Terriers Set For Rematch With Syracuse In NCAA Opener
May 9, 2009 | Women's Lacrosse
May 9, 2009
Watch | Listen | GameTracker | Notes | Postseason Central
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Riding a 13-game winning streak, the 11th-ranked Boston University lacrosse team (15-3) is set to make its fifth straight appearance in the NCAA tournament, visiting seventh-seeded Syracuse (13-4) in a first round matchup on Sunday (May 10) at 3:30 p.m. The Terriers won their eighth America East Championship last weekend and get a rematch with the Orange, who won a regular-season meeting, 17-8, on April 4 at the Carrier Dome.
Live video and audio will be available for free through Syracuse and GameTracker live stats will be online as well.
Last season, the Terriers topped New Hampshire in the first round of the tournament before falling to Penn in the quarterfinals. BU holds a 1-6 all-time record against Syracuse with the lone win coming in a 2003 meeting at Nickerson Field, which was the last time these teams met before this season. In this April's meeting in upstate New York, BU held a 7-5 lead at the half, but the Orange outscored the Terriers, 12-1, over the last 30 minutes to reverse the score. Junior McKinley Curro, who enters the tournament on a hot streak with goals in five straight games, scored a hat trick to lead BU against Syracuse.
This will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs in the NCAA tournament. The only previous postseason meeting between the teams was a 9-8 overtime win for Syracuse in the 1999 ECAC tournament in New Haven, Conn.
Syracuse closed the regular season with a 12-9 win over Dartmouth on April 28 after falling to Notre Dame in the semifinals of the Big East tournament. The Orange offense boasts the talented duo of senior Katie Rowan and junior Christina Dove, the two all-time leading scorers in Syracuse history. Rowan, a Big East Co-Attack Player of the Year, has tallied 94 points (44g, 50a), while Dove, a Big East Co-Midfielder of the Year, has 74 points (55g, 19a) to her credit.
Liz Hogan, the first-team All-Conference goalkeeper in the Big East, has played in every game for the Orange this season, posting a 9.41 goals-against average and .458 save percentage.
The Terriers' high-powered offense is led by senior Sarah Dalton, who has scored at least three goals in 15 straight games. The two-time America East Player of the Year, Dalton has scored 86 goals this season, a BU single-season record, and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the America East Championship after netting a tournament-record 11 goals in two games.
Junior Erica Baumgartner leads the America East with 38 assists, but has scored the first three hat tricks of her career in a five-game goal-scoring streak that she carries into the tournament, including a career-best four goals against Vermont in the America East semifinals.
Defensively, first-team All-Conference senior Kelly Munroe anchors the backfield, while sophomore Corcoran Downey leads the team with 25 caused turnovers this season. Between the pipes, junior Rachel Klein has posted a 9.54 goals-against average and .461 save percentage, playing every minute of the season between the pipes for BU.
