Lesson learned on Friday. Never tweet about the demise of your opponent ntil the game is over. It turned out to be correct in the end, when the Syracuse lacrosse team defeated Albany 15-13, but it was a little too close for comfort.
It was as if the teams traded uniforms at halftime, as if the Albany Great Danes had removed their smelly jerseys after 30 minutes of smelly lacrosse and handed them to Syracuse, which assumed the odor for 15 scary minutes Friday night in the Carrier Dome.
In the process a 10-2 laugher became an 11-10 drama, as No. 20 Albany outscored the Orange 8-1 in the third quarter. To its credit, No. 4 SU awakened with a 4-0 run to start the fourth and held on for 15-13 victory before a Dome crowd of 4,189.
Smelly indeed. The Orange continued to win but they also continued to win ugly. Most of their wins this season have involved unnecessary intrigue and raised doubts as to how much of a killer instinct this team has.
Goalie John Galloway continued his jeykll & Hyde season, making only our saves all day. Dan Hardy led the Orange with three goals and two assists, and the team did just enough to escape with the win.
The Orange have to be concerned with two even-better opponents waiting in the wings. UMass (7-4) lost this weekend but can still wrap up the ECAC automatic bid with two conference wins. Still, that's no guarantee so they're going to be desperate to pad their resume with a win over SU. The Orange then finish against Colgate (9-4) , also coming off a loss and unsure of it's playoff possibilities.
This all brings us to the lacrosse polls, ever the home of logic and reason. In the Media Poll, the Orange are now #2 after Cornell's win over Princeton. The Big Red are at #4, behind still-undefeated Notre Dame (who will probably end up a #6 seed. Logic!) In the Coaches Poll, the Orange have been jumped by Cornell (whom they beat). Oh and for those keeping score, a 6-win Johns Hopkins team is still ranked higher than a 10-win North Carolina, 9-win Hofstra and 9-win UMBC, amongst many others. Dooshes.
Hopes are still high that the Orange can work out all the kinks and return to the national title game.