Syracuse will face the same opponent it did in the first round of last year’s NCAA tournament.

On Sunday, the No. 2 Orange (11-4, 2-3 Atlantic Coast) plays Bryant (15-4, 5-1 Northeast Conference) at 7:30 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

Almost exactly a year ago to the day in the Carrier Dome, SU defeated Bryant 12-7.

Here’s what you should know about Bryant heading into the first-round game:

• Attack Shane Morrell leads the Bulldogs with 58 points, including a team-high 41 goals. The sophomore scored a season-high five goals on May 3 against Hobart, matching Syracuse’s Randy Staats tally against the Statesman on April 19.

• Faceoff specialist Kevin Massa has won 71.4 percent (282-395) of his faceoffs this year. But on March 8 Against Drexel’s Nick Saputo, one of the best faceoff specialists in the country, Massa won just 8-of-22.

• Goalkeeper Gunnar Waldt has allowed 7.44 goals a game and has a 61.1 save percentage. Against Albany – a team who Syracuse gave up 16 goals against – Waldt allowed just 11 goals. He also only gave up only four goals against Hobart, a team the Orange gave up nine against.

• Bryant has secured 666 groundballs this season, compared to just 441 from Syracuse. However, the Bulldogs have 313 turnovers, compared to just 181 for Syracuse.

• Head coach Mike Pressler was the head coach at Duke for 16 seasons before resigning in the wake of rape accusations against three of his players. He became Bryant’s head coach in August 2006. At the time, Bryant was a Division-II program.

• Syracuse attack Kevin Rice played with Bryant midfielder Patrick Emmer at Skaneateles High School (N.Y.). Emmer also played with SU attack Hakeem Lecky while at Avon Old Farms School (Conn.), where they were also joined by Bryant’s Robert Cordisco.

Published on May 10, 2014 at 4:18 pm

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu