Sports SUmmary: Syracuse legend named football’s best; Orange hoops picks up big wins
Sports SUmmary: Syracuse legend named college football's best
Jim Brown was honored by ESPN as the greatest college football player of all time at halftime of the National Championship game on Monday.
He played at SU from 1954-56 and gained 2,091 total yards and scored 26 touchdowns. While at Syracuse, he also gained 10 varsity letters by playing football, basketball, lacrosse and track. He was also part of the lineage of the famous No. 44 jersey at SU that also included Ernie Davis and Floyd Little.
He then went on to have an illustrious NFL career, playing running back for the Cleveland Browns for eight seasons. Recently, he was honored as one of the top 100 players in NFL history as part of the league’s NFL 100 celebration.
He was also honored with a statue outside the Ensley Athletic Center on SU’s South Campus with a statue in November of 2015.
SU Men’s and Women’s Hoops Update
The SU student body has been on break for about a month. During that time, the women’s basketball team went 3-3 and the men’s team went 4-3.
The women’s team endured a gauntlet of a schedule that included games against four straight ranked opponents, going 2-2 with a win over No. 19 Michigan State in the Florida Sunshine Classic and an insane buzzer-beating 90-89 win at the Dome to beat #8 Florida State. Their two losses were to #22 West Virginia in the Florida Sunshine Classic and No. 7 Louisville.
They then followed that tough stretch with another OT win. This time they won 74-63 against Notre Dame, last year’s national runner-up. This was Head Coach Quentin Hillsman’s first win against Notre Dame and historic Head Coach Muffet McGraw.
Most recently, they lost to the Miami Hurricanes. They currently sit 8-7 on the season and 2-2 in ACC play.
The Men lost in Mid-December to historic Big East rival Georgetown. They then followed that up with wins against Oakland, North Florida, and Niagara at the Dome.
They then lost a heartbreaker at the Dome to Notre Dame in a game that included both teams hitting 15 three-pointers each.
They most recently had a stretch against both teams from the state of Virginia. They lost 63-67 to Virginia Tech at home but followed that up with an impressive 63-55 OT win on the road against the defending national champion Virginia Cavaliers.
They currently sit at 9-7 on the season and 2-3 in ACC play.
Canadian footballers drafted to Canadian teams in MLS SuperDraft
Both sophomore midfielder Ryan Raposo and senior defender Nyal Higgins were drafted into the Major League Soccer on Jan. 9. Raposo was selected fourth overall to the Vancouver Whitecaps while Higgins was selected 19th overall to Toronto FC.
Raposo set the NCAA on fire with his quick feet and scoring ability. He was 11th in the NCAA in scoring with 15 goals. Higgins spent his final year at SU after spending three years at Oakland.
Both players helped lead the Orange team to the NCAA Tournament, where they defeated Rhode Island 3-2 before falling at St. John’s 1-2.
Syracuse Women’s Hockey fights for top spot
The SU hockey team went 1-2 over the break but went 1-1 against conference foe Mercyhurst this past weekend. They defeated Mercyhurst 8-3 on Saturday before losing on a heartbreaking, last-second shot to them the following day. They lost 3-1 to St. Lawrence on January 7.
Senior defense and current Newhouse graduate student Lindsay Eastwood currently leads the team with 18 points with 6 goals and 12 assists. She tallied 5 points in the three games over break.
The Orange currently sit at 5-2-1 in CHA conference play this season with both Robert Morris and Mercyhurst in front of them at 6-2.