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Coming off their huge road win over Northwestern on Thursday, the Syracuse Orange are back home for another big-time matchup with the Yale Bulldogs on this St. Patrick’s Day Tuesday.
The Orange jumped up in this week’s polls thanks to that win, and have entered the Top 10 for the first time this season. They moved up six spots in the Inside Lacrosse media poll to No. 9, meaning we’ve got a Top 10 matchup on our hands with Yale currently sitting at No. 5.
This is also a revenge matchup for ‘Cuse, who lost twice to Yale last season, including their season-ending loss in the NCAA Second Round in New Haven.
The game is being televised on ESPNU with opening draw set for 4:30 PM.
Yale is undefeated so far this season at 7-0, although they’ve done so against a relatively weak schedule having played UMass Lowell, Quinnipiac, BU, Michigan, Central Connecticut State, Columbia and UConn. The Wolverines, currently No. 8 in the IL poll, are the only ranked team they’ve played.
It’s possible the numbers are skewed because of the schedule, but Yale’s a team that basically does everything well. They’re a very good draw team (62.8 percent, 12th nationally), they’ve got a high-scoring offense (16.0 goals per, tied-6th nationally) that shoots a good percentage (49.3 percent, 14th nationally), and they hold onto the ball (9.86 turnovers per, 5th nationally).
Perhaps most importantly, they have the No. 1 scoring defense in the country, surrendering an average of 5.57 goals per game. On the season, they’re out-scoring their opponents, 112-39, out-shooting them, 227-124, out-draw controlling them, 103-61, and out-ground balling them, 108-81.
That’s a scary collection of numbers for any Yale opponent, so ‘Cuse certainly has their hands full as they return home.
The Bulldogs graduated a lot from last year’s veteran team, so they’ve got a bunch of youngsters contributing in big roles for them. In fact, their top three and five of their top seven scorers are either freshmen or sophomores, led by first year midfielder Kate Gould. She’s their answer to Molly Guzik, as she leads the team with 31 points, 13 assists and 41 draw controls, as well as being second with 18 goals. She’s also sniping at 60 percent on the year.
Sophomore attacker Kelly Holmes leads the team with 20 goals and is second with 28 points while shooting 57 percent. First year midfielder Meg Bohan is third on the team with 17 goals, 20 points and a 56.7 shot percentage.
Their defense is a little bit more of a veteran group, led by senior Emmy Pascal’s 15 caused turnovers and 13 ground balls and junior Katie Clare’s 10 and 11.
The real danger for the Orange is in goal, where sophomore Niamh Pfaff is having a spectacular season leading the nation’s No. 1 defense. Pfaff currently ranks seventh in the country with a .520 save percentage and is first nationally with a 5.86 goals-against average.
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