Syracuse men's lacrosse is coming off its worst season in 25 years. Finishing 5-8 last season, he Orange missed the playoffs for the first time since 1982. In other words, it's a rather important season.We got a good look at how it might shape up as the schedule was released this week. Expanding from 13 games to 14 games, the Orange will play all 13 teams they played last season plus Villanova. As Donna Ditota points out in her column, me thinks that's an olive branch to the Big East lacrosse conference idea that picked up major steam this off-season.
Syracuse starts out the season in a threesome with Hofstra and LeMoyne on February 2nd. Sadly, its only exhibition so when pressed later on, SU will deny it ever took place or that it moaned louder when it played Hofstra.
Syracuse’s regular season officially begins on Feb. 17 when Villanova visits, followed by Army the following week. On March 1st, SU will face Virginia for the second straight time in Baltimore at the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Classic. After that they host Georgetown on the 9th and return to Maryland to take on defending national champion Johns Hopkins on March 15. The month ends with home games against Binghamton (March 22) and Loyola (March 29).
April begins with a home game against Princeton on the 5th, followed by visits to Cornell (April 8) and Rutgers (April 12) and then a pair of home games against Albany (April 19) and Massachusetts (April 26) before wrapping up the regular season at Colgate on May 3.
If all works out, the Orange will then play in the first round of the NCAA tournament, which takes place the weekend of May 10-11. The Final Four is scheduled for May 24th and the National Championship is May 26th. The final four is at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass for the first time.
(Photo: Daily Orange)