Fall is in the air and players have had plenty of time to settle in at their respective schools. With a new year comes new hope and the opportunity to begin the quest towards a Final Four Weekend in Baltimore, MD. One of the teams who is very familiar with championships is Syracuse University. Syracuse had quite the year in 2013 after having to replace a very talented 2012 Syracuse lacrosse class which featured names such as John Lade and John Galloway, just to name a few.
In 2013, Syracuse went 16-4 and made it to the National Title game against Duke University. After dominating the first quarter the wheels fell off for the Orange as they fell 16-10 to the Blue Devils
As they look to get back to championship weekend, they first get a sneak preview of their 2014 squad as they take on the Israel National Team tomorrow at 11 a.m. Originally, the Cornell Big Red were supposed to be scrimmaging, however, had to cancel after the recent hazing incident.
So what can we expect from the 2014 Syracuse Orange tomorrow?
Well, for one, the Orange will have to replace their top offensive and defensive players in JoJo Marasco and Brian Megill. Marasco led the team with 66 points and was the quarterback for last year’s team. Meanwhile, Megill was an athletic defenseman who also had the ability to be a threat in transition.
Luckily for the Orange, they didn’t lose a lot from last year’s team that reached the national title. Last year’s roster was littered with young players who really stepped it up for the Orange.
Offensively, the Orange bring back eight of their top 11 scorers from last season. Junior attackman Kevin Rice will be the leading man for the Orange as he registered 55 points last season and should be the man tasked with stepping in an replacing Marasco. Joining Rice on attack will be sophomore Dylan Donahue who had a dynamic rookie campaign. He was third on the team in both goals (27) and assists (14).
Not to be lost in the shuffle is the return of Nicky Galasso from injury. The West Islip legend and standout attackman at North Carolina should make this attack unit one of, if not, the best attack line in the country. Finally, senior midfielders Derek Maltz and Scott Loy should provide scoring threats from up top as both players registered 39 and 24 points respectively.
Defensively, the team brings back junior Sean Young who started 16 games last season. Senior goalie Dominic Lamolinara should return as the starter after taking over for Bobby Wardwell last season. Lamolinara started 15 games and posted a 8.65 GAA. Both players will have to help break in a defense that will feature two new starters as they lose Megill and fellow senior David Hamlin. The loss of Steven Ianzito will also be one to look out for as he was a standout defensive midfielder who was vitally important to the Orange’s success between the restraining lines.
Finally, everyone who has followed Syracuse lacrosse knows its ability to bring in talent, and boy, did it bring in talent. The incoming freshman class was ranked as the No. 2 recruiting class behind the University of Maryland. Headlining the class is Inside Lacrosse’s No. 1 ranked recruit in Jordan Evans.
Evans starred at Jamesville-DeWitt high school where he put up 396 career points, 205 of which were goals. If you need any more clarification about the young man’s ability, he will take over as they next player to wear the illustrious No. 22 jersey. Head coach John Desko told Inside Lacrosse. “Of all the kids we saw, we thought he had the ability to wear that number.”
Other notable recruits are long stick midfielder Scott Firman, attackman Dylan Maltz, and midfielder J.T. Forkin who are slated as the No. 17, No. 18 and No. 20 ranked recruits respectively.
Another name to keep an eye on is freshman midfielder Joe DeMarco who should contribute immediately to the Orange’s faceoff game. The national title game against Duke showed how glaring of a weakness Syracuse had at the ‘X’ and DeMarco could help. DeMarco posted an ungodly 91 percent faceoff percentage his senior year and finished his career winning 82 percent of the faceoffs he took in high school.
