Need some lacrosse in your life and can’t wait until Saturday? Not a problem!
The Syracuse Orange are back in action for their second game in four days as they head about an hour west on I-90 to Geneva to take on the Hobart Statesmen in a longtime rivalry game. Opening faceoff is set for 7 PM on HWS All-Access (Live Stats are here).
The Orange lead the all-time series 76-26-2, with ‘Cuse winning their last five meetings against the Statesmen. Syracuse head coach John Desko is 19-2 all-time against Hobart. Both teams first met on April 29, 1916, which was Syracuse’s first ever lacrosse game. Hobart won the game 9-1. It’ll be the first time both teams are ranked since 2009.
The winner of this game will win the Kraus-Simmons Trophy, which has been presented every year since 1986. The trophy is named for former Statesmen head coach Babe Kraus and former Orange head coach Roy Simmons Sr. The Orange are 30-3 since the trophy became a thing. The trophy got a makeover with a new base, featuring inscriptions of Kraus and Simmons.
New trophy, who dis.
— Syracuse Lacrosse (@CuseMLAX) April 2, 2019
The old base ran out of space, so the original Kraus-Simmons trophy cup had its base was upgraded for 2019. The Orange look to keep it where it belongs tomorrow night. pic.twitter.com/tQsjvAkeX0
This was the trophy before.
And what we can see of the new base via the team’s Twitter account (which is what you probably just saw).
The Last Game
The slow starts finally haunted the Orange. Syracuse trailed Notre Dame 11-2 at halftime, but despite trimming the deficit to two goals in the fourth quarter, the Fighting Irish woke up and got two momentum-shifting goals to win 13-10.
Jamie Trimboli and Bradley Voigt each recorded hat-tricks, while Nick Mellen caused three turnovers. Starting goalie Drake Porter gave up 11 goals in the first half despite making six saves. Backup Luke Strang gave up the final two goals and made five stops in the second half.
Last Time They Met
After the Statesmen scored the game’s first goal, Syracuse went on an 8-0 run hat lasted into the third quarter en route to an 11-4 win over Hobart. Stephen Rehfuss led the way on offense with three goals and two assists, while Trimboli and Nate Solomon each had a pair of goals. Solomon had two helpers, while Trimboli added one. Dom Madonna made nine saves.
Last Time They Met In Geneva
It is my obligation to show you this.
We've arrived at Hobart.
— Syracuse Lacrosse (@CuseMLAX) April 5, 2017
(Via @Chilltoplax) pic.twitter.com/FdorDFKZ8H
KNOW YOUR ENEMY: HOBART
The Statesmen are surprisingly pretty good this year. Usually, there’s one or two teams from the “weaker” conferences (America East, MAAC, NEC, SoCon) that crack the top 20 throughout the season. Hobart is one of them, but despite their 8-1 record, the Statesmen enter the game as the 20th ranked team in the country according to the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Their schedule isn’t that tough, with wins over Sacred Heart, Colgate, and Vermont highlighting their season so far. The only loss was to Cornell in the Big Red’s first game of the season by only three.
Hobart’s starting lineup can vary, since some of their players are able to play both attack and midfield. So we’ll date back to their starting lineup from their last game. The starting attack includes both of their leading point scorers in senior Chris Aslanian and junior Eric Holden. Freshman Jason Knox also accompanies with 27 points.
But as we mentioned, many of Hobart’s offensive contributors can play both attack at midfield. In the St. Bonaventure win, the first midfield included Ryan Archer (25 points), fellow freshman Derrek Madonna (16 points), and junior Justin Scott (27 points). Archer and Scott have started at attack this season, while Knox has gotten some time at midfield. Other contributors include sophomore Tommy Mott, freshman Bradley Simas, as well as seniors Koko (B. Ware) Avedisian, Stanny Gilbertson, and Bryan Hancock. A ton of young talent push this offense, with Aslanian being the main feeder on the team. It’s a unit that has scored at least 10 goals in every game so far this year and are second in the country with 16.11 goals per game, only behind Penn State.
On close defense, junior PJ Delpha has started in all nine games this season. He’s been mainly joined by classmate Sam Mueller and Michael Christiansen. Senior Parke Schweiter is the fourth defenseman with Marks Synnott also getting some runs.
Their top LSM is sophomore Ethan Black Fernandes with classmate Dan Ryan and senior Franklin Marquet as the backup long sticks. Gilbertson and Hancock get some reps as short stick defensive midfielders, as well as sophomore Wylie Sherman. Overall, Hobart isn’t afraid of using a ton of personnel.
In goal has been junior Sam Lucchesi. The Garden City product has a 9.05 goals against percentage and a .573 save percentage. At the faceoff X is senior Matthew Pedicine, who will face off against the Orange for the fourth and final time in his career. His numbers have steadily improved, from 2-of-7 his freshman year, to 14-of-31 in his sophomore year, and finally to 10-of-18 last season against Danny Varello, Seth DeLisle, and Jake Phaup. This year, Pedicine is winning 67.2% of his draws, good for fourth in the country. Phaup is right behind him in fifth with a 66.9% win percentage. Pedicine is also third in the country with 12.22 ground balls per game, although he went 32-of-37 with 20 GBs against Siena earlier in the year. Against the Big Red, he went 22-of-39 with 13 ground balls, so he may be dominating against FOGOs less talented than he is.
Things To Know
Here’s John Desko’s weekly press conference.
Also hear from Voigt and David Lipka.
Enjoy the day of college lacrosse! There’s a few other games today and more this weekend (including Notre Dame-Duke), so make sure you enjoy what the sport has to offer! And if you want to chat during the game, this will be the place to do it!