University of Massachusets Athletics
Men's Lacrosse Game Notes for No. 2 Syracuse
April 23, 2002 | Men's Lacrosse
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GAME #13
#8 Massachusetts (10-2/4-0 ECAC)
at
#2 Syracuse (10-2/Independent)
Friday, April 26, 2002 * 7:00 p.m.
Carrier Dome (49,550)
Syracuse, New York
Radio: WMUA 91.1 FM (Amherst, Mass.)
Television: Time Warner 13 (Syracuse, N.Y.)
FRIDAY'S GAME WITH SYRACUSE
Massachusetts enters the game at 10-2 overall and 4-0 in the ECAC Lacrosse League, while Syracuse enters the game with an identical 10-2 overall record. This is the 28th all-time meeting between the two schools. Syracuse holds a decisive 23-4 edge in the series, and has won 21 straight against the Minutemen. The Orangemen defeated Massachusetts, 9-8, last season in Amherst. The last time Massachusetts defeated Syracuse was during the 1981 season, when the Minutemen won 12-8 in Amherst.
SCOUTING THE SYRACUSE ORANGEMEN
The Orangemen have won two straight games after losing to Cornell, 15-11, on April 9. This is just the fourth home game for Syracuse. They are 3-0 in the Carrier Dome this season and are 130-11 (.922) all-time in the Dome. The Syracuse offense is led by sophomore Michael Powell (30g, 29a), senior Josh Coffman (27g, 19a), junior Michael Springer (23g, 8a), senior Spencer Wright (16g, 8a), sophomore Brian Nee (17g, 5a) and senior Brian Solliday (13g, 7a). The defense is anchored by freshman goaltender Jay Pfeifer, who has started all 11 games. He owns a 8.97 goals against average and a .520 save percentage. Chris Bickel is the primary faceoff man and has won 149 of 258 (.578) faceoffs. The Orangemen have one of the top extra-man offense in the nation, scoring on 23 of 53 (.434) opportunities.
GOING TO THE BIG DANCE
Massachusetts clinched the ECAC Lacrosse League's automatic bid to the 2002 NCAA Tournament by defeating previously unbeaten Georgetown, 16-13, last Saturday in Washington, D.C. The Minutemen earned at least a share of the ECAC title for the second consecutive season. Massachusetts will be making its 14th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 1997, when it advanced to the quarterfinals.
MORLEY REACHES THE CENTURY MARK
Senior Marc Morley (Canton, N.Y.) reached the 100 career points plateau in last week's game against Harvard. The attackman tied a season-high with four goals in the game to give him 101 career points. He followed it up with two goals and an assist against Georgetown. He enters the Syracuse game with 104 career points on 68 goals and 36 assists. This season, Morley has scored 26 goals and 12 assists to lead the team with 38 points. He had 37 points on 29 goals and eight assists last season.
LEVEILLE CLOSING IN ON 100 CAREER POINTS
Junior Kevin Leveille (Delmar, N.Y.) is four points shy of the 100 career points plateau. The midfielder has 96 career points on 61 goals and 35 assists. He is coming off two solid performances that earned him ECAC Offensive Player of the Week and WHMP/ UMass Athlete of the Week honors. The All-American scored a season-high four goals on just four shots against Georgetown and had three goals and two assists in the victory over Harvard. Leveille leads the Minutemen in shooting percentage, scoring on .553 percent of his shots.
RECAPPING THE GEORGETOWN GAME
Junior Kevin Leveille scored four goals and freshman goaltender Bill Schell (Mahopac, N.Y.) made 20 saves as Massachusetts upset third-ranked and previously undefeated Georgetown, 16-13, at Harbin Field. Massachusetts scored early and often against the Hoyas en route to an 8-2 first quarter lead. Leveille, senior Dan Paccione (Amityville, N.Y.) and sophomore Jeff Zywicki (Nepean, Ontario) each netted two goals during the first quarter run. Georgetown rebounded by outscoring the Minutemen 4-1 in the second quarter to cut the Massachusetts lead to 9-6 at the half. The two teams traded goals in the third quarter, with each team netting fours goals. Massachusetts took a 13-10 lead into the fourth quarter. Senior Marc Morley scored an unassisted goal off a rebound at the 14:06 mark of the fourth quarter to give Massachusetts a 14-10 lead. The Hoyas responded with a pair of goals to cut the lead to 14-12 with 11:58 remaining. Leveille then netted his fourth goal of the game to push the Minuteman lead back to three before Georgetown scored at the 9:20 mark. Morley finished off the game by netting his second goal of the quarter off a feed from junior Chris Fiore (Freeport, N.Y.) with 1:00 remaining in regulation. Leveille paced the Minutemen with four goals, while freshman attackman Gene Tundo (Orchard Park, N.Y.) had a season-high four assists. Fiore, senior Don Little (Clifton Park, N.Y.), Morley, Paccione and Zywicki each finished the game with two goals each. Fiore also had a pair of assists. Steve Dusseau and Trevor Walker led the Hoyas with four goals each, while Scott Schroeder made 11 saves in the cage. The victory clinched a NCAA Tournament berth for Massachusetts.
OFFENSE VS. OFFENSE
Syracuse and Massachusetts enter the game with two of the highest scoring offenses in the nation. The Orangemen are No. 2, averaging 14.08 goals per games, and the Minutemen are No. 3, averaging 13.83 goals per game. Syracuse has been held to single digits in scoring just once this season, while Massachusetts has been held to single digits twice. Last season when the two teams met, both were held to single digits, with Syracuse winning 9-8.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
Senior Dan Paccione and junior Chris Fiore have both seen big jumps in their offensive production from a year ago. Paccione currently leads the Minutemen in goals with 30 and is second in points with 37. Last season, the attackman scored 13 goals and three assists for 16 points. He has become a major factor in the offense and is also one of the top faceoff men on the team. Paccione has won 76 of 134 (.567) faceoffs this season, despite not taking any faceoffs last season. Fiore, a midfielder, has also seen his offensive production increase. He enters the game against Syracuse tied for second on the team 26 goals and fourth on the team with 32 points. He has scored at least two goals in each of the last eight games. Last season, Fiore scored 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points.
BALANCED SCORING ATTACK
Massachusetts has relied on a balanced scoring attack all season long. The Minutemen enter the Syracuse game as the second highest scoring offense in nation, averaging 13.83 goals per game. Massachusetts is the only team in the country with four 25-goal scorers on its roster. No other team in country has even four 20-goal scorers. Dan Paccione leads the way with 30 goals, followed by Chris Fiore, Kevin Leveille and Marc Morley, who all have 26 goals. The four players have combined to score 108 goals, which accounts for 65% of all the Minuteman goals on the season. Morley and Leveille each scored 20 goals last season, with Morley netting 29 and Leveille netting 25.
TUNDO CONTINUING TO HELP OTHERS
Freshman Gene Tundo had a season-high four assists in the victory over Georgetown. The attackman now leads the team with 18 assists on the season. He is fifth on the team in scoring with 24 points. Tundo had previously recorded three assists in a game three different times this year. The four assists in a single-game is the most for any player on the team this season. Following the two Massachusetts victories last week, Tundo was named ECAC Rookie of the Week. He had a goal against Harvard on Wednesday and then had the four assists against the Hoyas.
BILL SCHELL(S) THE HOYAS
Freshman goaltender Bill Schell (Mahopac, N.Y.) picked a good game to have the highest save total of his young collegiate career. He stopped 20 Georgetown shots in the 16-13 victory over the Hoyas this past Saturday. His previous career high was 13 saves, which he recorded earlier in the week against Harvard. Schell has a 9.09 goals against average and a .580 save percentage in eight games this season. He took over the starting role in the cage for the Albany game on March 20. He has a 7-1 record, and has made 10 or more saves in six of the seven games he has started.
A LOOK BACK AT LAST YEAR'S SYRACUSE GAME
Top-ranked Syracuse defeated No. 8 Massachusetts, 9-8, before 4,723 fans at Richard F. Garber Field. The game began at a furious pace with five goals in the first five minutes, and Syracuse holding a 3-2 advantage. But the two teams coud manage only three goals between them for the rest of the first half, and went into the locker rooms tied, 4-4. Chris Fiore scored off a pass from Don Little with 36 seconds remaining in the opening half to tie the game. The second half opened with two Orangeman scores, the second coming by Michael Powell (2g, 3a) off a feed from Liam Banks (1g, 2a) at the 13:22 mark of the third quarter to put Syracuse up, 6-4. The Minutemen followed with two consecutive goals of their own to tie the game, one each from Rich Kunkel and Marc Morley. Both players tallied hat tricks on the afternoon, while Kunkel added one assist. Each team would trade two-goal spurts to tie the game at 8-8 with 12:28 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Minutemen's final goal of the day came courtesy of defenseman Tom Fallon (Shaker Heights, Ohio), whose first career tally knotted the game for the last time. Syracuse's Jason Januszkeiwicz scored the game-winner a little over a minute later to give the Orangemen the dramatic 9-8 win. Massachusetts goaltender Chris Campolettano was spectacular in the cage for Massachusetts, as he registered 19 saves, while Syracuse goalie Rob Mulligan stopped 11 shots in the game.
IN THE FACEOFF CIRCLE
Massachusetts has used primarily two faceoff specialists this season. Freshman attack Craig Conn (St. Catherines, Ontario) and Dan Paccione. Conn has taken 152 faceoffs and has won 77 (.507) of them, while Paccione has won 76 of 134 (.567). As a team, the Minutemen have won 160 of 316 (.506) faceoffs.
McFARLAND ONE OF THE BEST IN THE NATION
All-American defenseman Matt McFarland (Garden City, N.J.) is among the nation's leaders in ground balls. He has scooped up a team-high 75 ground balls and is eighth nationally averaging 6.25 per game. McFarland has also shown a scoring touch lately having netted three goals and an assist in the last six games.
JUST IN CASE YOU DID NOT KNOW . . .
The Minutemen are 5-1 on the road this season... Massachusetts has the best record in the nation over the past two seasons. The Minutemen are 22-4 (.846), while Syracuse is 23-5 (.821) over that span... Massachusetts has never won in the Carrier Dome (0-10).
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Download Free Acrobat Reader#8 Massachusetts (10-2/4-0 ECAC)
at
#2 Syracuse (10-2/Independent)
Friday, April 26, 2002 * 7:00 p.m.
Carrier Dome (49,550)
Syracuse, New York
Radio: WMUA 91.1 FM (Amherst, Mass.)
Television: Time Warner 13 (Syracuse, N.Y.)
FRIDAY'S GAME WITH SYRACUSE
Massachusetts enters the game at 10-2 overall and 4-0 in the ECAC Lacrosse League, while Syracuse enters the game with an identical 10-2 overall record. This is the 28th all-time meeting between the two schools. Syracuse holds a decisive 23-4 edge in the series, and has won 21 straight against the Minutemen. The Orangemen defeated Massachusetts, 9-8, last season in Amherst. The last time Massachusetts defeated Syracuse was during the 1981 season, when the Minutemen won 12-8 in Amherst.
SCOUTING THE SYRACUSE ORANGEMEN
The Orangemen have won two straight games after losing to Cornell, 15-11, on April 9. This is just the fourth home game for Syracuse. They are 3-0 in the Carrier Dome this season and are 130-11 (.922) all-time in the Dome. The Syracuse offense is led by sophomore Michael Powell (30g, 29a), senior Josh Coffman (27g, 19a), junior Michael Springer (23g, 8a), senior Spencer Wright (16g, 8a), sophomore Brian Nee (17g, 5a) and senior Brian Solliday (13g, 7a). The defense is anchored by freshman goaltender Jay Pfeifer, who has started all 11 games. He owns a 8.97 goals against average and a .520 save percentage. Chris Bickel is the primary faceoff man and has won 149 of 258 (.578) faceoffs. The Orangemen have one of the top extra-man offense in the nation, scoring on 23 of 53 (.434) opportunities.
GOING TO THE BIG DANCE
Massachusetts clinched the ECAC Lacrosse League's automatic bid to the 2002 NCAA Tournament by defeating previously unbeaten Georgetown, 16-13, last Saturday in Washington, D.C. The Minutemen earned at least a share of the ECAC title for the second consecutive season. Massachusetts will be making its 14th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 1997, when it advanced to the quarterfinals.
MORLEY REACHES THE CENTURY MARK
Senior Marc Morley (Canton, N.Y.) reached the 100 career points plateau in last week's game against Harvard. The attackman tied a season-high with four goals in the game to give him 101 career points. He followed it up with two goals and an assist against Georgetown. He enters the Syracuse game with 104 career points on 68 goals and 36 assists. This season, Morley has scored 26 goals and 12 assists to lead the team with 38 points. He had 37 points on 29 goals and eight assists last season.
LEVEILLE CLOSING IN ON 100 CAREER POINTS
Junior Kevin Leveille (Delmar, N.Y.) is four points shy of the 100 career points plateau. The midfielder has 96 career points on 61 goals and 35 assists. He is coming off two solid performances that earned him ECAC Offensive Player of the Week and WHMP/ UMass Athlete of the Week honors. The All-American scored a season-high four goals on just four shots against Georgetown and had three goals and two assists in the victory over Harvard. Leveille leads the Minutemen in shooting percentage, scoring on .553 percent of his shots.
RECAPPING THE GEORGETOWN GAME
Junior Kevin Leveille scored four goals and freshman goaltender Bill Schell (Mahopac, N.Y.) made 20 saves as Massachusetts upset third-ranked and previously undefeated Georgetown, 16-13, at Harbin Field. Massachusetts scored early and often against the Hoyas en route to an 8-2 first quarter lead. Leveille, senior Dan Paccione (Amityville, N.Y.) and sophomore Jeff Zywicki (Nepean, Ontario) each netted two goals during the first quarter run. Georgetown rebounded by outscoring the Minutemen 4-1 in the second quarter to cut the Massachusetts lead to 9-6 at the half. The two teams traded goals in the third quarter, with each team netting fours goals. Massachusetts took a 13-10 lead into the fourth quarter. Senior Marc Morley scored an unassisted goal off a rebound at the 14:06 mark of the fourth quarter to give Massachusetts a 14-10 lead. The Hoyas responded with a pair of goals to cut the lead to 14-12 with 11:58 remaining. Leveille then netted his fourth goal of the game to push the Minuteman lead back to three before Georgetown scored at the 9:20 mark. Morley finished off the game by netting his second goal of the quarter off a feed from junior Chris Fiore (Freeport, N.Y.) with 1:00 remaining in regulation. Leveille paced the Minutemen with four goals, while freshman attackman Gene Tundo (Orchard Park, N.Y.) had a season-high four assists. Fiore, senior Don Little (Clifton Park, N.Y.), Morley, Paccione and Zywicki each finished the game with two goals each. Fiore also had a pair of assists. Steve Dusseau and Trevor Walker led the Hoyas with four goals each, while Scott Schroeder made 11 saves in the cage. The victory clinched a NCAA Tournament berth for Massachusetts.
OFFENSE VS. OFFENSE
Syracuse and Massachusetts enter the game with two of the highest scoring offenses in the nation. The Orangemen are No. 2, averaging 14.08 goals per games, and the Minutemen are No. 3, averaging 13.83 goals per game. Syracuse has been held to single digits in scoring just once this season, while Massachusetts has been held to single digits twice. Last season when the two teams met, both were held to single digits, with Syracuse winning 9-8.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
Senior Dan Paccione and junior Chris Fiore have both seen big jumps in their offensive production from a year ago. Paccione currently leads the Minutemen in goals with 30 and is second in points with 37. Last season, the attackman scored 13 goals and three assists for 16 points. He has become a major factor in the offense and is also one of the top faceoff men on the team. Paccione has won 76 of 134 (.567) faceoffs this season, despite not taking any faceoffs last season. Fiore, a midfielder, has also seen his offensive production increase. He enters the game against Syracuse tied for second on the team 26 goals and fourth on the team with 32 points. He has scored at least two goals in each of the last eight games. Last season, Fiore scored 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points.
BALANCED SCORING ATTACK
Massachusetts has relied on a balanced scoring attack all season long. The Minutemen enter the Syracuse game as the second highest scoring offense in nation, averaging 13.83 goals per game. Massachusetts is the only team in the country with four 25-goal scorers on its roster. No other team in country has even four 20-goal scorers. Dan Paccione leads the way with 30 goals, followed by Chris Fiore, Kevin Leveille and Marc Morley, who all have 26 goals. The four players have combined to score 108 goals, which accounts for 65% of all the Minuteman goals on the season. Morley and Leveille each scored 20 goals last season, with Morley netting 29 and Leveille netting 25.
TUNDO CONTINUING TO HELP OTHERS
Freshman Gene Tundo had a season-high four assists in the victory over Georgetown. The attackman now leads the team with 18 assists on the season. He is fifth on the team in scoring with 24 points. Tundo had previously recorded three assists in a game three different times this year. The four assists in a single-game is the most for any player on the team this season. Following the two Massachusetts victories last week, Tundo was named ECAC Rookie of the Week. He had a goal against Harvard on Wednesday and then had the four assists against the Hoyas.
BILL SCHELL(S) THE HOYAS
Freshman goaltender Bill Schell (Mahopac, N.Y.) picked a good game to have the highest save total of his young collegiate career. He stopped 20 Georgetown shots in the 16-13 victory over the Hoyas this past Saturday. His previous career high was 13 saves, which he recorded earlier in the week against Harvard. Schell has a 9.09 goals against average and a .580 save percentage in eight games this season. He took over the starting role in the cage for the Albany game on March 20. He has a 7-1 record, and has made 10 or more saves in six of the seven games he has started.
A LOOK BACK AT LAST YEAR'S SYRACUSE GAME
Top-ranked Syracuse defeated No. 8 Massachusetts, 9-8, before 4,723 fans at Richard F. Garber Field. The game began at a furious pace with five goals in the first five minutes, and Syracuse holding a 3-2 advantage. But the two teams coud manage only three goals between them for the rest of the first half, and went into the locker rooms tied, 4-4. Chris Fiore scored off a pass from Don Little with 36 seconds remaining in the opening half to tie the game. The second half opened with two Orangeman scores, the second coming by Michael Powell (2g, 3a) off a feed from Liam Banks (1g, 2a) at the 13:22 mark of the third quarter to put Syracuse up, 6-4. The Minutemen followed with two consecutive goals of their own to tie the game, one each from Rich Kunkel and Marc Morley. Both players tallied hat tricks on the afternoon, while Kunkel added one assist. Each team would trade two-goal spurts to tie the game at 8-8 with 12:28 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Minutemen's final goal of the day came courtesy of defenseman Tom Fallon (Shaker Heights, Ohio), whose first career tally knotted the game for the last time. Syracuse's Jason Januszkeiwicz scored the game-winner a little over a minute later to give the Orangemen the dramatic 9-8 win. Massachusetts goaltender Chris Campolettano was spectacular in the cage for Massachusetts, as he registered 19 saves, while Syracuse goalie Rob Mulligan stopped 11 shots in the game.
IN THE FACEOFF CIRCLE
Massachusetts has used primarily two faceoff specialists this season. Freshman attack Craig Conn (St. Catherines, Ontario) and Dan Paccione. Conn has taken 152 faceoffs and has won 77 (.507) of them, while Paccione has won 76 of 134 (.567). As a team, the Minutemen have won 160 of 316 (.506) faceoffs.
McFARLAND ONE OF THE BEST IN THE NATION
All-American defenseman Matt McFarland (Garden City, N.J.) is among the nation's leaders in ground balls. He has scooped up a team-high 75 ground balls and is eighth nationally averaging 6.25 per game. McFarland has also shown a scoring touch lately having netted three goals and an assist in the last six games.
JUST IN CASE YOU DID NOT KNOW . . .
The Minutemen are 5-1 on the road this season... Massachusetts has the best record in the nation over the past two seasons. The Minutemen are 22-4 (.846), while Syracuse is 23-5 (.821) over that span... Massachusetts has never won in the Carrier Dome (0-10).
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