Men's lacrosse returns to the Dome Sunday night

– The NCAA Tournament is BACK at the JMA Wireless Dome for the first time since the 2018 campaign, as the fourth-seeded Orange will host No. 12 Towson in a rematch of a 2017 NCAA Tournament quarterfinal.
– The Dutch earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament after going 11-5 in the regular season and the ACC tournament, and also boast a 3-1 conference record this season. Towson was awarded the automatic qualifying bid after winning the Coastal Atlantic Association (CAA) title with a 15-6 win over common opponent, Delaware, in the league title game.
– It's a familiar time for longtime fans of Syracuse men's lacrosse, with a 7:30 p.m. opening game Sunday following the university's commencement exercises at the JMA Wireless Dome. Sunday's clash will take place nationally on ESPNU featuring Drew Carter '19 and Ryan Boyle.
– Tim Leonard (play-by-play) and Kyle Fetterly (analyst) will take to the airwaves on TK99/105, Cuse.com, The Varsity App and TuneIn App, as well as Syracuse University's student radio station WAER. Ian Nicholas and Andrew Selover are on WAER's air this week.
– Syracuse is looking to bounce back from a loss to Duke in the ACC tournament semifinals last weekend.

IT'S A SMALL WORLD

– The lacrosse community is a tight-knit group, with many connections up and down each roster every weekend.
– Sunday's game is no different between the two head coaches, Gary Gait (Syracuse) and Shawn Nadelen (Towson) are former teammates in the Bayhawks organization of the MLL.
– The pair helped the 2005 Baltimore Bayhawks team win the Steinfeld Cup after a 10-2 season, highlighted by a 15-9 victory over the Long Island Lizards.
– Equally involved in that championship game were Syracuse graduates Tom Marechek and Mike Powell, with three Towson graduates, Dan Cocchi, Ben DeFelice and the late Drew Pfarr.
– Opposite player-coach Gary Gait in the title game was New York Lizards head coach Jim Mulé, father of current Syracuse forward Christian Mulé.
– From 2004 to 2006, the Baltimore Bayhawks (later the Chesapeake Bayhawks) played their home games at Towson's Johnny Unitas Stadium, the site of next weekend's NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals for Sunday's winner.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE DOME…

– As the saying goes, there's no place like home – and that's doubly true when it comes to the JMA Wireless Dome.
– Syracuse opened the 2024 season with seven straight games at home – the most consecutive home games to open a season since the Dutch moved into the Dome in 1981.
– The previous high for consecutive games at the Dome to open a campaign was six to start the 2019 season. The Dutch went 4-2 in that period, defeating No. 14 UAlbany, No. 15 Army West Point, No. 17 Johns Hopkins and No. 16 Rutgers along the way.
– Syracuse is 29-3 in season openers at home since the Dome opened.
– 'Cuse is 269-54 all-time at the JMA Dome since the 1981 season, after defeating No. 4 Virginia in an 18-17 thriller on April 20.
– The Dutch team won 5-2 in the seven-game homestand that opened the 2024 season.
-Syracuse is 15-11 in the Dome under head coach Gary Gait, including a 7-2 mark this year. The Dutch have enjoyed a winning record at home over the past two years, going 5-4 in 2023 and going 12-6 over the past few campaigns.
– Postseason play returns to the Dome for the first time since 2018 as Syracuse chases Yale for its first NCAA Tournament victory since the opening round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

THE TOWSON SERIES

– Past and Start is a way to describe the all-time series between the Orange and the Tigers.
– The two teams first met in late March 1972 in suburban Baltimore, where Towson won 17-9. The Tigers won the next season, but the teams didn't collide again until Syracuse won 10-9 at Long Island in 1989.Gary Gait scored four goals in that match).
– Syracuse and Towson didn't meet again until 1993, which led to an eight-year series of games in which the Dutch went 8-0 during that span.
– Towson won the most recent matchup 10-7 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament at Delaware Stadium.
– Syracuse has won the previous three meetings in the Dome (1993, 1996, 1998).