots faced in three quarters, and freshman Nick Mellen had game-highs in ground balls (six) and caused turnovers (four). And two D-middies got on the board in the second quarter, with Paolo Ciferri assisting on Joe Gillis’s goal. But the celebration might have been better than his rip:
Ben Williams picked up where he left off last season at the faceoff “x”, going 12-of-16 on attempts with five ground balls on the day.
There weren’t a lot of bright spots in the game for the young Siena, but three of their five goals on the day were scored by freshmen. Eric Munn had two and Mike Reilly had the other. Jon-Michael Tokar and Brian Prunty had the team’s other goals.
Junior Joe Arcarese led the way on defense with three ground balls and tied a career-high with three caused turnovers. Senior goalie Tommy Cordts stopped four shots, but gave up 14 goals in three quarters of play.
The Orange looked great on Saturday, but early on, they had some mistakes that can be easily fixed this week during practice. They host Albany on Sunday afternoon in the Carrier Dome, which should provide a great early test for the team.
As for the Saints, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done. They have two games in four days beginning on Saturday, where they are in Georgia for their Spring Break yet again. They play Hobart in the Cobb County Classic at Kennesaw State University, before heading to Mercer for a Tuesday night tussle.
