The Daily Orange

Syracuse got going early and never let up as it cruised to its second consecutive blowout win, 87-63 over Cincinnati, Sunday afternoon in front of 25,139 fans at the Carrier Dome. The entire Syracuse starting five finished in double digits, led by point guard Jonny Flynn's 17 points and forward Paul Harris' 16.

The duo of Jackson and Onuaku combined to score 23 points on 11-of-13 from the floor and grab 10 rebounds in Syracuse's 87-63 rout of the Bearcats. Backup power forward Kristof Ongenaet added another seven points and a game-high nine boards. The Orange dominated the interior on both ends of the court, finishing with an impressive 30-point advantage (48-18) in the paint.

The way he played in Syracuse's 24-point blowout over Cincinnati, Harris may have earned the right to grab a snack during the game. He scored 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting in just 23 minutes of action, highlighted with a show-stopping finish on an alley-oop from Flynn in the second half, eliciting an ovation from the Carrier Dome crowd.

In the third quarter, the game was over. Syracuse trailed Virginia by four goals and couldn't get on track, couldn't find a rhythm. Shots sailed wide. Passes skipped out of bounds. Everything looked bleak. But the Orange rebounded, outscoring the Cavaliers by three goals in the fourth, leaving the team down one goal with one minute to play. Only a slew of turnovers and the inability to get off a final shot led No. 2 Syracuse to fall to No. 1 Virginia, 13-12, Friday night at the Carrier Dome in front of 16,595 fans. The attendance ranked the third-largest in Syracuse lacrosse history.

Earlier in the week, Virginia head coach Dom Starsia admitted his biggest worry playing Syracuse was Orange goalie John Galloway. Funny thing is, after the game was over, Galloway admitted he was his own biggest worry, too. "To be honest, I was pretty nervous," Galloway said.

If we learned anything Friday night, we now know, for sure, what the biggest issue will be this season for the Orange. The squad knew they needed to replace a Tewaaraton Trophy-winning attack, a prolific midfield scorer, a pair of captain close defenders and the nation's best faceoff man from last year's national championship team.

All that Friday afternoon, the No. 4 Cavaliers (3-0) ripped shot after shot at Hogan. Regardless of No. 3 Syracuse's (3-1) defensive effort, with greater time, Virginia pulled a 14-11 win at the Carrier Dome.

Gary Gait spent the past week analyzing every second of footage from last year's game against then-No.2 Virginia. The Syracuse head coach wanted to prevent his team from making the same errors that triggered a scorching second-half performance from the Cavaliers, in which SU allowed eight goals en route to a loss.

With an emphatic smash from Chelsea Jones, the Syracuse tennis team secured a 4-3 victory over Cornell at Drumlins Tennis Center Friday for SU's eighth win of the season. The Orange lost to Rutgers, 5-2, Sunday in Piscataway, N.J., for its first conference loss of the season.

But as the team says goodbye to another graduating class, it means back to work for those four, back to the grind that's produced both history and heartache. With just one regular season game against Providence remaining tonight at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome, now is likely the time to take the lessons learned and apply them next season.

The Syracuse softball team went 4-1 at the University of Central Florida Tournament this weekend to improve its record to 9-4 on the season. Syracuse defeated Maine, Central Florida, Eastern Michigan and Tennessee State, but fell to Stony Brook. Syracuse opened the tournament with a 3-1 win over Maine and a 3-2 victory over Central Florida on Friday night. Jamie Kelling's RBI in the fourth inning gave Syracuse a 2-1 lead that winning pitcher Jenna Ciara wouldn't relinquish against Maine. She pitched five effective innings and yielded three hits.