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Message: [QUOTE="OrangeXtreme, post: 1320660, member: 41"] [B][I]What Happened: Syracuse ran by Virginia 15-9. [/I][/B] [I] Takeaway: Another [URL='http://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/photos-highlights-no-3-syracuse-15-no-5-virginia-9/31085']impressive win by the Orange.[/URL] Syracuse has certainly enjoyed the Dome cooking, feasting on three ranked opponents by a combined 41-24 after knocking off Siena by two touchdowns in their opener. This year’s version of Syracuse has shown the ability to make pretty good teams look very ordinary. The offense is humming with Kevin Rice at the helm. His evolution into one of the game’s best players has been fun to watch. Another player rivaling his ascension is linemate Dylan Donahue. Two years ago this attack was viewed as a liability prior to the ’13 season. How things have changed. The arrival of Randy Staats has helped a bunch but take nothing away from Rice and Donahue. Another thing to be impressed with is the defensive toughness being displayed thus far by the Orange. It helps that face-off man Ben Williams has been lights out, but I think the emergence of defenseman Brandon Mullins has been huge. That’s not to say Mullins, a second-team team AA in ’14, hasn’t been good. It appears that he is now well recovered from the knee injury that sidelined him for most of 2013. Mullins brings a toughness and swagger to this backline. Along with Sean Young they may be the best defensive tandem in all of college lacrosse, something that can get overlooked with the Orange O performing so well. Bonus Takeaway: Virginia’s weaknesses were exposed in this one. A young, inexperienced defense is not what you want to bring to the Carrier Dome against this Orange group. What’s more face-offs are an area of weakness for the Cavaliers, and Syracuse took full advantage. But there were several positives to take out of this one. One, this team never packed it in after getting waxed in the first half. Virginia continued to play hard and found some success in the last 30 minutes. Two, the midfield continued to perform well for UVa. The trio of Ryan Tucker, Greg Coholan, and Zed Williams each scored twice, showing consistency that this team needs. Three, goalie Matt Barrett faced a barrage of Orange shots and stopped 20. No small feat in the Carrier Dome, and he kept the score from being a lot worse. [/I] [B][URL]http://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/dixon-s-takeaways-monmouth-s-first-win-princeton-s-new-do-it-all-middie-more/31112/1[/URL][/B] [/QUOTE]

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