Game Day Storylines
• Scene Setter: Navy and Syracuse will step aside from their respective conference action on Saturday in what will mark just the third contest between the two programs played at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and first since 1980 (1979 the other). Faceoff is set for 5:00 pm and First Command will serve as the game sponsor. The Mids, who enter the contest 5-6 overall and 3-4 in Patriot League action, are led by eighth-year head coach
Rick Sowell, while the 8-3 Orange are under the direction of 21st-year head coach John Desko. Saturday's game marks the 29th meeting in a series that Navy leads, 19-8-1, and dates back to 1919.
• Follow the Action: Saturday's contest will be televised live by CBS Sports Network with John Sadak and Evan Washburn calling the action. Additionally, Pete Medhurst and
Joe Miller will provide the call on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV. The game will NOT be streamed online due to television coverage, however live stats will be available at NavyStats.com.
• Syracuse Rewind: A week of buildup for the Varello family had a storybook ending as senior faceoff specialist
Joe Varello netted the game-winner with two-tenths of a second left in the game to lift #16 Navy to a 13-12 victory over #9 Syracuse April 21, 2018 at the storied Carrier Dome. The Mids scored two goals in the final minute to earn the program's first win in the series since March 20, 1982 (W, 12-11).
• The Streak Is On: Senior midfielder
Ryan Wade owns the nation's 10th-longest point-scoring streak with a goal or an assist in each of the last 35 contests. He has produced 98 points (34G, 64A) during the streak that dates back to the Feb. 25, 2017 contest against Boston University. The three-year starter has been held without a point just 3 times in his career. Meanwhile, he has also dealt out assists in each of the last 32 games.
• 40: Ryan Wade leads the team in the scoring column this spring with 40 points on 17 goals and 23 assists. He is one of only four midfielders in program history to score 40 points in a season and the first since 1989 when Brian Keith produced 53 points on 41 goals and 12 assists.
• Dynamic Duo: Seniors
Greyson Torain (81-45=126) and
Ryan Wade (39-72=111) are the 34th and 35th Navy players, respectively, to reach 100 career points, while they are the ninth and 10th midfielders to achieve the feat in the program's 112-year history. Torain and Wade are just the fifth set of classmates in school history to reach 100 points, joining Brendan Schneck and Mike Hannan in 1978, Michael Herger and Brian Keith in 1990, Ian Dingman and Billy Looney in 2007 and Sam Jones and Tucker Hull in 2014.
• Kern Joins Top 10 Saves Leader Board: Third-year starting goalkeeper
Ryan Kern used a career-high tying 18-save performance last weekend against Army to move past Kelly Award winner Matt Russell (2003-06) into 10th on Navy's all-time saves list with 389. He heads into Saturday's game against Syracuse 11 stops shy of becoming only the 10th goalkeeper in school history to reach the 400-save milestone. Kern has amassed 140 saves through 11 games this season. He made 121 stops as a freshman and 123 saves a year ago.
• Patriot League Tournament Race: With two weeks remaining in the regular season, three teams - Loyola (5-1), Lehigh (5-1) and Army (5-2) - have clinched playoff berths for the six-team Patriot League Tournament set to begin on Tuesday, April 30 with two quarterfinal games involving the #3 through #6 teams. At 3-4, Navy remains in the hunt for one of the three remaining spots with its lone league contest slated for next Friday against Boston U.
Scouting the Orange
• Now in his 21st season as Syracuse's head coach, John Desko has directed the Orange to an 8-3 record, including a 2-2 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
• Ten of Syracuse's 11 opponents to date have been ranked at the time of the contest with the Orange posting an 8-2 record in those contests. They defeated #14 Albany, #15 Army, #17 Johns Hopkins, #16 Rutgers, #2 Duke, #20 Hobart, #10 Cornell and #18 North Carolina. They have losses to #10 Virginia and #12 Notre Dame. Colgate, who the Orange lost to in their opener, is the only team not ranked on Syracuse's schedule.
• The Orange are 17th nationally in scoring offense, averaging 12.64 goals per game. They have been held to single digits just twice this season.
• Senior attackman Bradley Voigt leads a list of five players who have eclipsed 20 points for the Orange this season. Voigt leads the team with 32 points on a team-best 26 goals and 6 assists. Five of his 26 goals have come a man up. Classmate and fellow attackman Nate Solomon has put up 31 points on 21 goals and 10 assists, while second-year middie Brendan Curry has 29 points on 15 goals and a team-high 14 assists.
• Syracuse stands 13th in scoring defense, holding its opponents to 9.73 goals per game. Just 5 of its 11 opponents have scored double digits against it this season, while the Orange have held their last three opponents under 10 goals.
• Junior keeper Drake Porter has been solid between the pipes where he is ranked 19th in goals-against average (10.04), 10th in save percentage (56.4) and 19th in saves per game (12.36).
• Defenseman Tyson Bomberry is averaging 1.40 caused turnovers per game and has scooped up 44 ground balls.
• Jakob Phaup and Danny Varello have shared the faceoff duties this spring. Phaup, who is ranked sixth in the country in winning percentage, has won 111 of the 170 draws (65.3) he has taken, while Varello is 58 of 102 (56.9). Phaup leads the team in ground balls with 51.
Navy vs. Syracuse - The Series
• Saturday's contest marks the 29th meeting between Navy and Syracuse and the second consecutive year in which the two programs will square off.
• Navy owns a 19-8-1 series advantage, including a 15-2 mark in games played in Annapolis.
• Navy scored 2 goals in the final 10 seconds of the game, including the game-winner with two-tenths of a second left by faceoff specialist
Joe Varello, to earn the program's first win (13-12) over Syracuse since 1982.
• Last year's contest marked the first time the two programs had met during the regular season since March 19, 1983, when Syracuse dealt the Mids a 17-9 loss at the Dome.
• The win last spring marked the first time Navy won in Syracuse since April 15, 1978, in a 14-10 victory.
• This will be
Rick Sowell's third appearance against Syracuse as a head coach (lost at Dartmouth) and second as the Mids' skipper. Meanwhile, Desko is 1-1 against Navy, directing the Orange to a win over the Mids in the 2004 National Championship Game, followed by the loss a year ago.
Navy, Syracuse Among Winningest Programs
• One of seven Div. I lacrosse programs that has produced 700+ wins, Navy became just the fourth to reach 800 when it defeated UMBC on Feb. 15.
• With 803 wins, Navy is the fourth-winningest team in D-I men's lacrosse history behind Johns Hopkins (989), Syracuse (911) and Maryland (832).
• Navy will play three of the other six teams in that 700-plus win club during the regular season (all at home) - Feb. 23 vs. Maryland (L, 14-9), April 13 vs. Army (L, 9-8 OT) and Saturday vs. Syracuse.
