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Syracuse Lacrosse: Ben Williams Watch 2015, Week 8

Ben Williams is off to a hot start, and possibly a historic season. The Holy Cross transfer is fifth in the nation in faceoff winning percentage and first in the nation in groundballs per game. He is on pace to break school, and possibly national, records.

Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

We will be doing this every week just to keep you up to date on how Ben Williams is progressing through his historic first season as a Syracuse Orange. For the original article and full rundown click the link here.

Check out the game log for Ben Williams this year. The only team that has been able to stunt his performance has been the Cornell Big Red featuring Domenic Massimillion.

Ben Williams' 2015 Game Log

Opponent

F/O

F/O %

GB

Siena

17-20

.850

11

Cornell

9-22

.409

3

Army

21-25

.840

13

Virginia

15-19

.789

12

St. John's

13-19

.684

8

Hopkins

16-27

.593

11

Duke

14-22

.636

11

Notre Dame

18-29

.621

12

Instead of going through stat by stat, here is a quick rundown for your convenience:

  • Williams has 105 faceoff wins, 47 wins away from entering the top 10 list for most faceoff wins in a season for any SU player
  • After going 18-29 against Notre Dame, Williams falls to a .672 faceoff winning percentage leaving him fourth amongst all SU players for highest faceoff winning percentage in a season and fifth in the country in winning percentage in 2015
  • With 81 groundballs this season, Williams is just three away from entering the top 10 list of most groundballs in a season for an SU player
  • His 10.13 groundballs per game is 13th for any player in NCAA history but in 2015 he is first amongst all division I players

Here are the full lists:

Syracuse Season Records

Category

#

Player

Year

Faceoff Wins@

274

Bill Dirrigl

1998

253

Chris Cercy

2000

245

Chris Cercy

2001

214

Danny Brennan

2008

212

Kirk Pratt

1989

211

Chris Bickel

2002

203

Toby Price

1996

201

Chris Bickel

2002

186

Chris Daddio

2014

170

Kirk Pratt

1990

Faceoff Winning %^

.711

Chris Cercy

2000

.697

Bill Dirrigl

1988

.692

Chris Cercy

2001

.672

Ben Williams

2015

.667

Danny Brennan

2008

.662

Bob Feisee

1991

.635

Kirk Pratt

1989

.625

Jon Jerome

2007

.623

Kirk Pratt

1990

.611

Toby Price

1996

.607

Danny Brennan

2007

Groundballs*

164

Sam Bassett

2000

126

Toby Price

1996

103

Gary Gait

1989

93

Chris Daddio

2014

91

Paul Gait

1989

91

Jarett Park

2002

86

Ric Beardsley

1995

85

Gary Gait

1988

84

Matt Bontaites

2001

Gary Gait

1990

Pat McCabe

1989

@ Williams currently has 123 wins

^Minimum of 100 attempts (Williams currently has 183 attempts)

*GB statistics kept since 1988; Williams currently has 81

National Season Records

Category

#

Player

Year

Faceoff Winning %

.776

Mark Goers, Towson

1994

.774

Steve Shaw, Delaware

1985

.750

Steve Shaw, Delaware

1986

.740

Donnie McNichol, UNC

1993

.735

Steve Kraus, UVA

1980

Groundballs Per Game

12.16

Kevin Massa, Bryant

2013

11.41

Geoff Snider, Denver

2006

10.93

Tyler Knarr, Georgetown

2014

10.71

Kevin Massa, Bryant

2014

10.69

Mark Miyashita, Canisius

2000

10.67

Steve Vecchione, Johns Hopkins

1993

10.64

Peter Jacobs, Johns Hopkins

1995

10.58

Mark Goers, Towson

1994

10.35

Joseph Carrello, Hofstra

1991

10.29

Peter Jacobs, Johns Hopkins

1994

10.25

Sam Bassett, Syracuse

2000

10.15

Stephen Robarge, VMI

2011

10.13

Ben Williams, Syracuse

2015

2015 Division I Leaders

Groundballs Per Game

10.13

Ben Williams, Syracuse

9.78

Domenic Massimillian, Cornell

8.80

Jack Rowe, Duke

8.73

Joseph Nardella, Rutgers

8.67

Kevin Massa, Bryant

Faceoff Winning %

.711

Trevor Baptiste, Denver

.694

Brady Dove, Navy

.682

Joseph Nardella, Rutgers

.678

Sam Talkow, Boston University

.672

Ben Williams, Syracuse

The Orange will return home to take on the Albany Great Danes on Thursday at 7:00 pm. The game can be seen locally on TWCS and heard on WTKW 99.5 FM. Of course you can also follow me @Orangelax for updates throughout the game.