So if we won the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament this year, would it be our 9th title or our 10th? Technically, it would be our 10th (and SU Athletics certainly seems to agree). There's '83, '88, '89, '90, '93, '95, '00, '02 and '04. But my understanding is that the 1990 title was vacated due to infractions and while yes, technically we won the whole thing, that nullifies that title in the official rulebooks. Can I get an official ruling on this?Anyway, let's not get ahead of ourselves, we have Golden Griffins to deal with first. MAAC champion Canisius (10-5) comes to town Sunday night, their first appearance in the postseason ever. The Orange have made a few more trips, 28 to be exact. The Griffins aren't seeded (for some reason) but are considered the #16 seed in the tournament (don't tell Duke). The Orange are the #3, which bodes well for them:
The 2008 NCAA Championship marks the sixth time in school history Syracuse has been seeded third in the postseason. The Orange owns a 9-3 record all-time when serving as the No. 3 seed, including winning the 1993 and 1995 national championships. The last time Syracuse was the third seed was in 1997 when it advanced to the national semifinals. This is SU’s highest NCAA Tournament seed since 2002 when the Orange entered the 2002 playoffs as the second seed.But you already knew all of that, didn't you? Let's take a closer look at our opponent, shall we?
School: Canisius College
Location: Buffalo, NY
Mascot: Golden Griffin (adopted mid-30's)
Notable alumni: Michael Smrek, former NBA player; Bill Paxon, former NY Congressman
Record: 10-5
Key wins: VMI (14-5), to win MAAC
Key losses: Princeton (6-13), Colgate (11-12), Cornell (3-14),
Coach: Randy Mearns, 10th season
Player who will haunt our dreams: Nick LoCoco, a freshman from NY who wasn't recruited by Syracuse. He led the them with 33 assists. But then there's also attackman Adam Jones who scored 37 goals. Keep those two guys away from each other.
Why they will beat us: We underestimate them and look ahead to Colgate/Notre Dame.
Why we will beat them: We don't underestimate them.
Prediction: Syracuse 18, Canisius 7