Syracuse Lacrosse: Reloaded

Cody Jamieson, Chris Daniello, Matt Tierney, Max Bartig and quite a few more Orange are gone now, having graduated or moved to the pros. The good thing about SU lacrosse is that, in spite of such big losses, the roster is constantly packed with stars-in-the-making and young recruits ready to make their mark.

Josh Amidon, Jeremy Thompson, Jovan Miller and quite a few other Orange return with the goal of getting Syracuse back to the Final Four, which it missed last season for only the third time since 1983. Joining them in the hunt will be a collection of new bloods that expect to carry on the tradition of the best lacrosse program in the nation.

The class is of course among the best in the nation. Inside Lacrosse ranked it No. 2 overall. Nine of the players are in Inside Lacrosse's "Power 100" recruits. While most of them come from the usual spots like New York, Maryland and Virginia, there's one from Ohio, one from Colorado and even one from Oregon.

You can see the full list of newbies here.  It's a who's who of All-Americans and top-ranked high school stars. Some notables include...

Hakeem Lecky (M) - The best name in the class. Lecky comes to us after one year on the farm. Avon Old Farms, to be specific, a prep school in CT.

Jake Bratek (M) - The local lacrosse star got his first, unfortunate taste of the spotlight that comes with being a D-1 athlete when his DWI arrest was plastered all over the web. Lesson learned, we hope.

Ben Levy (G) - Nice to see a member of the Tribe working his way onto the team. Levy was considered the 12th-best goalie in the nation.

Taylor Morgan (D) - Attended Georgetown Prep...but we'll try not to hold that against him.

Logan Tousaw (D) - A strong contender for best name overall, he's a local boy from Corcoran.

Henry Schoonmaker (M) - Came to us all the way from Oregon. I don't know if he's the first Oregon player to come to SU for lacrosse, but I'm willing to bet that list is short. He was Oregon's Player of the Year.

Billy Ward (A) - Ward seems to be considered the top recruit in the class. He was the No. 4 rated attackman in the nation by Inside Lacrosse and scored 135 goals/130 assists in his high school career.

In related news, Inside Lacrosse wonders if the Orange will get better production out of their middies this year. They certainly have the talent for it. They also mention the SU defense looks "scary."

Patrick Stevens at D1scourse noted that the 2013 and 2014 Final Four spots have been selected. Philly gets it in 2013 and Baltimore gets it the year after. B'More also has it this year while the Finals returns to Foxborough in 2012. As Patrick notes, it's interesting that the New Meadowlands didn't get a crack at the Final Four.

In case you're wondering, Syracuse has won one title in Baltimore ('04), two titles in Boston ('08, '09) and none in Philly. Most of the others were either in New Brunswick, NJ or College Park, MD, where most of the 80's and 90's Final Fours were held.

H/T: Dave Rahme