kcleach's Blog

After getting tricked in Boston last weekend, the Syracuse field hockey team looks to treat the fans on Saturday.
 
The Orange returns to J.S. Coyne Stadium on Halloween after spending the past two weekends watching the leaves change across the Northeast.
 
The final game of the regular season is a great time to start a new streak: SU looks to wrap up the outright Big East Conference regular season title against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at 1:00 p.m. The Orange has won the previous five matchups, including a 7-1 win in Piscataway, N.J., last season.
 
Saturday’s game has special meaning for SU hockey:
 
It is Senior Day and a special celebration is planned for senior forward Tracy Deitrick (below), graduate goalie Ashleigh McGowan and junior Lena Voelmle.  Also, the team is trying to break the attendance record at Coyne (862, set in 2008), giving out gifts to all fans that come to the game with a Halloween costume (pdf).
 
The Orange (15-2, 5-0 Big East), currently ranked No. 5 in the nation, will be the top seed at the upcoming Big East Championships in Providence, R.I. SU won the Big East tournament in 2008, and advanced to the national semifinals.
 
After winning 5-3 at Villanova last Friday to clinch a share of the Big East regular season championship, the Orange were hard-luck losers on Chestnut Hill at No. 10 Boston College on Sunday (just the fourth loss in 41 contests).  The loss brought an abrupt end to a 12-game win streak, an impressive run in a schedule that featured 10 nationally-ranked teams.
 
The team’s first trip to New England, on Oct. 17, produced a thrilling 3-2 double overtime win at rival Connecticut. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the trip with this video produced by Mike Tressa:

Halftime Snack has been an ardent fan of all things Mike, including the top wide receiver in the Big East Conference Mike Williams, and spent Saturday longing to see M-Dubz. Here’s an account of the rainy day inside the Dome:

1:47 p.m.:  The quarterbacks are the story entering today’s game, with the bubbling SU controversy and the third-string starter for the Zips.  Warming up in sweats t-shirts, the signal callers lob passes to the wide receivers making 25-yard circles, in and out of the end zone.  Halftime Snack searches and searches the field, wondering if Williams cut his hair. Where is he?  Is that him? No, that is Delone Davis in white shoes. M-Dubz likes his shoes black.

2:15:  SU Athletics releases a tight-written press release under 70 words, tweaked by Sue Edson, adjunct professor at the S.I. Newhouse School Of Public Communications and legendary sports information director at SU. Doors to Carrier Dome have already opened; Halftime Snack considers going home.

3:44:  When the Orange ran the bubble screen for the first time, and Marcus Sales got nine yards. And to think the SU offense was going to try and get the primary receiver involved early.

4:06:  SU fan in blue #44 jersey, with hat backwards and face unshaven, proposes to fiancé on KissCam via Dome video board. Lucky lady nods “yes,” and Halftime Snack thinks of lost love, Mike Williams, and dreams about what could have been. Watch this music video by Justin Timberlake to sum up our feelings.

5:00:  the SU Marching Band broke out songs by another dazzling Mike—Michael Jackson—and performs long-awaited “Thriller Dance” as part of tribute to the late King of Pop. Halftime Snack misses both Michaels.

Photo by Mitchell Franz, TheNewshouse.com

5:37: Orange wide receiver Marcus Sales has been running Williams’ routes today.  Sales cashes in third touchdown of season on 11 yard inside screen. Williams is unseen, and Sales was untouched.

6:14: Rumors about cryptic messages posted by Williams on Facebook run rampant in press box (something to the tune of "I hate college, I'll be gone sooner than you know"). New media can be unreliable, but oh so juicy. The post-game press conference should be a battle of questions with no answers.

6:40: Williams' not at post-game press conference, color choice with dapper shirts and ties is missed by all.  Murmurs persist.

6:51: SU head coach Doug Marrone says Williams will be reinstated for next week's Cincinnati game; won't comment further.

SLICES:

AKRON AIR: The “Spirit of Akron” is a high-flying blimp that towers over large-scale sporting events. The needled that popped the Zips’ kicking game took place with 7:50 left in the first half. It started when Akron sideline called time out just before the 51-yard attempt.. The 2009 Akron kicking game is not. Place kicker Broko Rocovic missed two field actual field goals after blimp is burst.  Punter John Stec has a punt tipped, giving SU field position at the Akron 27-yard line.  Two rub salt in Stec’s wound, backup punter Zack Campbell comes in to boom 76-yard punt (third-longest in program history). It was just the fifth kick by Campbell all season.

MIKE JONES:  The No. 2 offensive weapon on SU, gaining over 24.3 yards per kick off return (681 total return yards), is seen limping on the opening kickoff.  Trouble is: he wasn’t. Jones appears again on the first Akron punt, promptly muffing the fair catch, which is recovered by the Zips. Jones more than makes up for the miscue, totaling 59 yards on the day. He showed little hesitation with eight minutes to go in the second quarter, taking an end around up the left side for a 17-yard gain (career-best). Tack on a personal foul for late-hit by the Zips and the play accounted for 32 net yards.

LONGSHOREMAN: Halftime Snack just finished the second season of “The Wire,” and saw the pride in which dockworkers in Baltimore are thought to approach their tough job, day-in and day-out. Syracuse punter Rob Long exhibits that same attitude. Despite sporting a wrap around his upper leg and knee, Long proved once again to be bright spot for the Orange. Syracuse executed a pooch punt mid-way through the first quarter and Long, the holder, raced past the Akron players to down the ball at the Zips’ five-yard line. His first punt of the day was a 44-yarder, his second punt Long cleanly fielded a one-hop snap and his third pinned the Zips at the 8-yard line.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:  This is a no-brainer with SU running back Delone Carter again dominating a weak opponent.  Carter amassed career-highs in rushing attempts (30), rushing yards (170) while accounting for three touchdowns to boost his career total to TK.  In games against Maine and Akron, Carter has followed the big bodies on the SU offensive line to total 249 yards on 49 attempts with six rushing touchdowns.

JACKS OF ALL TRADES: Akron fifth-year senior Andre Jones became just the second player in the country to play three positions this season. Jones has started three games at cornerback and one at safety before making starting at wide receiver on Saturday. He scored the Zips’ first touchdown, hooking up with quarterback Patrick Nicely on a post pattern from 11 yards out (his first TD of the season and the eighth of his career). 

THEY SAID IT:  “We welcome back Mike Williams, and E.J. Carter (suspended SU linebacker) back, to our team, reinstated immediately after this game.”  – SU head coach Doug Marrone, opening his post-game remarks about suspended players

“Just feeling comfortable again, getting used to having the ball in my hands that much.  I felt that is something I should do all the time.”  SU running back Delone Carter when asked how carrying the ball a career-high 30 times felt.

“Every week, there’s competition. Everyone has to hold their job. It doesn’t matter if it’s the quarterback, the kicker, the right guard, the left tackle, the nose guard… the safety.” – Marrone clarifying any position controversies on the team

“It was difficult, but this is a resilient group,” Akron head coach J.D. Brookhart about having to use different players at different positions

It is time Syracuse opened a satellite campus in metro New York.

The SU Department of Athletic Communications announced the Orange men’s lacrosse, the two-time defending national champions, have the distinct honor of christening the New Meadowlands Complex this spring. 

The SU laxers face Princeton at 6:30 p.m. on April 10, 2010 as part of the Big City Classic tripleheader event.  Delware and Hofstra play the first game at 1 p.m., followed by Virginia versus North Carolina (4 p.m.).

The slow decline of St. Johns and Seton Hall as New York athletic powers (mainly for basketball) gives ‘Cuse the opening to take the over the Big Apple, and the Empire State for that matter with SU Director of Athletics Dr. Daryl Gross taking full advantage.

The “Syracuse as New York’s Team” campaign is in full swing with several marquee match-ups taking place away from campus. The football team recently announced plans to play games against Southern Cal (2012) and Notre Dame (2014 and 2016) in the New Meadowlands Stadium, the men’s basketball team plays the big-name games of the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic (California, and either UNC or Ohio State) in early November at Madison Square Garden while signage graces much of the NYC subways and upstate New York highways.

“At Syracuse, we believe that we should represent the entire state of New York, including New York City,” Gross said in 2006 before announcing the initiative on "The Stephen A. Smith" radio show on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York City.

Consider mission accomplished.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/electrospray/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Records can be deceiving.  Such is the case with SU middle hitter Sarah Morton.

According to SU Athletic Communications Office, Morton became SU’s all-time leader in total blocks for a career at Connecticut on Sunday afternoon, passing Jessica Paarlberg ‘ 91.  Morton now has 590 total blocks and also holds three school marks (solo blocks, blocks per set and total blocks).

Halftime Snack wants to make one thing clear:  Morton is the best blocker we’ve seen in person.  Her accomplishments should not be diminished. If the reader has doubts, go to Manley Field House on Friday at 7 pm or Sunday at 2 p.m. to see for yourself.

That being said, Morton’s recent ascension to the top of the SU blocking records list should include an asterisk.

According to the Official NCAA Women’s Volleyball Records Book:  “Information on blocking has not been included in the following records due to the fact thee appears to be a significant variance in the methods by which blocking statistics were kept during the 1980s.”

This bound record book, published by the NCAA on an annual basis, accounts for the entire collection of statistical records and results, even making a separate section for recent scoring changes.  (In the last eight years, the NCAA has changed the game and set, scoring formats on three occasions: in 2001, the NCAA changed the scoring format from 15 points with a side-out (teams needed to serve, or start with the ball, in order to record a point) to a 30-point rally scoring system (teams can score on every possession).  The game has been altered slightly within the last two years, with individual “sets” being played to 25 points.

SU Athletics makes no mention of the different match formats in its 2009 digital volleyball media guide.

More games offer more statistical opportunities, just as different standards under cut the term "record."