At the X: Albany by The Daily Orange

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SYRACUSE VS. ALBANY DOGS AT HOME The nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top recruit, Tehoka Nanticoke, and No. 4 Albany take on Syracuse on Saturday. SEE PAGE 3

YOUNG GUNS After losing nearly 60 percent of its scoring from a year ago, SU is balancing its offense. SEE PAGE 5

SCOUTING REPORT Read everything you need to know about the Great Danes ahead of the matchup. SEE PAGE 10

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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

Alexa Díaz

Alexa Torrens MANAGING EDITOR

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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Read up on the Great Danes and what Have dinner and support your community! SU will need to do to win ahead of Tully’s will donate 10% of the sales Saturday’s showdown. See page 10 from all receipts collected and accompanied by this coupon, excluding tax and tip. A printed coupon Cover photo by LeighAnn Rodgers | Staff Photographer must be surrendered in order for the above Spread photo | Daily Orange File Photo organization/group to receive credit. Editor@dailyorange.com The EDITORIAL Daily Orange is published weekdays during the Syracuse University academic year by The Daily Orange Syracuse lost a majority of its offensive production from 2017, but has found balance early in 2018. See page 5

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BRENDAN BOMBERRY had one goal and three assists in the win over Albany last season.

daily orange file photo

BIG DOGS N

o. 7 Syracuse (1-0) opened its season with a 21-4 trouncing of Binghamton. SU had goals from 12 players, including five from senior attack Brendan Bomberry and three from sophomore attack Stephen Rehfuss. In the cage, goalkeeper Dom Madonna saved four shots while allowing four goals. SU dominated the faceoff X, going 24-for-29 as a team, with new starting faceoff specialist Danny Varello winning 15 of the 17 draws he took. On Saturday, No. 4 Albany, one of the few teams in the nation not to play yet, faces off with Syracuse at 2 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. The Great Danes have only beaten SU once in 16 attempts. In that 2013 Albany win, the trio of Thompson relatives combined for 10 of their team’s 16 goals. On Saturday, SU will be tasked with shutting down Tehoka Nanticoke, a Six Nations, Ontario, native who is anticipated to bring a similar electric play style to the Albany attack, which already features AllAmerican Connor Fields.

No. 4 Albany comes to the Carrier Dome for its season opener on Saturday By Josh Schafer

asst. sports editor

Tehoka time

The wait is almost over. Nanticoke has been hyped up since his time at IMG Academy (Florida), where he was tabbed Inside Lacrosse Magazine’s No. 1 recruit and an Under Armour High School All-American following his senior season. While in high school, Nanticoke played for the Iroquois Nationals at the 2016 U19 World Championships in Vancouver. There, he earned All-World Team and MVP honors while burying 22 goals to

CONNOR FIELDS didn’t score against Syracuse last season but tallied four assists in the 10-9 SU win. daily orange file photo

accompany nine assists and a bronze medal finish for his team. In that same calendar year, Nanticoke played with SU sophomore goalie Drake Porter at IMG. Nanticoke impressed Porter immediately. On the pairs’ second day of practice together, Nanticoke wound up from the crease, and Porter prepared for what he anticipated would be more than a 90-mph close-range rocket. As the goalie stepped toward the ball, Nanticoke released the ball earlier and slower than Porter planned for, and the ball softly floated over Porter’s head. The goalkeeper compared the shot to a knuckleball. “He’d go through the legs when you thought he had no angle, and he’d somehow put it in on you,” Porter said. “He’d throw nine fakes and then do a changeup shot on the crease somehow. He was creative, and he wasn’t afraid to try anything.” Throughout his career at IMG and during the preseason leading up to his freshman year with Albany, Nanticoke has been known for his highlight-reel goals. In a fall-ball scrimmage against Johns Hopkins, Nanticoke backed his defender down to the ground. With the Hopkins defender on the turf, the freshman dashed toward the crease and flung a shot with his left hand from between his legs. Nanticoke’s ability to back defenders down and play around the crease is a credit to his size. Both Porter and Bomberry, who grew up playing with Nanticoke in Six Nations, said it’s see albany page 9

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STEPHEN REHFUSS was one of 12 players to score for Syracuse in its season opener against Binghamton. Three freshmen, including Tucker Dordevic, tallied their first goals in the 21-4 win. leigh ann rodgers staff photographer

STRIKING A

BALANCE

After 1 game, Syracuse already has 12 players with goals, including 3 freshmen By Charlie DiSturco

senior staff writer

wo days before Syracuse hosted Binghamton in its season opener, a crowd of reporters surrounded head coach John Desko, asking him about the upcoming game and how his offense — which struggled in the previous scrimmages and is starting just one player to play more than two years in SU’s system — had progressed. Against Vermont on Jan. 21, Syracuse’s offense “started off pretty rough,” junior Nate Solomon said. Two weeks later, against Yale, SU had five goals in three quarters before shuffling younger players into the rotation. The offense has been “hesitant,” Desko said. Desko proceeded to tell the reporters that before Binghamton, the team reviewed ways to “be more efficient with the ball.” But then, on Saturday, something clicked. A young, balanced Syracuse attack made up for the loss of over half its point production from a year ago. “Almost a little surprised with how well we played, especially early in the game,” Desko said after the game. “… Now we gotta buckle up for next week.” No. 4 Albany returns to the Carrier Dome on Saturday, eyeing revenge after then-senior Nick Mariano lifted the Orange to victory with two seconds left last season. The Great Danes are more experienced, too, returning three of their top four scorers and bringing in freshman phenom and No. 1 overall recruit Tehoka Nanticoke. To compete with Albany’s strong attack, No. 7 Syracuse’s (1-0) youth must step up like it did Saturday. In its season opener, the Orange jumped out to a 13-0 lead and dominated the Bearcats, 21-4, in a game where 12 SU players scored. Though senior Brendan Bomberry led the way with five goals, new faces appeared and stepped up to compensate for the loss of All-Americans Nick Mariano and Sergio Salcido and “quarterback” Jordan Evans. Redshirt sophomore attack Stephen Rehfuss led the way for SU’s offense, adding a hat trick and two assists in his first-ever start. He worked his way into the rotation last year but never see scoring page 10

JAMIE TRIMBOLI

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from page 3

what you have to do to improve to play at that level at the end of the season,” Marr said.

albany something that often deceives opponents. Nanticoke is listed at 6-foot-1, 235 pounds, which would make him the second-heaviest player on SU behind redshirt-freshman midfielder Jack Fiorini, who has four inches on Nanticoke. With All-American senior attack Fields still in the fold for Albany, it’s likely Nanticoke won’t see SU’s top lock-off defender in Nick Mellen. Instead, Nanticoke will likely be challenged by physical, 225-pound Tyson Bomberry, who has also played with Nanticoke during the offseason for the Six Nations Arrows. “He’s very physical,” said attack Brendan Bomberry. “He’s done a lot of work in the gym...I think he looks a lot bigger than people think and a lot stronger than people think, and also a lot faster than people think, so I think he’s going to catch a lot of people by surprise.”

Slow start

While Syracuse lost much of its fall season due to the mumps outbreak before playing a scrimmage, the Orange found ways to make up for lost time. Syracuse practiced briefly before Thanksgiving break and onward. Preseason camp picked up in early January for SU, which has a full-size indoor-turf facility, while Albany depends on good weather to practice outside, Great Danes head coach Scott Marr said. “They should be ahead of us at this point as far as conditioning and their level of play I would think,” Marr said. “They’ve had a couple more scrimmages already and a game under their belts before they play us.” Binghamton was SU’s fifth opponent, including scrimmages, in the last month. Albany has played two opponents, Colgate and Princeton, both in scrimmages. Prior to his team’s scrimmage against Princeton, Marr said his team is still “a ways away from where we want to be,” citing pace of play and the transition game as points of emphasis following his team’s first scrimmage. “There’s nothing better than starting out with a team like (SU) because it really gives you a sense of who you are, where you are and

FACETIME Syracuse has dominated faceoffs against Albany, winning 77.7 percent against the Great Danes the last three seasons

77.7

PERCENT

Saving face

In the last three regular season matchups between Syracuse and Albany, the Orange has owned the faceoff-X. With all-time faceoff leader Ben Williams taking most of the draws, SU beat Albany on 63 of 81 total faceoffs. That’s a 77.7 percent success rate, more than 10 percentage points higher than Williams was on his career. Against Binghamton, SU displayed what dominant faceoff play can do: limit opponent possessions and control the pace of play. Against Albany, Varello faces a more daunting opponent in TD Ierlan, a sophomore faceoff specialist who won more than 70 percent of his faceoffs last season, ranking second in Division I. Ierlan, a product of Victor (New York) High School, where he played alongside SU attack Jamie Trimboli, won 323 faceoffs in his freshman season at Albany, the most ever by a Great Dane in a single season. Syracuse lost or tied its opponent in faceoffs in all three of its losses last season. No matter what the result is Saturday, it’ll likely be determined, at least partially, by success at the faceoff X. jlschafe@syr.edu | @schafer_44

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Opponent preview: What to know about No. 4 Albany By Matt Liberman staff writer

Coming off a 21-4 thrashing of Binghamton to open the season, No. 7 Syracuse (1-0) is set to host Albany in the Carrier Dome on Saturday. Twelve players scored for SU against the Bearcats, and that offensive diversity will be needed as the Great Danes are led by one of the country’s best offensive weapons in Connor Fields. Syracuse won its season opener on Saturday by its largest margin since 2009. Albany’s first game of the 2018 season comes against the Orange.

All-time series: Syracuse leads, 15-1 Last time they played: Last season,

SU entered its home contest with Albany in similar fashion. The Orange dominated Sienna 19-6 to open its regular season. When the then No. 12 Great Danes came to the Carrier Dome, though, things opened slowly for SU. Albany jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the second quarter before Syracuse scored six unanswered goals to take back the lead. The two teams continued to trade blows, and heading into the final minute, both sides were from page 5

scoring year but never moved ahead of Bomberry, Solomon and Evans. Rehfuss facilitated the offense from the X, mixing dodges with speed to create opportunities. On one play, after a missed shot from Bomberry, Rehfuss scooped the ball from out of bounds and darted toward the net from behind. He found Bomberry in front of the crease unguarded. On another, he dodged past a defender and

notched at 9-9. Heroics from Nick Mariano in the closing seconds propelled Syracuse over Albany 10-9. Sergio Salcido and Brendan Bomberry each tallied four points. Despite being held without a goal, Fields did rack up four assists. This matchup marked the first of seven-straight Syracuse games decided by one goal.

scorer in senior attack Justin Reh. “Hopefully (Nanticoke) can live up to the hype,” Mellen said.

How Syracuse beats Albany:

return their top scorer from last season in the All-American Fields, who led the country in goals and assists en route to a Tewaaraton finalist season. Fields finished first in the country with 117 total points last season, 20 more than second-place Justin Guterding of Duke. Last season, Syracuse was the only team in the country not to allow Fields to score a goal. He did finish with four assists, though. “We kind of know what to expect from him,” SU defenseman Nick Mellen said. “I’ve guarded him two times. I know his style.” Fields led an offense last season that finished first in the nation in scoring with 15.4 goals per game. Albany’s 277 goals was 39 ahead of second-place Ohio State. Mellen will be called upon again to guard fields, but the offense that relied so heavily on Fields last year brings in the No. 1 recruit in the country — Tehoka Nanticoke — and returns a 58-point

Saturday will be Albany’s first game of the 2018 season. Despite Binghamton struggling against SU, the Bearcats are still a solid team that gave Syracuse an opportunity to work out some kinks. Advantage: Syracuse. Last season, SU, without preseason AllAmerican Mellen, held Fields to his secondlowest point total of the season and Albany to its lowest goal total of the season. That team did have Scott Firman to defend Fields, but Mellen, who was slated to be SU’s top defender last season, is expected to fill the same role this year. In Syracuse’s preseason scrimmage against Yale, Mellen held Ben Reeves, last season’s sixth-leading scorer to just one goal. If Mellen can have as strong of a performance against Fields, SU will be in good shape. Despite how incredible Nanticoke looks, Saturday will still be his first collegiate game. That may mean nothing, but for a veteran defender in Tyson Bomberry, who will likely be marking Nanticoke, that could be an opportunity. Even outside Nanticoke and Fields, the Albany offense is so high-powered that Syracuse will still have to muster a strong offensive

turned the corner from behind the cage, using one hand to dump the ball behind Binghamton goalie Robert Martin. Another new face in Syracuse’s starting lineup, freshman Tucker Dordevic, made his first start in his first collegiate game. Fewer than six minutes into the game, he found himself wide open 10 yards out. A sidearm shot flew by Martin into the top left corner. Two other freshmen added goals, including second-line midfielder Brendan Curry. He held possession before cutting upfield. Using

his speed, he created enough space to turn and fire mid-run. “He’s probably the fastest kid I’ve ever seen in my life,” Solomon said. “…It all comes natural to him.” Then it was Lucas Quinn, who pocketed a pair of goals late. On one goal, he made his defender fall before firing top shelf. Syracuse’s former top-ranked recruit hadn’t played much in the scrimmages, but when called on Saturday, he stepped up. Losing three experienced starters on offense is a loss most teams would struggle

The Albany Report: The Great Danes

game itself. The Great Danes are much better all-around than the Bearcats, but if the Orange offense can remotely replicate last Saturday’s performance, it certainly has a chance of winning this matchup.

NUMBERS TO KNOW: 71.4 — Percentage of faceoffs Syracuse won

last year against Albany. Danny Varello finished 15-of-17 in his first start and was named to the USILA Team of the Week. If Syracuse wants to beat the Great Danes, it has to win the faceoff battle. 1 — Albany beat one ranked opponent last season, when it took down No. 12 Yale. In Albany’s three other games against ranked teams, the Great Danes lost twice to Maryland and once to Syracuse.

Player to watch: JD Colarusso, goalie, No. 9

Colarusso finished 16th in the country last year with a 53.6 save percentage. Against Syracuse last season, Colarusso saved 13 shots and led an Albany defense that converted 16-of-18 clears. Colarusso finished 2017 with America East Conference Second-Team. If Colarusso turns in another strong road performance Saturday, Syracuse may be in trouble. mdliberm@syr.edu

with. Add in the fact that Syracuse had no fall season and returned one offensive starter who’s played under Desko for two years, and a slow start was expected. But Syracuse came out with its usual runand-gun offense and didn’t miss a beat in its opener. And to beat a top-five team on Saturday, slowing down isn’t an option. “I think a lot of people are looking down on us this year,” Solomon said Feb. 8, before the season opener. “But we want to prove to everyone that we’re the real deal.” csdistur@syr.edu | @charliedisturco

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