April 26, 5:40 p.m. -- Mike Leveille could have just wasted time when he took a pass deep in Massachusetts territory. No hurry to extend a commanding six-goal lead his team had already built up by the midway point of the second quarter. But that just wouldn't be Syracuse's style.
April 26, SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Just when it looked like another 20-goal performance was out of reach No. 3 Syracuse came out of halftime and exploded Friday here at Notre Dame Stadium. After leading by a mere four goals at half, the Orange wore down Rutgers, outscoring the Scarlet Knights by 11 after halftime, in a 22-7 rout in the Big East tournament semifinals.
On the bank of a river in Racice - an industrialized city in the Czech Republic still wearing the affects of communism, Dave Reischman flew down a bike path. The finish line appeared in sight, and excitement swelled in Reischman. A bit strange considering: a) He wasn't actually in the race.
John Desko hopes Saturday will be a regular lacrosse game for Syracuse. But chances are, Syracuse's showdown with Massachusetts at 2 p.m. in the Carrier Dome will be anything but normal. There's too much bad blood for that. The matchup, once a late-season afterthought - SU won 22 straight from 1982-2002 - has become one of the sport's most bitter rivalries during the last five years, which have featured showboating, public mockery, trash talking, a broken jaw and the end of SU's two most hallowed streaks.
The idea of playing in Notre Dame Stadium is not lost on Syracuse attack Halley Quillinan. "I grew up a little Irish-Catholic girl so Notre Dame was the team I looked up to," Quillinan said. "I wanted to go to Notre Dame before I even knew what it was just because I saw the movie 'Rudy,' so I'm really, really excited to play there.
When asked how to best describe Syracuse freshman first basemen Tawni Irvine, her coach at Murrieta Valley high school, Ann Romero-Parks, blurted out her answer before the question was even finished. "Ultra-competitive," she said. The multi-talented Irvine is the latest addition from the recruiting pipeline the Orange softball team has established in Southern California.
Chris Fox knows one of his star runners, Nana Sang-Bender, well. So well, in fact, he's comfortable making guarantees - even with Sang-Bender nursing an injury. "She's not at the top of her game right now," said Fox, the Syracuse track and field head coach.
The No. 11 Syracuse men's crew has yet to feel the comforts of competing at home this season: the familiar territory, the fans, the comfort of the surroundings. It will get to experience those things for the first time this year Saturday, when the Orange takes on No.
