Sports SUmmary: Basketball adapts to injury, both lacrosse teams dominate early

Men’s hoops playing without its star center:

Orange big-man Jesse Edwards will miss the rest of the season with a fractured wrist he suffered against Boston College on Feb. 8. Edwards led the ACC in shooting percentage and ranked second on the team in rebounds when he subbed out for the year.

Syracuse played its first game without Edwards on Saturday in a 71-59 loss at Virginia Tech. Frank Anselem played 36 minutes at the five spot and pulled down 15 rebounds. Syracuse will play the Eagles again this Saturday after a week of downtime following its loss to the Hokies.

Orange women’s basketball’s shining bright spot:

The women’s basketball team took down a pair of ACC foes on the road, Virginia and Pittsburgh, before falling to Florida State at the Dome last night. Against the Panthers, Teisha Hyman stole the show, tallying a season-high 31 points – 10 of which came in the final quarter to lead SU’s comeback effort – seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. The redshirt sophomore had been in an offensive funk of late, but she’s flashed moments of stardom this season – none brighter than last Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh.

Gary Gait, other Orange lacrosse legends honored in hall of fame:

Days after Gary Gait coached Syracuse to a resounding win over Holy Cross, the former three-time national champion earned Hall of Fame recognition from the Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Three of the first-11 players inducted into the @PremierLacrosse Pro Lacrosse Hall of Fame are 🍊

Congrats to @garygait, @PatMcCabe29 and @caseypowell22! pic.twitter.com/w0haMIFqpJ

— Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse (@CuseMLAX) February 15, 2022

The inaugural hall of fame class also included former SU greats Casey Powell and Pat McCabe. Powell earned All-American status all four seasons with the Orange and won the national championship in 1995. McCabe also earned four consecutive All-American nods, but he has three national championship rings.

Treanor-era looks promising:

The reigning national runner-ups are poised to be contenders again, this time under the tutelage of new head coach Kayla Treanor. The Orange defeated No. 13 Stanford 12-9 in the season opener, then trounced Binghamton 23-6 last Sunday.

Megan Carney’s return to the field after last season’s ACL tear has been a welcome sight, while Meaghan Tyrrell scored 11 goals to earn USA Lacrosse Magazine’s D-1 Women’s Player of the Week honors.

Women’s softball bullies in the bayou:

The Orange opened the 2022 season in Louisiana at the Battle of the Bayou and looked quite comfortable doing so. They racked up five wins in three days, outsourcing their opponents 60-18.

She’s different 👀

First time in Syracuse history someone has hit for the cycle….

Single ✔️ Double ✔️ Triple ✔️ Homerun ✔️ pic.twitter.com/277J7YnrCm

— Syracuse Softball (@CuseSB) February 14, 2022

Sophomore outfielder Angel Jasso collected ten hits on the week, including the first cycle in program history – which she accomplished by the third inning against Southern. Neli Casares-Maher led the team with 11 RBIs, while Summer Clark struck out 11 in 12.1 innings of relief.

The early stages of Dino Babers’ prove-it year:

The Syracuse football team started group offseason workouts this week at the Ensley Training Center. For now, team pictures show players like Garrett Shrader and Sean Tucker preparing for SU’s spring game on April 1.

Compete 😤 pic.twitter.com/nqSoqvyNaT

— Syracuse Football (@CuseFootball) February 15, 2022

The Orange lost three straight games to end last season and finished 5-7. Coach Dino Babers brought in a new offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach, quarterback coach and a new quarterback, Dan Villari, from Michigan through the transfer portal.

Ice hockey wins CHA regular season:

For the first time in program history, the women’s ice hockey team claimed the College Hockey America regular-season championship. They defeated Mercyhurst in the regular-season finale 4-1 last Saturday.

Congratulations to @CuseIce for winning the regular season championship title 🤩

The Orange will be hosting the CHA Tournament on February 24-26th at Tennity Ice Pavilion! pic.twitter.com/NMY9LaOnsT

— Syracuse Athletics (@Cuse) February 14, 2022

The Orange will host the conference tournament from Feb. 24-26 at the Tennity Ice Pavilion, needing just two wins to secure the championship.

Tennis aces weekend homestand:

Heading into Valentine’s Day, the Orange dished out plenty of “love” to a pair of Western New York opponents. Syracuse doubled their current winning streak, defeating Buffalo and Niagara last weekend to move to 6-1 on the season. Shiori Ito and Polina Kozyreva are 7-0 individually on the year. The Orange will host Boston College to begin ACC competition this Saturday at 11 a.m.

Track and field find success splitting up:

Down in Clemson, Jaheem Hayles posted a 5th place finish in 7.73 seconds to set a new PR in the 60m, inching closer to a top-10 time in the nation. In Boston, Annie Boos (9:22.07) and Abigail Spiers (9:23.29) set a pair of PRs in the 3000-meter while finishing 15th and 16th in the near-200 runner field. On the second day of the meet, Brody Smith (4:03.88, competing unattached) and JP Trojan (4:04.20) finished seventh and ninth, respectively, in the mile.