Another New York team will visit the Carrier Dome when Albany makes the westward trek to face Syracuse (1-0) on Saturday. The Danes come in ranked twelve in the nation with this to be their first game of the season.
These two teams met last year in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Syracuse ended Albany's season with an 11-9 victory to move on to the quarterfinals.
The sixth-ranked Orange opened its season in fine fashion a week ago, downing Siena in a 19-6 victory. Senior Jordan Evans led the offensive charge with an absurd eight points against the Saints, tallying three goals and five assists. He and fellow senior Nick Mariano displayed a devastating one-two punch that left the opposition's defense stunned for much of the matchup.
On the defensive end, Syracuse started a bit slow with three new defensive starters from a year ago. The trio of senior Scott Firman, sophomore Tyson Bomberry and redshirt sophomore Marcus Cunningham surrendered some easy looks early, allowing three goals in the first eight minutes of play, before settling down to allow just three goals the rest of the way.
'Cuse definitely enjoyed a nice spark from Denver transfer Brendan Bomberry. The junior scored four goals versus Siena, including a SportsCenter Top 10 behind-the-back effort. His four scores were tied with sophomore Nate Soloman for the most on the afternoon. Those two will be the difference on Saturday if Syracuse is to win. With all eyes likely to be on Mariano and Evans, it is up to Soloman and Bomberry to take advantage of an Albany defense that lost former defensive captain James Burdette to graduation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su-bNNNp-aI
The rest of Albany's defense shapes up well with junior Stone Sims running the show now. He will need to be at his best in front of some an inexperienced goalie, likely redshirt junior J.D. Colarusso. The Danes do return juniors Connor Fields and Justin Reh, who combined for an incredible 114 points a year ago.
Syracuse is clearly the favorite entering the game, with fewer questions marks to answer and coming a dominant win from a week ago. Albany hasn't won in the Carrier Dome since a double overtime thriller back in 2013. Look for Head Coach John Desko to have his team prepared to take care of business on its home turf.