I'm sure everyone is all jacked up about the Robert Washington commitment, I certainly am. Guess what though? We still have TWO big lacrosse games today. On the men's side the #4 Syracuse Orange take on the #6 Duke Blue Devils for the men's ACC Championship. On the women's side the #7 Syracuse Orange will face the #2 North Carolina Tar Heels for the ACC Championship.
The men will play for the ACC title at 1 pm and the game can be seen on ESPNU and heard on WTKW 99.5 FM. The women also play at 1 pm in a game that can be seen on ESPN3 and heard on WJPZ 89.1 FM.
This will be the second straight year in which the men's team will play for the ACC crown. Last season, Notre Dame took down Syracuse 15-14 in the championship game. It was a tight matchup from wire to wire. Interestingly enough, SU lost to Duke 7-21 in the regular season before taking down Duke 16-15 in the ACC semifinals. This is not the same Duke team that Syracuse downed 19-7 earlier in the season. The Blue Devils defense has taken big steps forward since the regular season matchup. Rematch games are wildly unpredictable, but this should be a fantastic game. The Orange are favored in the all-time series, having taken eight of thirteen games.
Keep an eye on Kevin Rice. The senior needs just six more points to join the 200 point club. Also of interest is Dylan Donahue who needs eight more goals to make it onto the top ten list of goals scored in a season for an SU player.
It's also the second straight year that the women will be vying for the ACC title, as they faced Maryland in the championship game last year, but came up short in the end.
Earlier this month, the ladies lost in a blowout to the Tar Heels, 8-15. So far in the tournament, though, they've faired well against two of the six teams that they'd previously lost to. In the quarterfinals, they beat Boston College in 2OT 14-13, the proverbial #OrangeEagle clincher. In their semifinal game against Duke, they overcame a 2-6 deficit to pull ahead and eventually win 14-10.
Tewaaraton Trophy finalist, junior attacker Kayla Treanor leads the way with 48 goals on the season so far. Halle Majorana, the Maryland transfer and junior attacking midfielder, is not far behind with 44 goals so far. Majorana leads the team in points with 76, three more than Treanor. Look for Kailah Kempney's continued solid play on the draw control and for Kelsey Richardson to step up her play in goal, as she has done lately.
It should be a fun day of lacrosse, and hopefully the Orange will come away as the victors in both games.