SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Third-seeded Syracuse (14-2) will makes its 25th appearance in the national semifinals on Saturday, May 24 when it meets ACC foe and No. 2 seed Virginia (14-3) at 12 p.m. at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. The contest is a rematch of the first game of the 2008 Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic won by the Cavaliers, 14-13, in OT back in March. 

SU advanced to the semifinal round with an 11-9 win against Notre Dame in the quarterfinals. Virginia moved on with an 8-7 overtime win against Maryland. Saturday’s second semifinal pairing features top-seeded Duke and fifth-seeded Johns Hopkins in a rematch of the 2005 and 2007 NCAA title games. 

Fans wishing to purchase tickets for championship weekend should contact Ticketmaster. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2. Dave Ryan and Quint Kessenich have the call.
 

SU RESILIENT IN QUARTERFINAL WIN
The Orange took a 6-2 lead into the locker room at halftime, but entered the fourth quarter down 8-7 after Notre Dame out-scored SU, 6-1, in the third frame. The Orange refused to lose and scored four times, including the last three goals of the game to emerge with an 11-9 victory Sunday, May 18 at Cornell’s Schoellkopf Field against the sixth-seeded Irish. The victory improved the Orange’s all-time record in quarterfinal games to 25-2, including an 8-0 record under head coach John Desko. Freshman goalie John Galloway made five of his 11 saves in the critical fourth quarter after stopping just one Notre Dame shot in the third period. Junior midfielder Dan Hardy led the SU attack with three goals and an assist. The 6-4 Tully, N.Y. product notched the eventual game-winner with 5:05 left in regulation.
 

ORANGE BOASTS SCORING DEPTH
The Syracuse roster features five players with at least 20 goals and nine players with at least 10. Mike Leveille (43), Kenny Nims (31), Steven Brooks (27), Dan Hardy (22) and Greg Niewieroski (22) are the Orange’s five 20-goal scorers. By comparison, last year’s squad had just two players with more than 20 goals. Leveille and Hardy tied for the team lead in goals in 2007 with 22.

SYRACUSE IN THE NATIONAL SEMIS
The Orange holds an overall record of 14-10 in the NCAA semifinals, good for a .583 winning percentage. SU won four straight semifinal games from 1999-2002. SU head coach John Desko is 5-2 in his previous seven trips to the national semis, including a double overtime victory against Virginia in 2002 when the Orange brought home the program's eighth NCAA title.

 
SCOUTING VIRGINIA
The Cavaliers arrive in Foxboro having won each of their tournament contests, against UMBC and Maryland, by one goal. Virginia held off a late Golden Retrievers’ surge for a 10-9 first-round win on May 11. The Cavaliers advanced to the semifinal round following an 8-7 overtime win against the Terrapins. Virginia has won five of its last seven games after a 13-7 loss versus Maryland on March 29 ended a nine-game win streak to open the season.

Junior Danny Glading has powered the nation’s fourth-ranked offense (12.88 gpg) with a team-high 61 points on 27 goals and 34 assists. Junior attackman Garrett Billings and senior attackman Ben Rubeor have totaled 59 (34g, 25a) and 51 (38g, 13a) points, respectively. Rubeor is Tewaaraton Trophy finalist.

Defensively, sophomore Ken Clausen leads Virginia with 57 ground balls. Longstick midfielder Mike Timms ranks third on the squad with 45. Goalkeeper Bud Petit has assumed the netminding responsibilities since April 5 against North Carolina. He has posted a 9.01 goals-against average and a .548 save percentage. Petit made 14 saves in the quarterfinals against Maryland.

VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL
In the 20 games since SU and Virginia began playing annually in 1994, each team owns a record of 10-10. The Cavaliers have scored 281 goals in those 20 games. The Orange has netted 280, making the average score of the last 20 SU-Virginia games 14.05 to 14.0 in the Cavaliers’ favor.

Overall, Virginia owns a 12-11 lead in the all-time series and a 4-3 advantage in NCAA Tournament meetings. The two schools have met in the national semifinals five times with the Cavaliers holding a slim 3-2 margin in those contests.

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Third-seeded Syracuse will makes its 25th appearance in the national semifinals when it meets No. 2 seed Virginia.