Syracuse Lacrosse Looking at a Very Successful Season

Syracuse University Lacrosse, both men’s and women’s, has been known to have a strong team. Early this season, the men’s team is already 7-0, with wins against Siena, #10 Cornell, #11 Army, #5 Virginia, St. John’s, and #17 John Hopkins. Led by head coach John Desko, and with leading scorers: senior, Randy Staats, junior Dylan Donahue, and senior Kevin Rice (from Skaneateles). Their fantastic defense is led by number one goalie, senior Bobby Wardwell.

The men’s team has many strong players, and they have experienced coaches. Head coach Desko has five NCAA Championship wins, with four Big East Championship wins. He has made the NCAA Tournament every year except for 2007, when they had a record of 5-8.

One of their top players is Dylan Donahue, leading the team in points, with a total of 26. He has 17 goals, and 9 assists in the season so far. Donahue is originally from West Genesee. In high school, he was named an All-American for his outstanding play.

Another player, who is fairly local and has a connection to Weedsport, is Senior Forward, Kevin Rice. He has a total of 28 points, with 11 goals, and 17 assists. Coincidentally, his mother, Linda Rice, was the former middle school principal before Mr. O’Connor here at Weedsport.

He has a great support system with the other top players, Staats and Donahue.

Rice is also one of the 20 candidates to be awarded the 2015 Senior CLASS award, which focuses on the “4 C’s”, including: the classroom, character, community, and competition. He certainly has a lot of competition being a leading scorer of the Orange. He was also nominated as the ACC Offensive Player of the Week, on March 3.

Heading into the rest of the season, and eventually the ACC and NCAA Tournaments, the No. 1 Syracuse Orange looks for success. Many of the seniors and juniors would want to get a championship under their belt while playing lacrosse.

Rice has many options after college lacrosse, one of them being to join the Major League Lacrosse. Some of the local teams are the Rochester Rattlers, or the Boston Cannons. He can also join the NLL (National Lacrosse League), or the Major Series Lacrosse, which is located in Canada.

Cody Jamieson was a former Syracuse Orange player who furthered his career. He was originally a “Six Nations Kid,” and is a cousin of Syracuse super-star Randy Staats. He played in the 2009 National Championship game, and scored the winning goal against the Cornell Big Red. He plays in the MSL, NLL and the MLL.

The season looks bright for the Orange and many fans are backing them up. They may not receive as many fans as basketball, or football does, but lacrosse can be one of the most intense sports. The Orange’s next game is against Duke, at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse on March 22.