Lacrosse: Syracuse Finally Releases Its 2013 Schedule

For all the chatter about Syracuse playing some important games in neutral site venues this season -- the Orange will play Notre Dame at MetLife Stadium as part of the [A] City Classic and will see St. John's at PPL Park as the opener of the new Independence Classic -- John Desko and Associates, Ltd. is still going to play an awesome home schedule this year in the Dome.

The athletic department finally got around to finalizing everything and officially announced the Orange's gauntlet as they attempt to return to their first Championship Weekend since 2009:

Overall, Syracuse's 14 regular-season opponents combined for a 110-97 (.531) record a year ago. Five of its opponents (Virginia, Johns Hopkins, Canisius, Princeton and Notre Dame) qualified for the NCAA Tournament last year with Notre Dame reaching the national semifinals.

In addition to its eight regular-season home games, the Orange will also play two preseason scrimmages.

Exciting stuff.

The real highlight of the schedule this year is the number of big time home games. Virginia visits at the start of March, Johns Hopkins comes to The Hill just two weeks later (a game that should explode faces), Cornell and Rob Pannell pay a visit up I-81 in mid-April, and Hobart will try to throw fish on the turf on April 16th. It's a really solid home slate despite the fact that Syracuse is losing what would have been a home game against Notre Dame for chance to play in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The spring preseason is just about a month away, people. Let's light this candle.

Here's the entirety of the schedule:

Jan. 26 – Hofstra/Holy Cross (scrimmage), 10 a.m.
Feb. 2 – at Ohio State/Robert Morris (scrimmage), 11:30 a.m.
Feb. 17 – Albany, 4 p.m.
Feb. 24 – Army, 4 p.m.
March 1 – Virginia, TBA
March 9 – vs. St. John’s (Chester, Pa.), 12 p.m.
March 16 – Johns Hopkins, TBA
March 19 – at Providence, TBA
March 23 – at Villanova, TBA
TBA - Canisius
April 6 – at Princeton, TBA
April 10 – Cornell, 6 p.m.
April 13 – Rutgers, 1 p.m.
April 16 – Hobart, 7 p.m.
April 20 – at Georgetown, 1 p.m.
April 27 – vs. Notre Dame (E. Rutherford, N.J.), 6:30 p.m.
May 2 – BIG EAST Championship Semifinals (Villanova, Pa.), TBA
May 4 – BIG EAST Championship Final (Villanova, Pa.), TBA

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