April 29, 2021

free

THURSDAY

april 29, 2021 high 61°, low 52°

t h e i n de p e n de n t s t u de n t n e w s pa p e r of s y r a c u s e , n e w yor k |

dailyorange.com

N • Restrictions lifted

C • Whethering the storm

The rescinding of the United States’ COVID-19 travel bans to several countries was welcomed by SU international students who haven’t been able to study in person.

Page 3

SU seniors wrote and recorded their latest EP over winter break.

The Whether Channel will release “Skully and Ted’s Bogus Journey” on May 14.

Page 7

S • Rebuilding the team Former SU basketball player Ryan Blackwell took over Liverpool HS’ program as the head coach in 2015. He’s since built the program into a powerhouse.

Page 12

SU Steam Station is a complicated neighbor

DAVID RUFUS has experienced firsthand the effects that SU’s Steam Station, on the corner of McBride and Taylor streets, has had on the local community. Keep the next sentence. wendy wang staff photographer

By Sarah Alessandrini asst. news editor

S

yracuse University’s Steam Station hasn’t always been a good neighbor, according to David Rufus.

Since 1926, SU’s Steam Station has towered over the corner of McBride and Taylor streets. Pioneer Homes, one of the oldest public housing communities in the U.S., is just across the street. The station borders Interstate 81, which destroyed and displaced predominantly Black communities when it was built in 1959 and continues to negatively affect them today.

Residents have mixed feelings about ways the Steam Station has both harmed and helped their neighborhood

men’s lacrosse

Rufus, the I-81 project coordinator for the New York Civil Liberties Union, believes the Steam Station — which provides heating to all buildings on SU’s Main Campus — has had as large an impact on his neighborhood as I-81.

“It has been the focal point of hurt, harm and danger for folks living in the community,” Rufus said.

SU’s Steam Station has contributed to pollution, disproportionately impacted Black residents and further depressed land value, according to a recent report from the NYCLU. Residents have also expressed concerns about the impact the Steam Station has on air quality and their health. see steam page 4

on campus

Desko says he reinstated Scanlan iSchool to expand from 1 major to 3

By Allie Kaylor

asst. sports editor

Syracuse attack Chase Scanlan was suspended from the team last week after he was involved in what the Department of Public Safety classified as a domestic incident, according to Syracuse.com.

DPS responded to an incident reported on South Campus at 11:34 a.m. on April 18, the day after SU played UNC. The incident occurred just after midnight on April 18 but was not reported until later that morning, according to the DPS crime log.

The case is currently listed as open. Scanlan has not been charged with a crime, Syracuse.com reported.

A DPS official told The D.O. in an email on April 20 that the report has been turned over to the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities and SU’s Title IX office. Syracuse Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Matthew Malinowski told The D.O. in an email on Wednesday that SPD is working with DPS and the Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick’s office’s office to investigate the incident.

Desko started his weekly press

conference on Wednesday with an opening statement before he began fielding questions from reporters. He confirmed that Scanlan was suspended from the team and said it is against federal law to comment on a student’s experience or record at the university.

“Chase was suspended from the team 10 days ago for violating team rules and expectations,” Desko said. “On Monday, April 26, I reinstated him.”

When asked to confirm if Desko made the decision to reinstate the redshirt sophomore, he said “Yes.” see scanlan page 4

By Gillian Follett staff writer

In the world of technology, it’s essential to always be on the cutting edge of new developments and trends, said Bruce Kingma, the director of undergraduate programs at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies.

“I’ve always said that, ‘If we don’t teach the same classes now that we taught five years ago,

thank God, because the world has moved,’” he said. “And we’d better not be teaching the same classes five years from now that we’re teaching today.”

This philosophy drove Kingma, along with other leaders in the iSchool, to develop two new majors that will be offered starting fall 2021: one in applied data analytics and another in innovation, society and technology. These new majors see major page 4

2 april 29, 2021

about

INSIDE

The best quotes from sources in today’s paper.

NEWS t h e i n de p e n de n t s t u de n t n e w s pa p e r of s y r a c u s e , n e w yor k Editor@dailyorange.com News@dailyorange.com Opinion@dailyorange.com Culture@dailyorange.com Sports@dailyorange.com Digital@dailyorange.com Design@dailyorange.com ADVERTISING 315-443-9794 BUSINESS 315-443-2315 EDITORIAL 315-443-9798 GENERAL FAX 315-443-3689

The Daily Orange is an independent, nonprofit newspaper published in Syracuse, New York. The editorial content of the paper — which started in 1903 and went independent in 1971 — is entirely run by Syracuse University students.

The D.O., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is editorially and financially independent from SU, and the paper receives no funding from the university. Instead, The D.O. relies on advertising revenue and donations to sustain operations.

This spring, the paper will be published Monday and Thursday when SU classes are in session. Special inserts are published on Thursdays before home football and basketball games. The D.O.’s online coverage is 24/7, including while SU is on break.

To show your support to The D.O.’s independent journalism, please visit dailyorange.com/donate. Donations are tax deductible.

OPINION “We have immigrants, international students and Asian Americans who are a vital part of our community. To dismiss them as anything less is an unjustifiable and unethical act.” - columnist Ivana Xie Page 5

CULTURE “You can’t manufacture passion.” - Syracuse University alumna Mallory Rubin Page 7

SPORTS “Kids want to play for him because of his reputation. He’s very intelligent, and he does what’s best for his kids.” -West Genesee head coach Frederick Kent on Ryan Blackwell Page 12

how to join us If you are a Syracuse University or SUNY-ESF student interested in contributing to The D.O. on either its advertising or editorial teams, please email editor@dailyorange.com.

COMING UP

corrections policy The D.O. strives to be as accurate in our reporting as possible. Please email editor@dailyorange.com to report a correction.

Noteworthy events this week.

WHAT: Late Night Ice Throwback: Grateful Dead WHEN: Today, 7-11 p.m.

WHERE: Tennity Ice Skating Pavilion

letter to the editor policy The D.O. prides itself as an outlet for community discussion. To learn more about our submission guidelines, please email opinion@dailyorange. com with your full name and affiliation within the Syracuse community. Please note letters should not include any personal information pertaining to other people unless it is relevant to the topic at hand. All letters will be edited for style and grammar.

“Without that building, I probably wouldn’t have gone to SU.” - Jameel Shareef, who received SU’s Cogeneration Steam Scholarship Page 1

WHAT: Orange After Dark Escape Room WHEN: Friday, 7-11 p.m.

The D.O. is published weekdays during the Syracuse University academic year by The Daily Orange Corp., 230 Euclid Ave., Syracuse, NY 13210. All contents Copyright 2021 by The Daily Orange Corp. and may not be reprinted without the expressed written permission of the editor-in-chief. The Daily Orange is in no way a subsidy or associated with Syracuse University. All contents © 2021 The Daily Orange Corporation

TIRESTIRESTIRESTIRESTIRESTIRESTIRES

4 Quality Tires BIG TIRE

WHERE: Schine Student Center, The Underground WHAT: Outdoor Challenge Course: High Adventure WHEN: Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

WHERE: 600 Skytop Road

SKYTOP Wine and Liquor

Bleeding Orange and Blue since 1982

Next to Manley Field House

Simply cut out or take a picture of coupons to redeem

$33.99

OR CHECK US OUT AT WWW.BIG4TIRE.COM

10% off

3 for $18

Tito’s Handmade Vodka (1.75 L)

Andre Assorted Varieties (750 mL)

expires 4/30/21 • excludes other sales or discounts

expires 4/30/21 • excludes other sales or discounts

$5 off

Wine purchases of $15 or more

any purchase of $50 or more

expires 4/30/21 • excludes other sales or discounts

Low prices!

TIRESTIRESTIRESTIRESTIRESTIRESTIRES

Conveniently located in Tops Plaza

Shop Online or call 315-446-6710 to place your order

149 Midler Park Drive Syracuse, NY 13206 (315) 437-0329

230 Old Bridge Street E. Syracuse, NY 13057 (315) 432-4444

(315) 446-6710 SkytopLiquors.com

Touchless Curbside Pickup Available!

and Services VISIT US AT

608 Nottingham Rd, Syracuse, NY

expires 4/30/21 • excludes

other sales or discounts

f

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram

Download our app: Peter’s Skytop Liquors Huge inventory!

NEWS

dailyorange.com news@dailyorange.com

PAG E 3

april 29, 2021

national

state

SU students hopeful after travel bans end New York will lift curfews for restaurants

By Mira Berenbaum asst. news editor

New York will lift the curfew for bars and restaurants at the end of May, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday.

The state will lift the curfew, currently set at midnight, on May 17 for outdoor dining areas and on May 31 for indoor dining areas, according to a press release. The state will allow catered events to resume at private residences on May 3, as long as the event is staffed by a licensed caterer and adheres to public health guidelines.

COVID-19 restrictions have made it difficult for many Syracuse University international students to travel to or from the United States during the pandemic. francis tang staff writer

By Francis Tang staff writer

Many Syracuse University international students may finally have the opportunity to return to campus for a full in-person semester for the first time since the pandemic arrived in the U.S. Since last year, travelers who have been to China, Iran, Brazil, South Africa, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Europe’s Schengen area in the past 14 days have been prohibited from entering the U.S. International students who have left the U.S. previously could not return for school without lengthy quarantines in another country.

The U.S. Department of State announced Monday that, starting Aug. 1, all individuals who hold F-1 student visas and J-1 exchange visi-

tor visas are exempt from certain travel restrictions and may enter the U.S. for academic programs that start within 30 days of arrival.

SU international students who have been subject to the current travel restrictions said they welcome the decision, which will reduce the cost associated with returning to campus.

Yitong Liu, a sophomore psychology major who has gone home to China, had already decided to come back to SU this fall. The new policy will save her a 14-day quarantine in another country.

“I felt happy for a lot of my friends,” Liu said. “A lot of them had been pretty anxious before the announcement was made.”

Linxuan Xu, a freshman architecture student at SU, is planning to return home to Beijing, China

over the summer. This would be her first time home since she graduated from high school near Boston.

Stranded in the U.S. for about a year and a half, the academic pressure and homesickness took a toll on Xu’s mental health. She hopes to take better care of herself back home and spend more time with her family, Xu said.

“I felt kind of relieved after hearing about the announcement,” Xu said. “Because I can finally see some progress here, some optimistic policies between China and the states.”

Despite the eased restrictions, hurdles remain for many incoming international students who still have to apply for their student visas to enter the U.S. Right now, only about 40% of U.S. consulates are routinely scheduling visa inter-

views, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported Tuesday.

SU has provided study abroad options for students to take classes locally in their home countries. Some Chinese students are planning to obtain their visas in Singapore, but they would be subject to travel restrictions getting there.

Xu’s F-1 visa expires at the end of May. If she returns home for the summer and wants to return to SU, she will need to attend an in-person interview to obtain a new visa.

Since the U.S. hasn’t resumed the visa application process, it will be challenging for her to do so.

“I’ll wait and see,” Xu said.

“Hopefully, there will always be a way to come back.” btang05@syr.edu @francis_towne

state

SU professors weigh in on NY census results

By Maggie Hicks and Chris Hippensteel the daily orange

New York state will lose one seat in the U.S. House of Representatives after it came 89 residents short of keeping its 27 seats.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced the change Monday, stating that the House seat instead went to Minnesota, which also came close to losing the seat. This will be the fifth seat New York has lost in the past 30 years.

Some lawmakers have expressed criticism of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s preparation for the census, which took place largely during the pandemic. The state devoted $30 million dollars to the count, The New York Times reported, and Cuomo attributed the low numbers to former President Donald Trump’s criticism of the census.

The governor called on the state attorney general Wednesday to review the state’s legal options in challenging the decision.

“So much of our state’s recovery, revitalization and resilience is dependent on having our voice heard in Washington, and we won’t

allow Trump and his cronies to use one of our greatest attributes — our diversity — as an impediment,” Cuomo said in a press release.

While Cuomo has argued that New York isn’t truly losing residents, multiple professors at Syracuse University said the drop reflects existing migration trends, which have, over recent decades, shifted the U.S. population away from northeastern states to the southern “Sun Belt” states. Still, they said the change in seats could have both political and social implications down the line.

If Cuomo’s challenge doesn’t go through, professors said the census outcome will marginally decrease New York’s influence in national politics. Given the balance of power in the state legislature, the redistricting process is more likely to take a seat from a Republican representative than a Democrat, said Steven White, an associate professor of political science at SU. The state could combine some districts in upstate New York that are controlled by Republicans, causing Republicans to lose a seat, said Chris Faricy, an associate professor in political science.

“All the scenarios that I’m looking at would cause the Republicans to lose a seat in the state of New York,” Faricy said. “The question is how many and where they would be at.”

James Sharp, professor emeritus of history, agreed that the Democrats’ influence in New York state would make it unlikely for a Democratic representative to lose their district in the redrawing process.

He also expects any redistricting to take place in upstate New York, far from New York City.

That could mean that central New York or the Syracuse area could see its congressional districts change, Sharp said.

“The area in southern New York, around New York City, I’d be very surprised to see that area redrawn to shift the number of representatives to the upstate area,” he said.

New York still has heavy congressional control, with the fourth-highest number of congressional seats in the House.

Democrats will also likely rely on New York to make up for seats that other Republican seats gained, Faricy said. Texas gained two congressional seats after this year’s census.

“The states that gain seats are controlled by Republicans and therefore the Democratic Party is looking to New York, which has flexibility because of the losing one seat and Democrats controlling the state legislature, to help make up for the loss of seats they’re going to experience with states like Texas and Arizona adding seats,” Faricy said.

The loss of a seat means less representation from New York on a national scale, said Grant Reeher, director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and professor of political science.

New York’s lower population count will mean the state receives fewer resources and less funding from the federal government, which is typically based on population. This could impact everything from Pell Grants to school lunches.

“All in all, there will be one less voice advocating for New York,” Reeher said. mehickss@syr.edu @maggie_hicks cjhippen@syr.edu @chrishipp15_

Everything we’ve been doing is working — all the arrows are pointing in the right direction and now we’re able to increase economic activity even more Andrew Cuomo new york state governor

“Everything we’ve been doing is working — all the arrows are pointing in the right direction and now we’re able to increase economic activity even more,” Cuomo said in the release. “Over the last year, New Yorkers have remained disciplined and continued with the practices we know work to stop the spread of the virus.”

The state will also lift the curfew for catered events in public spaces, which is currently set for 1 a.m.

Catering events that require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test can resume on May 17, and by May 31, the state will completely lift the curfew.

The state will also change its guidance on dancing at catered events to align with neighboring states beginning May 3.

Gyms and casinos can begin operating at 50% capacity May 15, and offices can increase capacity to 75% then as well.

Syracuse’s Common Council passed a measure Monday to waive Certificate of Use fees for restaurants and bars. Many local restaurants both in the city of Syracuse and across the country have struggled due to lost business amid the pandemic.

Eliminating curfews could help some of the lost revenues local businesses have faced over the past year.

Cuomo encouraged all residents to receive a COVID-19 vaccine to allow for the continued reopening of food and beverage services. Restaurants employees and delivery workers became eligible for the vaccine before the state opened up eligibility for all residents at the beginning of the month.

“To be clear: we will only be able to maintain this progress if everyone gets the COVID vaccine,” Cuomo said. “We need everyone to take it, otherwise we risk going backward.” mlberenb@syr.edu @BerenbaumMira

4 april 29, 2021

from page 1

steam But throughout its nearly 100-year history, the Steam Station has made efforts to reduce its footprint in the community and give back to residents. Still, some residents have questions about the industrial facility looming over their neighborhood.

“A lot of people over there still don’t know what it actually is,” said Jameel Shareef, a 2014 SU graduate who grew up in Pioneer Homes.

“It’s Syracuse University right in the heart of the neighborhood.”

Shareef remembers playing in Wilson Park across the street from the Steam Station, but neither he nor his friends knew exactly what went on there.

The Steam Station also supplies heating to SUNY-ESF, the VA Medical Center, Crouse Hospital and SUNY Upstate Medical University.

The station, which consists of two plants, also supplies cooling to 32 buildings on SU’s campus.

“I thought it was vacant for a lot of years when I was a kid,” Shareef said. “I didn’t think it was a working building.”

Shareef received SU’s Co-Generation Scholarship, which awards full tuition, fees, room and board to students living in the neighborhood surrounding the Steam Station.

Students living in the community bound by South Salina Street, East Castle Street, Renwick Avenue and East Adams Street are eligible to receive the scholarship, which was most recently awarded in 2018. The Syracuse Housing Authority works with SU to select recipients.

The university also works with city agencies and other community organizations to offer a Cogeneration Plant Grant Assistance Program, which provides a financial aid package to nearby residents who are pursuing a bachelor’s degree at SU. The scholarship allowed Shareef to attend SU and even offered him the opportunity to work at the Steam Station during his summer and winter breaks.

“Without that building, I probably wouldn’t from page 1

scanlan In the 11 minute-long press conference, Desko declined to comment on 10 questions.

He frequently replied that he “can’t and won’t provide further comment” and told reporters to refer to his opening statement.

SPD and the district attorney’s office have from page 1

major are designed to reflect skills and areas of knowledge that are currently in high demand in the tech world, he said.

For the past 30 years, the iSchool has only offered one undergraduate major, information management and technology, while almost every other school at the university hosts multiple, Kingma said.

Kingma and other iSchool professors have frequently discussed expanding its offerings, he said. They began to realize that the information management and technology major wasn’t “one size fits all,” and that its combined focus on business and technology wasn’t appealing to every student.

“We were keen on the fact that there was additional student interest in other areas of ‘information,’” he said. “We knew it was well past the time to pull the trigger on it and to expand our undergraduate offerings.”

The school initiated the official development of new majors after appointing Raj Dewan as dean in January 2020, Kingma said.

Almost immediately after becoming dean, Dewan began to challenge Kingma and other professors to consider how the iSchool could improve its academic offerings, he said. After Dewan asked Kingma to serve as the director of undergraduate programs, they got to work establishing the long-anticipated new majors.

The three majors at the iSchool will all feature the same set of core classes. After that point, the majors diverge, with the applied data analytics major focusing on the development of programming skills and the innovation, society and technology major centering on the impact technology has on society.

The information management and technology major will remain largely the same, maintaining its emphasis on how technology and business overlap.

dailyorange.com news@dailyorange.com

have gone to SU,” he said.

The Steam Station’s relationship with the neighborhood has improved in recent years, Rufus said. Many of the concerns residents have about the Steam Station now come from uncertainty about what it is or the effects it might have on the community, Shareef said.

The utility company Project Orange operated the station from 1990 until about a decade ago, when SU broke ties with the company amid a series of lawsuits. In 2018, the university transferred operation of the station to Enwave Energy, a Canadian-based district energy services provider.

The station, which supplies steam through six miles of underground piping, allows SU more space within its buildings where heating or cooling equipment would otherwise go, said Nathan Prior, the station’s general manager.

The station has been burning natural gas since 1970 as residential development increased in the area, he said.

“A lot of colleges and universities in the last 10 years have started getting rid of coal,” Prior said. “We’re ahead of the curve because we got rid of it in 1970.”

While natural gas is cleaner than coal, the combustion still releases harmful pollutants.

The main pollutants associated with natural gas combustion include carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which concerns environmentalists because of their connection to climate change, said Huiting Mao, a professor of environmental chemistry at SUNY-ESF. The station also emits volatile organic compounds, which are present in emissions from cars and tobacco smoke, and they can be carcinogenic, Mao said.

SU’s Steam Station emits 58.04 tons of nitrogen oxides and 9.703 tons of volatile organic compounds per year, the largest amount out of seven other facilities in Syracuse, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2017 emissions reports on industrial facilities. The agency releases the reports every three years, most recently in 2017.

Since the station doesn’t burn coal, it emits less sulfur dioxide than some other facilities in the city, Mao said. It’s unlikely that current residents in the area would still be facing the effects of sulfur emissions from the station decades ago, she said.

“About this air pollution problem, it’s a very complex issue,” Mao said. “You really need to look at a wide range of chemical compounds, and they play different roles in different chemical reactions.”

The NYCLU report found that children living near the station have disproportionately high rates of asthma, but it would take extensive research to determine if air pollution from the Steam Station or from I-81 is the main cause, Mao said.

Rydell Davis, who received the Co-Generation Scholarship and graduated from SU in 2013, said that he and most of his friends from the area had asthma growing up. When he moved out of the neighborhood, his asthma started to get better.

“In any event, higher levels of pollutants, higher levels of ozone, are definitely detrimental to human health, no doubt about that,” Mao said. “I cannot say with 100% confidence that they will cause high asthma rates in that area.”

The station’s operators have discussed ways to become more environmentally friendly, and many of those conversations are in line with changes being made at the state and federal level, Prior said. The station also holds a Title V Air Emissions Operating permit from the state, which limits how much and what kind of emissions the station can produce, Prior said.

Employees are also trained on pesticides, as the station operates cooling towers with water that needs to be treated for bacteria and other chemicals, Prior said.

The station also conducts regular inspection of all its manholes. Since some of the station’s pipes run underground, its operators often have to shut down the street to conduct maintenance, Prior said.

Though the station has limited its environmental impact, some residents still have concerns, Rufus said. Sometimes the station creates disturbing noise, and the frequent construction on the street corner is inconvenient, he said.

Over the years, the Steam Station has built a relationship with the Syracuse Housing Authority, which it meets with regularly to discuss operations at the station, said Bill Simmons, executive director of the housing authority.

If residents have questions or concerns regarding the Steam Station, they can contact the housing authority for assistance, he said.

The Steam Station has taken on projects, including the repairment of a crumbling sidewalk on McBride Street, to help local residents, Prior said.

“We really pride ourselves on working with the neighborhood,” Prior said.

Shareef and Davis were grateful to receive scholarships associated with the plant, but they wish the university would advertise the opportunities more. Shareef learned about the scholarship through a youth program he was involved in during high school. Davis learned about it through Rufus.

“It’s not advertised enough. A lot of people don’t know about it,” Shareef said. “I feel when more people know about it, they’ll go after it because it’s a great scholarship.”

SU had a big impact on Shareef’s life. But many children living in his neighborhood never get to see the university.

“In the area where I grew up, there are still kids down there, even though SU is less than a half-mile up the hill, who have never walked that grass or the sidewalks up there,” Shareef said.

Davis wants to see the university offer employment opportunities for people living in the immediate neighborhood. Shareef also wants to see educational opportunities for local high school students living in the area most directly affected by the Steam Station.

“Syracuse can still help with a lot,” Shareef said.

joined the investigation and are going to meet with the other party involved, according to the Syracuse.com report. “We plan on meeting with the victim at her convenience,” Fitzpatrick told Syracuse.com.

Syracuse’s captains reportedly threatened to walk out of Tuesday’s practice if Scanlan was present. Instead, the sophomore attack practiced on his own.

Desko did not comment on reports that players threatened to not practice if Scanlan joined the team, but an SU Athletics spokesperson later clarified that Scanlan practiced independently on Wednesday with a member of SU’s coaching staff. Desko said that Scanlan will not be traveling to Syracuse’s game against Notre Dame this weekend. Scanlan did not play in Syracuse’s 13-11 win over Virginia

on Saturday.

The attack is Syracuse’s leading goal scorer (24) and is third on the team in points (33). He had started all nine games prior to his suspension. Against Virginia, junior Owen Seebold took over for Scanlan, recording two goals and two assists in the conference win.

Students in any of the three majors will also have the option to pursue a concentration in one of seven areas, including one that will be introduced next semester. The “Innovation, Design and Startup” concentration will teach students how to launch a startup company. About 5% of iSchool students start their own businesses while still in college, Kingma said.

Data analytics has attracted increased student interest in recent years, with roughly 20% of iSchool students currently pursuing a data analytics concentration.

“You see (data analytics) every day, but sometimes you don’t even think about it,” said Jeffrey Saltz, an associate professor at the iSchool and the director of the graduate data analytics program. “If you sit down and watch Netflix, there’s analytics helping Netflix make a prediction about what show you might like.”

The “Applied Data Analytics” concentration will help students understand various types of data and how to analyze it, Saltz said.

Along with the new majors, the iSchool will also launch a series of new courses, including one that teaches students how to analyze large data sets and another about applying information technology to social justice.

The iSchool is currently searching for five new faculty members to support these new majors and courses. Kingma and other leaders in the iSchool are aiming to hire the new professors within the next two months, he said.

The new majors were only recently approved by New York and currently have no enrolled students, but freshman and sophomore iSchool students can easily switch to one of the two majors, Kingma said. After years of discussing expanding the academic offerings at the iSchool, he hopes the two new majors will allow interested students to find their niche in the school.

scalessa@syr.edu @sarahalessan

aekaylor@syr.edu @cincinnallie

The iSchool previously offered only one undergraduate major, while most schools at SU host multiple. corey henry senior staff photographer

“I really think it’ll better serve our students and better serve our graduates,” Kingma said. “We have a slice of students who are all about business and the impact of technol-

ogy. But not all of our students are interested in the business side of it, and we have to do our students right.” gifollet@syr.edu

OPINION

dailyorange.com opinion@dailyorange.com

PAG E 5

april 29, 2021

column

Biden made promises to refugees. He’s yet to keep them.

By Micaela Warren columnist

P

resident Joe Biden seems to be breaking campaign promise after campaign promise when it comes to border issues. New York policymakers need to hold the president and his administration accountable.

The administration has been very unclear about its plans in the context of immigration policy.

Biden promised during the campaign to raise the refugee cap.

But the administration initially announced that it planned to keep the refugee cap the same as when former President Donald Trump’s administration was in the White House. This immediately sparked outrage among Democratic politicians, immigration advocates and many Americans.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn) led a group of Democrats in urging Biden to recommit to raising the cap. One powerful part read, “We must keep our promises to people who have fled unthinkably brutal conditions in their home countries and live up to our ambition to provide them a safe haven to re-start their lives.” By the morning of April 16, more than 30 Democratic lawmakers had signed the letter.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is another powerful Democrat urging the Biden administration to continue its initial promise to raise the refugee cap. Pelosi told The Hill, “We have a moral responsibility in the world

— as every other country does, too — to receive refugees who have a wellfounded fear of persecution or harm (if they) return to their own country.”

The administration later backtracked on its statement. It has changed its stance on the refugee cap six times in three weeks, according to the Washington Post.

This is not the only issue regarding the border that Biden is not keeping his word on, subsequently confusing the public. Before the election, Biden stated that he would completely stop construction of the border wall but would not demolish parts built under the Trump administration.

During his campaign, Biden told NPR, “There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration.” But at the beginning of the month, Business Insider reported that “He said construction could resume in gaps, gates, and areas where the wall had been built but planned technology had not been installed.”

So, which is it, “not another foot” or continuing to maintain what the Trump administration already planned?

The Biden administration will not be the solution to the refugee crisis. This issue is especially prevalent here in Onondaga County, which has the third-highest refugee intake in the country per capita as of 2016, according to Syracuse.com.

We, as fellow residents of Onondaga County, need to demand more action for our immigrant population. Our representatives need to be

Biden’s failure to fulfill campaign promises on border policies are unacceptable. Local lawmakers need to hold his administration accountable.

daily orange file photo

doing so as well.

The local organization Syracuse Refugee and Immigration SelfEmpowerment supports refugees in achieving independence. Central New York lawmakers should meet with organizations such as RISE to make more informed decisions about immigration issues.

Our upstate New York lawmakers are pushing the Biden admin-

istration to open the Canada-U.S. border. But the crisis at the Mexican border is much more pressing and much more deadly. Our focus needs to be there.

The Trump administration’s villainization of Mexican immigrants was disgusting. It shouldn’t affect their ability to enter the U.S. legally.

The Biden administration promised they would do better than the previ-

ous administration. It hasn’t.

We need to demand more clarity and action. If that means demanding it from local lawmakers instead of the nation’s president, so be it – the lives of immigrants and refugees are at stake.

Micaela Warren is a freshman communication and rhetorical studies major. Her column appears biweekly. She can be reached at mgwarren@syr.edu.

column

Syracuse needs safer transportation for Asian residents

By Ivana Xie columnist

N

ew York City residents Madeline Park started the Cafe Maddy Cab initiative on April 2 after being terrified of commuting due to the rise in antiAsian hate crimes in the U.S. The initiative provides those in need with funds for safer transportation options within New York City.

People fill out an online form and place a request on Venmo to get their ride fare reimbursed for up to $40. Nearly two days after Park started the organization, she raised over $100,000 from donations. With Cafe Maddy Cab growing quickly, Asian people — including women, the elderly, and LGBTQ people — have received a safer transportation alternative.

Her idea spread to other cities, such as San Francisco and Boston. This service would be helpful in Syracuse, too, as antiAsian hate exists here as well.

Two people reportedly directed anti-Asian language toward a Syracuse University student on

News Editor Michael Sessa Editorial Editor Cori Dill Culture Editor Sydney Bergan Sports Editor Roshan Fernandez Presentation Director Shannon Kirkpatrick Photo Editor Emily Steinberger Video Editor Rose Skylstad Podcast Editor Moriah Humiston Illustration Editor Nabeeha Anwar Enterprise Editor Gabe Stern Asst. News Editor Sarah Alessandrini Asst. News Editor Mira Berenbaum

Feb. 27, and notes that contained racist language against Chinese students were found in at least three university buildings on March 11.

Yen Peng, a senior at SU, shared her fears and concerns caused by the anti-Asian hate incidents. The rise in hate incidents is scary, she said, because she thinks about her parents also being in danger.

“It’s really disheartening because no one really talks about it besides Asians ourselves. It’s really sad because Asians are just preaching Asian awareness to other Asians,” Yen Peng said. “Can anyone else care?”

It would be beneficial for the Asian community to receive a similar service such as Cafe Maddy Cab to keep SU students and Syracuse residents safe when they’re commuting.

The Department of Public Safety currently offers walking and shuttle escorts for students who feel unsafe. But not all students feel safe interacting with DPS. If there were a service similar to Cafe Maddy Cab in

Asst. News Editor Maggie Hicks Asst. Editorial Editor Megan Cooper Asst. Editorial Editor Hamere Debebe Asst. Culture Editor Louis Platt Asst. Culture Editor Chris Scarglato Asst. Sports Editor Allie Kaylor Asst. Sports Editor Skyler Rivera Design Editor Maya Goosmann Design Editor Yiwei He Design Editor Talley Schroeder Design Editor Sarah Jimenez Miles Asst. Photo Editor Annabelle Gordon

Syracuse, sophomore Emmy Naw would prefer that it isn’t associated with DPS. “Even with DPS, sometimes people feel uncomfortable. I mean, are they really here to help us?”

Naw said.

Sophomore Alexis Peng also doesn’t feel safe interacting with DPS, both as a student of color and in light of the department’s interactions with students of color.

Junior Karen Lin feels hopeless and angry about anti-Asian hate incidents, and she wishes she could do more about it.

“Every time I read about it, I think about my mom, who takes public transportation to work, and how she works at a nail salon.

What if I, one day, get a text from my brother about my mom being in the hospital?” Lin said.

Lin said she would not use the Cafe Maddy Cab service, as she doesn’t want to take away the opportunity from Asian community members who are in more need.

“That’s always something that haunts me in the back of my head, or when really old people get attacked

on the streets — I think about my grandpa. He still works, and I worry for him too because he’s such an easy target,” Lin said.

The pandemic has sparked an increase in hate crimes toward Asian people in the U.S. Asian people’s safety is a concern beyond

Casey Darnell

Emma Folts

KJ Edelman

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

MANAGING EDITOR

DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR

Asst. Photo Editor Sarah Lee Asst. Photo Editor Lucy Messineo-Witt Asst. Photo Editor Anya Wijeweera Asst. Video Editor Maya Pow Asst. Video Editor Maddy Kramer Executive Producer Adam Garrity Executive Producer Luca Serio Podcast Host Marnie Muñoz Podcast Host Sarah Slavin Sportscast Host Thomas Shults Asst. Digital Editor Gavi Azoff Asst. Digital Editor Chris Hippensteel

Asst. Digital Editor Kailey Norusis Asst. Digital Editor Anish Vasudevan Asst. Digital Editor Abby Weiss Asst. Copy Editor Anthony Alandt Asst. Copy Editor Ashley Clemens Asst. Copy Editor Jordan Greene Asst. Copy Editor Richard Perrins Asst. Copy Editor Abby Presson Asst. Copy Editor Connor Smith Asst. Illustration Editor Cassiane Cavallaro Asst. Illustration Editor Katelyn Marcy Senior Web Developer Kevin Camelo

illustration by cassie cavallaro asst. illustration editor

the city of Syracuse. A service such as Cafe Maddy Cab would be beneficial to Asian community members in Syracuse.

Ivana Xie is a junior writing and rhetorical studies major. Her column appears biweekly. She can be reached at ixie01@syr.edu.

General Manager Advertising Manager Fundraising Coordinator Business Asst.

Circulation Manager Student Delivery Agent

Mike Dooling Mark Nash Haley Robertson Tim Bennett Steve Schultz Dan Brownell

6 april 29, 2021

dailyorange.com

C

CULTURE

dailyorange.com culture@dailyorange.com

PAG E 7

april 29, 2021

slice of life

How students use poetry to heal

By Yasmin Nayrouz staff writer

JIMMY UNANUE (FROM LEFT), ANDREW GARCES, RORY STANLEY AND MAX MARCY are SU seniors who make up the band The Whether Channel. They will release their newest album “Skully and Ted’s Bogus Journey” on May 14. chenze chen staff photographer

Skeletal crew

4 SU seniors wrote and recorded an upcoming EP inspired by the “Bill and Ted” movies.

By Linh Le

staff writer

F

or their newest EP, The Whether Channel continues the story of an ordinary skeleton, Skully, and his imaginary stick figure friend, Ted. Skully and Ted are the fictional characters that the band’s latest EP “Skully and Ted’s Bogus Journey” centers around. The characters are inspired by the “Bill and Ted” movies, a series of science fiction films in which two teenagers time travel though they are not very intelligent.

In the previous EP “Skully and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” the music is more upbeat with stories about Skully — a 9-to5 skeleton who is bored with his job — and Ted. The two characters go and take on the world through various adventures that are detailed in the music. The skeleton is currently the band’s mascot.

Contrasting the tone of the last EP,

the new release will “be sonically darker, more ambient, and the lyrics are more brooding,” said Andrew Garces, a Syracuse University senior and one of the band’s guitarists and singers.

“Skully and Ted’s Bogus Journey” will be released on May 14 and contains five songs. The band intends to portray the fluctuation of life with its ups-and-downs.

The EP is meant to remind people that they are not alone in tough times, especially during the pandemic when people are required to quarantine and practice social distancing. The band hopes to make the EP relatable, said Rory Stanley, an SU senior and a singer and guitarist with the band.

These topics of life and depression are the focus of the band. They are embodied in its name — The Whether Channel.

“The meaning behind “whether” is that life is all about what ifs and whatnot,” Garces said. “And the choices you make

see band page 8

beyond the hill

SU alumna Mallory Rubin on leading The Ringer

By Louis Platt

asst. culture editor

Two weeks after Mallory Rubin’s graduation from Syracuse University in 2008, she started working at Sports Illustrated. With the Great Recession looming over the economy, Rubin felt fortunate she got her job just before the print publication froze hiring.

Along with a hiring freeze, Sports Illustrated went through multiple rounds of layoffs.

Rubin worried every day if she would be the next to leave, but she felt determined to make herself essential.

“I’m not going to give anybody the opportunity to kick me out,” Rubin said. “I’m gonna

make sure that I’m working on something here every day that feels impactful.”

The Newhouse School of Public Communications virtually hosted Rubin, the editor-in-chief of The Ringer — an online sports and pop culture publication — for a discussion about her career on Wednesday evening. Newhouse graduate students Samantha Croston and Matthew Nerber asked Rubin about persevering in sports media as a woman, navigating toxic fandom on Twitter and creating content for The Ringer during the pandemic.

Rubin dove into the topic of the “hot take economy,” a sport experts’ analysis with a clickbait aspect. Even in the workplace,

Rubin said her coworkers make fun of her for being a Lamar Jackson fan and joke that he should be a running back — despite Jackson winning the 2019 NFL MVP award as the Baltimore Ravens’ franchise quarterback.

Rubin admitted that dissidence is part of life and while The Ringer is known for dropping hot takes in their articles and podcasts, the publication likes to “lean into parody” in a fun and lighthearted manner.

The discussion transitioned to navigating the Internet, specifically Twitter, where a lot of toxic fandom exists.

“I certainly would never imply that every day on Twitter is a pleasant experience,” Rubin said.

The line between impassioned discussion and toxicity is thin, but she’s not sure what the tipping point is yet, she said.

Nerber referenced a positive instance of Twitter badgering, Zack Snyder’s Justice League leak, and a negative instance, Kelly Marie Tran being bullied off of Twitter.

Rubin said she doesn’t want to discourage dialogue on Twitter because while it has its flaws, it’s also allowed for people around the world to connect and share their ideas with each other.

What she thinks is unfortunate is when toxicity influences the product and how it’s enjoyed.

Croston asked Rubin if she see rubin page 8

Cody Benbow’s poem ideas come to him at random. A bus ride to campus, whether that be from South Campus or Rochester, can inspire his future pieces.

“It’s really a good way to kind of just distill all the chaos going on in your mind, especially over the past year,” Benbow said.

April is National Poetry Month, and during the pandemic some Syracuse University students have turned to poetry to heal and express their emotions about topics like stress, school or their love lives. Some poetry professors encourage their students to use poetry to discover something about themselves or the world around them.

It’s always poetry month for Brooks Haxton, an SU professor of English. The effects and isolation of the pandemic could be occasions for trying to express yourself, and some students are better at coping with their feelings when they see them written down, he said.

One of Benbow’s former SU English professors, Jules Gibbs, teaches poetry workshops and is the author of two books of poetry, including her recently published book “Snakes & Babies.”

(Poets are) pushing the outer edges of language, and therefore thought, all the time Jules Gibbs former su english professor, author

Gibbs has been celebrating poetry month by attending poetry readings offered to SU students, faculty and staff over Zoom. She sees this month as a way to encourage those who are “poetry-curious” to participate in writing poetry.

She wants her students to push the boundaries of language, access their own strangeness and write something that will surprise them as they discover a new sense in all the nonsense.

“Poets are people who are on the cusp of language,” Gibbs said.

“They’re pushing the outer edges of language, and therefore thought, all the time.”

For Benbow, every poem comes as a surprise, as sometimes the words seem to jump out of nowhere.

He writes with politics and religion in mind, as he believes that voices are tools of protest.

“They admit that it’s not something you can make a living out of, but it’s definitely something that makes a life,” Benbow said.

To celebrate poetry month, The Downtown Writers Center also held multiple virtual poetry readings that are free and open to the public.

Phil Memmer, the executive director of the arts branch of the YMCA of Central New York, founded the writing center in 2001. see poets page 8

8 april 29, 2021

dailyorange.com culture@dailyorange.com

from page 7

band

define you as a person and the paths you take.

It really symbolizes what we talk a lot about with topics of life, depression and all that kind of stuff.”

The band first started with a group of friends who are into the 2000s emo music.

Stanley, Garces and Max Marcy, an SU senior and the band’s bassist, came up with the idea of a band as a joke.

They set out to play an emo show together and planned to quit afterwards. However, from page 7

poets Writing poems is a discovery process of figuring out existence and trying to find out what it means for him personally, Memmer said.

Some students tell Gibbs that writing poetry is a break in their week. Her exercises are meant to challenge students to practice and access a part of their mind that’s outside their normal experience. In her class, they aim for expansiveness of mind, thought and soul. Her students impress and move her by what they create, Gibbs said.

SU senior Adrianne Morales has been reading poetry since middle school. She started taking poetry classes in college, but her poetry assignments from Gibbs don’t feel like homework. Instead, they give her the time to sit with her thoughts and put them on paper.

Poetry is a way for her to write about her feelings without having to call it something from page 7

rubin sees a crossover between sports fandom and pop culture fandom, and Rubin noted that The Ringer treats the preparation for both content mediums similarly. The Ringer staff plans podcast or article coverage for a Marvel or Star Wars movie with similar techniques to sports coverage: with a lot of

C

after their first show, they decided to continue the band and eventually added SU senior Jimmy Unanue on as their drummer.

“We were all in different groups doing different styles of music, but we all just realized we like corny emo music from the 2000s,” Marcy said. “We’re gonna make that kind of music, and we just started doing it.”

While describing themselves as an emo band, the band also takes influences from punk, rock and pop.

Unanue said they mostly play emo punk pop while also getting influences from progressive rock.

The band composes their music to feel catchy and friendly to people who are not familiar with hard rock. Stanley admitted that the term “emo” can be intimidating to people because they associate it with music like metal core, where there is a lot of screaming involved.

“We do have a lot of screaming throughout our stuff, but we try to make it in a way that’s very digestible,” Stanley said.

The upcoming EP is the product of the band’s cooperation during the pandemic. With some lyrics and melodies by Garces, the band members gathered, edited and recorded the EP

explicitly, Morales said. As a broadcast and digital journalism major, poetry is a nice way for her to write about emotions, which she can’t always do with fact-based news.

“During the pandemic specifically, it’s a moment to get back in touch with yourself and stop worrying about all the assignments you have to do, just focus on your emotions, putting them on paper,” Morales said.

The more practice Haxton’s students get writing poems, the more expressive they become. He is always excited when a student who was hesitant and unsure of themselves with their poems begins to feel confident.

“Different people use poetry in different ways,” Haxton said. “Very often people feel drawn to poetry because there’s some feeling that they want to express and they’re not quite sure what it is or how to express it and poetry looks like a promising possibility for finding out.” ynayrouz@syr.edu

CODY BENBOW (LEFT) AND ADRIANNE MORALES are two Syracuse University students who write poetry.

andrew denning contributing photographer

research, she said.

“Our editorial sensibility is anchored in obsession and fandom,” Rubin said.

The Ringer has an “expert but approachable ethos,” and they want to foster a spirit of community so the podcast listener or reader feels like they’re hanging out with friends, Rubin said. This is part of what keeps listeners coming back to The Ringer’s podcasts because its hosts are genuinely interested in

the topics they cover.

“You can’t manufacture passion,” she said.

Rubin also briefly touched on being a woman in the sports media industry. She recalled walking into the Sports Illustrated office for the first time as a 20 year old and feeling terrified because she was walking into the “old boys club,” she said.

The Sports Illustrated team welcomed her, and she had a great experience working

B.G. Rudolph Lecture in Judaic Studies at Syracuse University Virtual Event “Tradition & and Change: Ultra-Orthodox Judaism Responds to the Covid Pandemic” by

Benjamin Brown

Professor of Jewish Thought Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Sunday, May 2, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. EST Join Zoom Meeting: https://syracuseuniversity.zoom.us/j/93757694796 Meeting ID: 937 5769 4796

Author of The Hazon Ish: Halakhist, Believer, and Leader of the Haredi Revolution (Magnes, 2011; Hebrew); The Haredim: A Guide to Their Beliefs and Sectors (Am Oved and Israel Democracy Institute, 2017; Hebrew); A Society in Motion: Structures and Processes in Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Israel Democracy Institute, 2021; Hebrew)

through winter break in Stanley’s apartment.

Garces’s favorite track is “For lack of” because it was written during a brainstorming session in Stanley’s living room.

With the skills and time spent during the pandemic producing music, the band hopes to continue their music career together after graduation.

“Our plan is basically to record remotely, keep grinding the way we’ve been doing it,” Marcy said. “We’ve kind of gotten good at writing from a distance through pandemic, so nothing’s gonna stop that now.” lle103@syr.edu

there, but she is mindful that women face challenges in the industry. She thinks about being the editor-in-chief of a sports website as a woman very seriously.

“I think about that all the time,” she said. “I want to be a good role model for people and I want to do whatever I can to set a good example.” louis@dailyorange.com @jbl__98

april 29, 2021 9

dailyorange.com sports@dailyorange.com

from page 12

virginia tech All three were named to All-ACC teams this week and proved their worth with standout first half performances that helped hold the Hokies to just one goal in the first 30 minutes. The trio each had at least two caused turnovers, while Defliese had two ground balls and Cooper had three in the first half.

All three gathered more ground balls in the first half alone than their game averages.

On one clear attempt by Virginia Tech, Meaghan Tyrrell jumped and raised her stick to tip the pass away, and Emily Ehle scooped the ground ball. That play resulted in a quick transition to offense, where Emma Ward sent her shot right at the goalie’s stick, a missed opportunity among many for the offense on Wednesday evening.

Having finally broken a near 27-minute drought through Paige Petty, Virginia Tech looked to start a run of its own. The from page 12

ehle

she touches the ball. She keeps her head up, she hustles, she gets after ground balls.”

Ehle began playing lacrosse on a local youth team for Earl Hall when she was 5 years old. Hall, a Syracuse alumnus, played midfield alongside Gait in the 80s. Gait once stopped by a game Ehle was playing, and Hall told him “you better watch this one,” said Ehle’s father, Joe. A native of Baldwinsville, New York, Ehle played on Christian Brothers Academy’s varsity team for five years, starting in eighth grade.

Playing both attack and midfield, Ehle led CBA to two state championships in 2013 and 2016, the latter being the school’s only undefeated girls lacrosse state championship in its history. She was named a U.S. Lacrosse high school All-American in both 2015 and 2016.

“Sometimes young kids can get caught up in a stat narrative,” said Pat Britton, CBA’s then-assistant coach and current head coach.

“Emily was pretty cut and dry, and she just wanted to win and wanted to bring everybody else with her.”

As a captain, Britton said Ehle made everyone around her better. Britton recalled the section semifinal against Fayetteville-Manlius, when the team entered halftime down a few goals for the first time all season. After making his locker room speech to the team, Britton turned it over to Ehle, who “lit a fire under the team” as they returned to the field and came back to keep their undefeated season alive.

“I have a pretty strong belief that you don’t become a leader, that you are a leader,” Britton said. “I thought from the very beginning Emily was a leader.”

Ehle was a player that could help anyone on the field, Britton said. Much of her onfield help came in the form of assists. When she was younger, Ehle would get angry when she didn’t score, but Joe explained how an assist was worth more than a goal because you set the score up. It clicked in her head after that, Joe said, and Ehle always looked to set her teammates up.

“A lot of coaches would tell her, ‘Just go shoot, just go shoot,’” Joe said. “She’d say, ‘If I don’t have a good shot, I’m not taking it, that’s not what I do. And if somebody else is in a better position, I’ll get them the ball.’”

That pass-first mentality led to multiple from page 12

offense

Orange’s offense struggled finishing, with a shot percentage of 36% on 25 shots. The Orange also earned 11 free position opportunities, but didn’t convert a single one.

The reason for Syracuse’s lack of success on the offensive end was because of the Hokies’ defensive setup, Gait said. The Hokies run something which VT head coach John Sung refers to as a “chaser zone.”

In this defense, Virginia Tech has one defender marked on the person with the ball, with the rest of the team in a zone covering the 8-meter. But Gait said that even if an attack gets past the initial defender, the team’s zone is ready for whatever is thrown at them. Because of this look, the Orange were forced to abandon their routine weave offense, Gait said.

“Nobody else plays this type of defense,”

Hokies intercepted a long errant pass by Goldstock and began to run the other way with numbers on their side. Emma Crooks ran down the middle and attempted to lob a pass over the head of Simkins. Simkins jumped into the air as the ball floated over her head and tipped the pass, gathering it on her way down.

After the Orange successfully cleared the ball, they made they way to Sierra Cockerille on the left side of the scoring area.

Sam Swart made a diagonal cut across from Cockerille and after a quick lob pass, Swart sent her shot low and into the goal. The goal kickstarted a 3-0 run for the Orange, one that helped them build a sizable six-goal lead on the Hokies.

“We were off a little bit on the O-end, but that’s why you play offense-defense,” Gait said. “When your O is not firing on all cylinders, your defense picks it up and that’s what happened today.”

Virginia Tech tried over and over to rep-

licate its first goal where Paige Tyson darted into the Syracuse zone and received a pass before dunking the ball over Goldstock’s head. But as the Hokies chased the game, and Tyson continued to make the same run, the Orange were ready. Tyson started on the left side of the offense and then cut across toward the cage. Her teammate sent a quick pass to her, and as she corralled the ball and wound up for a shot, Allyson Trice stickchecked Tyson and Goldstock picked up the ground ball. Tyson tried to follow through with her shot, but the ball had already fallen out of her stick.

When the Hokies did manage to find soft spots in the defense, Goldstock used her positioning to make key saves and scoop up ground balls away from attackers. When the game was still tied at 1-1, Crooks — VT’s second-leading scorer — crept into space in front of the goal. A teammate found Crooks, and she rifled a shot at goal that seemed like it would give

the Hokies a lead. Instead, Goldstock used the shaft of her stick to pop the ball in the air and snatch it. “Asa Goldstock played great,” Gait said.

On a night where Syracuse’s offense scored its lowest goal total in a win this season, the defense put together one of its most complete performances of the season. After Emma Tyrrell scored to make it 2-1, the Hokies couldn’t find openings in the defense and tie the game. Virginia Tech had just nine shots on goal to finish the evening.

For the fifth time in the last six games, Syracuse held an opponent to single-digit goals.

In a game where Syracuse was heavily favored, the offense struggled, but the defense stepped up to stave off a potential upset.

“You rely on your offense sometimes, and sometimes you rely on your D,” Gait said.

“What you’re hoping for is you put both ends together for 60 minutes.” gshetty@syr.edu

college lacrosse offers from Ivy League schools, Northwestern and even Syracuse.

Despite hailing from the area and being a part of a die-hard Syracuse family, Ehle chose to play at Georgetown. It was a “a tough pill to swallow,” but as long as it wasn’t Notre Dame, her family supported it, Joe said sarcastically.

Ehle chose Georgetown for its academic program, the campus that was right next to a big city and the chance to play for a team in the top-25 at that time. Under head coach Ricky Fried, Ehle became a focal point of the Hoyas’ offense, playing in the same lefty wing role that she has here at Syracuse.

Fried said Ehle contributed an “immense amount” to the Georgetown offense in her four years, evidenced by her 116 points in just 58 games. She was never a captain, but a big part of her leadership on the field was getting her teammates involved in the offense, he said. Ehle is “a pass-first type of player,” which provided a new element to his offense, Fried said.

“Players that are dodge-first, everybody kind of stands and watches,” Fried said.

“When they know somebody is a feeder and is willing and wants to pass the ball, they’re more apt to be active and cut.”

When the NCAA granted a blanket waiver to athletes affected by the pandemic, Ehle spoke to Gait about playing for the Orange. With Morgan Alexander having torn her ACL, Gait said the team was in need of a lefty, so it made sense to bring Ehle onto the team.

So far, Ehle’s pass-first mentality has led not only to 12 assists but also to just 12 shots this season for Syracuse. With only six starts, Ehle is fifth on the team in assists — she and Sierra Cockerille are the only starters on attack with more assists than goals.

“If I get an assist, then that means there’s a goal, that means we’re on the board,” Ehle said.

“Hopefully that means we’re at more points than the other team, so that’s all I care about.”

After four years away from home, Ehle’s friends and family love that she finally suited up to play for Syracuse in the Carrier Dome, Joe said. No longer a true focal point of the offense like she was at Georgetown, Ehle has provided valuable scoring opportunities for Syracuse in her first season.

In her time at Christian Brothers, Georgetown and now Syracuse, Ehle has always been happy to set her teammates up for success,

something that has become a key part of her role at Syracuse and a large part of the potency of SU’s offense.

“I never really cared about scoring because

I had so many people around me that were so talented that it was easy to move the ball to the next person,” Ehle said.

Gait said. “It’s tough to get the rhythm of our motion offense.”

SU relies on quick passes in its motion offense, with attacks also setting picks for each other to create open space. But anytime that the Orange tried to run these plays, the Hokies maintained their presence in the 8-meter and kept pressure on whoever had the ball for Syracuse, Gait said.

When the Orange tried the weave, they would quickly move out of it and find cutters instead to get the ball in the back of the net. With 12 minutes left in the opening half, Meaghan Tyrrell began the motion offense alongside Sierra Cockerille at the top of the 8-meter.

With pressure in her face, Meaghan Tyrrell faked charging the cage and bulleted a pass at Emma Ward instead, who was cutting from the left side of the crease. Ward put the ball in the back of the net with ease to give the

Orange a 3-1 lead.

But SU’s success off cutters didn’t last long, as most of its shots missed their intended mark, Gait said. SU’s attack repeatedly shot at Virginia Tech goalie Angie Benson’s stick, who finished with 11 saves.

In the second half, Ward specifically had trouble with placing her attempts. Five minutes into the last period, Emma Tyrrell gained a free position attempt. Instead of shooting, the Orange passed the ball around before Ward was left alone inside the 8-meter.

Ward received the ball and aimed a strike right at the center of the cage, expecting Benson to go to the right or left. But Benson maintained her position, and Ward’s shot went right into her stick.

“More than anything, it seems like we shot into the goalie’s stick 10 times,” Gait said. “It’s an energy killer for the offense.”

Benson also created issues for Syracuse

on free position opportunities. With Virginia Tech’s high-pressure defense, SU was able to draw a lot of shooting space violations in the game.

In the second half, Sam Swart earned a free position opportunity and a chance to extend Syracuse’s 8-4 lead. Swart charged the cage, like almost all SU attempts at the free position, and missed high. With less than a minute left in the game, Swart fired the same missed attempt.

After a ground ball pickup from Sarah Cooper, SU moved quick in transition to set up Swart back inside the 8-meter. This time, Swart didn’t draw a shooting space violation, and she instead fired a shot to the back of the net. Swart finally scored, but the Orange were unable to get to double digits for just the second time this season.

EMILY EHLE played at Georgetown for four years before transferring to Syracuse for her graduate season. courtesy of rich barnes usa today sports

gshetty@syr.edu

asvasude@syr.edu @anish_vasu

10 april 29, 2021

dailyorange.com sports@dailyorange.com

track and field

SU’s Flings Owusu-Agyapong aims for Olympic return

By Connor Pignatello staff writer

As Flings Owusu-Agyapong stood in the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympics opening ceremony, she felt nervous but couldn’t stop smiling. OwusuAgyapong, chosen as Ghana’s flag bearer, waved a giant Ghanaian flag as a crowd of 75,000 spectators cheered.

Almost a decade earlier, sprinter OwusuAgyapong ran track and field at Syracuse, setting three school records in the indoor 55- and 60-meter and outdoor 100-meter.

Since her graduation in 2012, OwusuAgyapong has acted as a volunteer assistant coach for the track program, mentoring sprinters while competing in track meets around the world. Despite many injuryrelated setbacks, she’s continued to compete for Ghana at several World Championships and African Games. As a member of Ghana’s women’s 4x100 squad, Owusu-Agyapong and her teammates hope to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics at the World Athletics Relays on May 1-2.

Owusu-Agyapong was born in Ghana and moved to Toronto when she was 9 years old.

She had always enjoyed running with her family in Ghana but didn’t begin running competitively until after her sophomore year of high school.

At Syracuse, Owusu-Agyapong impressed even in her early years. She broke school indoor records in the 55-meter (7:00) and 60-meter as a sophomore, before improving upon her own 60-meter record as a junior (7:34).

Owusu-Agyapong qualified for her first outdoor NCA A Championships during her senior year and placed 20th in the 100-meter, earning honorable mention AllAmerican honors. In her graduate season, she was a second-team All-American for the indoor season after winning the Big East title in the 60-meter. In the outdoor season, Owusu-Agyapong broke another school record in the 100-meter with a silver medal-winning performance at the Big East Championship.

“She’s got a ton of experience at this point and a ton of wisdom to share with younger athletes as they go through the

inevitable ups-and-downs of a college career,” said Dave Hegland, Syracuse’s sprint and hurdles coach.

Despite nagging injuries to joints in her back, ankle, feet and more, OwusuAgyapong has remained resilient in her fight back onto the track after being sidelined for stretches, said Frank Rizzo, an assistant coach for the Orange from 2012 to 2018.

Although many times she was limited in the training she could do due to injury, Owusu-Agyapong frequently did three sets a day of the exercises she was able to do. According to Rizzo, Owusu-Agyapong trained so hard after a back injury that she shaved a whole second off her 200-meter time.

In her training for the Rio Olympics, Owusu-Agyapong worked with Hegland and Rizzo every day. The coaching staff challenged her, making her run against male runners, hurdlers and sprinters. Two days a week, she worked on her acceleration, practicing block starts and running the first 30 or 50 meters of the race. Owusu-Agyapong’s acceleration was so strong that in Rizzo’s 5 1/2 years with the team, he never saw her lose a block start. She even bested Olympic medalists on several occasions.

Other days, Owusu-Agyapong would work on her finishing skills, doing circuits and interval training, as well as tempo runs. She also practiced horizontal jumping events, such as the long jump, triple jump and 10 bound.

“She’s an embodiment of that philosophy or that belief that you just have to put in steady work every day,” Hegland said.

In her prep for Rio, Owusu-Agyapong set new indoor national records in the 60-meter and 200-meter.

In addition to training in Syracuse, Owusu-Agyapong trained in Ghana with the rest of her relay team. After months of work, Ghana’s relay squad set a new national record to qualify for the Rio Olympics.

Owusu-Agyapong was pivotal in the Ghana squad’s qualification despite leg injuries.

“Getting there and really thinking about just the amount of work it took it was overwhelming,” Owusu-Agyapong said.

Eight days after Owusu-Agyapong carried the flag for the opening ceremony, she

FLINGS OWUSU-AGYAPONG set three Syracuse track and field records during her time as a sprinter.

courtesy of andrew owusu

stepped to the line for the women’s 100meter race.

“Going in, I stood at the line, and I thought I was going to be so nervous just because it’s the Olympics,” Owusu-Agyapong said. “I was looking around and then I was like ‘Wait, this is 100 meters. It’s what you run all the time.’”

Owusu-Agyapong finished fourth in her preliminary heat — 28th overall — and did not advance to the next round.

Five days later, Owusu-Agyapong and the Ghanaian relay team competed in the 4x100, where they took last place in their heat — 14th overall.

Since the Rio Olympics, OwusuAgyapong has dealt with more persistent injuries and has been unable to race in many individual events. Due to COVID-19, she had not individually competed since February 2020 before participating in Auburn’s War Eagle Invitational in April.

She injured her foot midrace and was unable to finish. To qualify for the Tokyo Olympics individually, Owusu-Agyapong has until early July to participate in meets to reach the qualifying standard of 11.15 seconds for the women’s 100-meter.

In team competition, Owusu-Agyapong has had success competing as part of Ghana’s 4x100 relay team in the years since Rio.

The team finished in 10th at the 2017 World Championships and 11th at the 2019 World Championships.

This weekend, Ghana’s relay team has its best chance to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics at the World Athletics Relays in Poland. Sixteen relay squads are selected for the Olympics, and eight have already been chosen after their performance at the 2019 World Championships. The remaining eight teams can qualify based on world ranking or performance at the World Athletics Relays.

In what will likely be Owusu-Agyapong’s final Olympics, Ghana’s relay team has a good chance of qualifying for the Olympics, said Andrew Owusu, an executive member of the Ghana Athletics Association. According to Owusu, if they do not finish in the top eight of teams who have not already qualified, it will be very difficult to reach the standards needed for qualification.

Owusu-Agyapong received an MRI on Monday for her foot injury from April, but she is still planning on running in the World Athletics Relays this weekend.

“She’s probably the most diligent and most consistent athlete I’ve ever had in terms of running,” Rizzo said. “Some of those injuries just taught her to really, really focus on the details.” cpignate@syr.edu

football

Babers says quarterback depth is best he’s seen as SU coach

By Connor Smith asst. copy editor

Syracuse head coach Dino Babers spoke with the media Wednesday about the ongoing starting quarterback battle, saying that every position is open for competition. The press conference was Babers’ first since March 30, and it came after nearly one month of spring practice.

Entering his sixth season at Syracuse and coming off a 1-10 season, Babers emphasized the Orange’s depth under center. While returning starter Tommy DeVito and Mississippi State transfer Garrett Shrader have received most of the attention, Babers said he has also from page 12

blackwell his teammates asked him to fill their coaching vacancy. For Blackwell, it was unexpected, “one of those things that I kind of just fell into.” He continued coaching at IMG and with Boeheim’s Army as part of The Basketball Tournament, even trying out broadcasting briefly before taking charge at Liverpool.

As a coach, Blackwell drew inspiration from his former coach Jim Boeheim and his professional coaches in Japan. His background as a former SU player automatically earned the respect of his players and those around the program. Blackwell emphasized “the little things” for his players, setting out to reform the team from within.

“The guys just gravitated towards that,” Blackwell said of the new mindset he brought to the team. “(They) really bought into what I was trying to teach them.”

Former Liverpool player Charles Pride

been impressed with the QB’s behind them.

“I think we’ve got the best room since we’ve been here,” Babers said. “From No. 1 through No. 5, those guys are really something.”

As a redshirt junior last season, DeVito threw for 593 yards and four touchdowns before suffering a season-ending leg injury in a loss against Duke. Shrader enrolled in January after announcing his decision to transfer in late December. The North Carolina native appeared in just four games in 2020 after playing in 10 as the Bulldogs’ QB the year prior.

Sophomores JaCobian Morgan and Dillon Markiewicz also returned after making appearances as true freshmen in 2020. Syr-

acuse added Justin Lamson, a 3-star dualthreat quarterback from California in its 2021 recruiting class, too.

Babers has already seen improvement from SU’s January enrollees, and he said that Lamson struggled against the Orange’s pass rush — including against returning seniors Josh Black and Kingsley Jonathan — early on.

“They got a little better the last six (practices), and then, when they go through summer and we get them back in August, that’s when you’ll see a big difference,” Babers said.

The head coach said the competition across all positions is healthy and is something Syracuse is embracing. In SU’s 10-3 season in 2018

— the only season SU has finished over .500 since Babers arrived in 2016 — competition at the quarterback position helped improve both DeVito and then-starter Eric Dungey, he said.

“That competition is what everyone embraces, and it’s throughout the entire team,” Babers said.

Syracuse released a roster on Wednesday, but the team has yet to announce a depth chart. The Orange are now over halfway through their 2021 spring practice schedule after having their first scrimmage of the spring Saturday in the Carrier Dome.

played for Blackwell over two seasons. Pride and his teammates grew up idolizing Syracuse basketball players, and being coached by one raised the standard for the team. From the start, Blackwell ran intense practices that included 5-on-5, 4-on-4, 3-on-3 and 1-on-1 games and drills that emphasized fundamentals, Blackwell said. Each day, the team challenged one other “from the top of the roster to the bottom.”

“He would have us literally going at each other every single day. Our practices were way harder than the game,” Pride said. “So we knew that we were going to win.”

Blackwell said his coaching style is “like a big brother.” Practices have always been intense under him, but he rarely raises his voice at his players, even when things are going wrong. Instead, he teaches players to channel frustration into accountability. Because of that style, players confide in Blackwell on and off the court, Pride said.

Pride, who now plays for Bryant University, FaceTimes Blackwell once a week to talk about

basketball and his personal life. When Pride goes home for breaks, he works out with Blackwell, and the two grab meals together.

“They understand that I’ve been at that level they want to get to … I’ve worked hard to get to where I was,” Blackwell said. “So preaching that to them, they know that’s coming from somewhere that’s real.”

In his second season, Blackwell led Liverpool to a Section III title. In his third season, the Warriors had an undefeated (26-0) regular season and claimed the 2018 New York State Class AA title. In 2021, Blackwell and his team were in a battle for first place before West Genesee snapped Blackwell’s seven-game win streak.

Kent recalls Blackwell’s similarities to Boeheim in terms of strategy, game planning, the 2-3 zone and so on. Blackwell strikes a balance between letting his players make their own decisions on offense and teaching them to play smart, Kent said.

“He’s not gonna let you do your regular thing,” Kent said. “He always has a bunch of

weapons. They always get better as the season goes on, because he’s a good coach.”

After its loss to West Genesee, Liverpool picked up two games and dropped two more, finishing second in the standings and marking his fourth winning season in six years.

Blackwell has no plans to leave Liverpool soon. The school just built a new gymnasium and athletic complex, and Blackwell’s team received special permission from the administration to utilize the new facilities prior to the abbreviated 2021 season.

Blackwell says his formula hasn’t changed.

He continues to stress the importance of work ethic and competition through intense practices, ones that now take place in the new gym.

“Kids want to play for him because of his reputation. He’s very intelligent, and he does what’s best for his kids,” Kent said. “Everyone has a lot of respect for the way he carries himself and his players.”

csmith49@syr.edu @csmith17_

skrivera@syr.edu @skylerriveraa

CLASSIFIEDS

dailyorange.com

april 29, 2021 11

Affordable Off-Campus Housing All Energy Star Homes Best Values on The Hill Prices Start at $325 / Bedroom Euclid, Sumner, Madison, Westcott and many other areas

Free installation of Fresh-Aire UV germicidal system for air and surface disinfection of SARS!

315-422-0709 rentals@universityhill.com www.universityhill.com

-New Energy Star Stainless Steel Refrigerator, Stove, Dishwasher -Energy Star Furnace, 92% Efficient -Energy Star Washer & Dryers -Basement Glass Block Windows -New Energy Star Windows -LED Lighting -Granite Kitchen Counter Tops -Free Parking -No Extra Fees/Charges -Zoned Heating in Single Family Homes -Exterior Security Lighting -Separate Washer/Dryer for Each Apartment

Spacious 3BR apt.

Livingston Ave, HW floors, completely renovated, new appliances, new windows, dining and living rooms, laundry, parking, extra storage, spacious.

ONE MONTH FREE! Call/Text 718-679-3434.

Email amararentals@gmail.com

All Saints Catholic Church Where All Are Welcome!

1342 Lancaster Ave Syracuse, NY 13210

Sacrament of Reconciliation by appointment: please call Fr. Fred at 315-5308995 Daily Liturgy: 11:30am (sign-in, masks & safe-distancing required)

Weekend Masses (Sign-in, masks & safedistancing required):

Saturday – 4:00pm ~ (Traditional Music) Sunday – 9:00am ~ (Gospel Choir) AND 11:30am ~ (Contemporary Music)

Copper Beech Commons 300 University Avenue 2, 3, & 4 Bedroom

Skyler Commons 908 Harrison Street Fully Furnished Studio Apartments 12 Month Leases

Fully Furnished Units

Now Leasing for 2021-22!

10 & 12 month leases

Check us out at:

Rates starting at $800

HousingSYR.com -

All-Inclusive Private Tenant Shuttle

info@housingSYR.com Call: 315-565-7555 - T ext: 315-466-8253

AUDI/VW (used) 7 Days Sales - 40 Years *Good/Bad Credit!!

Service 315-789-2200 SelectEuroCars.com

For information call our Office M-Th, 9am to 2pm: 315-472-9934

TIME FOR A HOUSING CHANGE? Renting for the fall of 2021 Prices start at $800.

Contact : peachofcny@yahoo.com 315-350-1327

* all our units are totally furnished. * every bedroom has its own queen size bed * every bedroom has their own bathroom!!! * all utilities are included! *FREE. Summer storage * plenty of offstreet parking * email for a free virtual tour of all our properties!

JCLLOYD44@YAHOO.COM

Affordable Off-Campus Housing

Free installation of Fresh-Aire UV germicidal system for air and surface disinfection of SARS!

All Energy Star Homes Best Values on The Hill Prices Start at $325 / Bedroom Euclid, Sumner, Madison, Westcott and many other areas 315-422-0709 rentals@universityhill.com www.universityhill.com

-New Energy Star Stainless Steel Refrigerator, Stove, Dishwasher -Energy Star Furnace, 92% Efficient -Energy Star Washer & Dryers -Basement Glass Block Windows -New Energy Star Windows -LED Lighting -Granite Kitchen Counter Tops -Free Parking -No Extra Fees/Charges -Zoned Heating in Single Family Homes -Exterior Security Lighting -Separate Washer/Dryer for Each Apartment

SPORTS

dailyorange.com sports@dailyorange.com

PAG E 12

april 29, 2021

women’s lacrosse

How Ryan Blackwell revamped Liverpool’s program

Defense propels SU past VT, 9-4

By Gaurav Shetty staff writer

RYAN BLACKWELL was hired as Liverpool High School’s baskebtall coach in 2015. The Warriors have had four winning seasons since, including their first state title in school history in 2018. courtesy of dennis nett syracuse.com

The former SU player transformed local high school’s boys basketball team into powerhouse

By Skyler Rivera

asst. sports editor

L

iverpool High School’s athletic director Ari Liberman knew it was time for a coaching change. It was the end of the 2014-15 season, and then-head coach Matt Jacob had secured one winning season in his four-year tenure with Liverpool boys basketball.

Liberman, a new hire himself, had only witnessed the most recent 8-12 season during 2014-15. But with the program’s results declining, and the most recent Section III title in 1999, he wanted new leadership. Liverpool didn’t renew Jacob’s contract in April, and the process to hire his replacement began during the 2015 summer.

That summer aligned with former Syracuse basketball player Ryan Blackwell’s search for a coaching job. He’d played professionally in Japan from 2006 to 2010, later becoming the coach of the team he played on, and worked a varsity coaching gig at IMG Academy upon his return to the U.S. Blackwell had plans to coach a newly jumpstarted semi-professional

team — the Syracuse Shockwave — but the program disbanded before players stepped on the court. That’s when Blackwell met Liberman.

Lazarus Sims, a former SU basketball player himself, was friends and former high school classmates with Liberman. Blackwell and Liberman connected, and by early July, Blackwell was hired.

“He had an outstanding resume,” Liberman said.

Since arriving at Liverpool, Blackwell has led the Warriors to a Class AA New York State Championship title — the first in school history — and four winning seasons in six years. The former Syracuse star transformed Liverpool from a bottom-tier Class AA team that went five straight years without a winning league record into a state title contender. The Warriors finished 9-3 in 2020-21, too.

“He’s made our area better … He’s made us all better as far as coaches,” West Genesee head coach Frederick Kent said. “He represents Liverpool, and in a great way, in his program.”

Three years prior to taking the role in Liverpool, though, Blackwell wasn’t sure he wanted to be a coach. He was playing professionally in Japan for the Osaka Evessa when his body began to “break down.” He contemplated returning to the court for another year when

see blackwell page 10

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Virginia Tech’s Sara Goodwin cradled the ball on the right side scanning for a teammate to connect with. Amid a 15-minute scoring drought, the Hokies needed a goal, and Goodwin eventually passed it inside to Whitney Liebler, who appeared to find a soft spot in the middle of the Syracuse zone.

But seconds later, two Orange defenders crowded Liebler, who attempted an audacious behind-theback shot that sailed over Asa Goldstock’s goal. The Hokies gathered the loose ball with the shot clock trickling down and threw a desperation heave. Once again, a Syracuse defender was there — this time Sarah Cooper used a quick stickcheck to force a turnover. She took a stick to the face, but she ended yet another Hokies’ attack and sent Syracuse the other way.

“It was one of those days (where) our defense was super dialed in, (and) our offense was a little sluggish,” head coach Gary Gait said.

No. 2-seed Syracuse (13-2, 8-2 Atlantic Coast) kicked off its ACC Tournament with a 9-4 win over No. 7-seed Virginia Tech (5-11, 1-8).

It was the Orange’s second game without Megan Carney, who will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. But with a relatively stagnant offense, compared to the rest of the season, SU’s defense stepped up in the victory to send the Orange into the ACC semifinals.

“Our defense was the star.

They were the star of the game.

You got to applaud Coach (Defliese) and her D for holding them to four goals,” Gait said.

“Any ACC team that you can hold to four goals, that’s a great day.”

SU’s defense on Wednesday made up for Carney’s production. The unit held Virginia Tech to just one goal and four shots on goal in the first half. The Hokies averaged 10 goals per game in the regular season, but struggled to generate any kind of offense all game.

A large part of the defensive success came through Cooper, Kerry Defliese and Ella Simkins. see virginia

women’s lacrosse

tech page 9

women’s lacrosse

Ehle returns home as bench star Syracuse’s offense posts lowest goal total in win

By Gaurav Shetty staff writer

Syracuse was down 4-0 in the first half on April 22, and the Orange needed to get on the board to stop Boston College’s run. Emma Ward curled around the scoring area and dumped a pass off to Emily Ehle near the right side of the scoring area. Ehle paused for a second as she corralled the ball in her stick and surveyed the field.

She could’ve made the simple return pass to Ward, who was running directly on goal and had outpaced her defender. But Ehle also

saw a second defender shuffle over to cover Ward. In a split second, Ehle noticed the now-unmarked Megan Carney, wide-open on the left side of the scoring area. Ehle laid a perfect pass into the cradle of Carney’s stick, who caught the ball in one motion, turned and rifled a shot into the net.

Ehle transferred from Georgetown this season and has fit seamlessly into the right side of Syracuse’s attack. Every game, the graduate transfer runs on the field as soon as the draw specialist comes off, highlighting her pseudo-starter role. In four years

with the Hoyas, she posted 52 goals and 64 assists in 58 games. Now at Syracuse, Ehle has already scored five times and tallied 12 assists in a new role in head coach Gary Gait’s offense.

Her primary focus as a lefty attack is to act as a playmaker for the likes of Carney, Ward and Meaghan Tyrrell. She’s often spotted holding the ball and surveying the field for a pass as the cutters on the team find open space.

“Emily Ehle is the perfect role player,” Gait said. “She’s not trying to make things happen every time

see ehle page 9

By Anish Vasudevan asst. digital editor

Throughout the entire season, head coach Gary Gait has shortened Syracuse’s pregame warmups at away games, arriving late to make sure that the team doesn’t lose focus by being on the field before the game for too long. But Wednesday, the pregame wait time was out of the team’s control.

Duke and Notre Dame combined for 33 goals in the game prior to

Syracuse’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament matchup with No. 7-seed Virginia Tech. The Orange had to wait an entire hour before taking the field. Gait said this had a major impact on the team, especially the attack, which came out weak.

“Our defense was dialed in. Our offense was sluggish,” Gait said.

“The delay in the pregame, we were off a little bit on the O-end.”

In No. 2-seed Syracuse’s 9-4 win over No. 7-seed Virginia Tech, the

see offense page 9