No. 10 Syracuse opens the 2019 slate on Friday, hosting Colgate at 7 p.m in the Carrier Dome.

The Orange have taken six-straight from CU and our beat writers are in agreement with what will happen on Friday.

Here’s how the Orange and the Raiders stack up.

All-time series: Syracuse leads, 48-11-1

Last time they played: Syracuse tuned up for the NCAA tournament last season with a 17-5 romp over Colgate in the Dome on May 5. Brendan Bomberry (four goals), Jamie Trimboli (three) and Jake Buttermore (three) doubled up the Raiders on their own. Dom Madonna made six saves in net, and SU won 14-of-26 at the faceoff X.

The Colgate report: Friday is the first game for Colgate’s new head coach, Matt Karweck. Because of this, SU head coach John Desko said on Wednesday that he wasn’t sure what to expect schematically from the Raiders. Instead, the emphasis is to focus on personnel. Colgate returns its top two goal scorers — Griffin Brown and Mike Hawkins — along with leading points getter and assist man Sam Cleveland.

The Raiders return their top five defenders in terms of caused turnovers. In net, senior Connor Mullen returns after a so-so season, in which he compiled a 10.46 goals against average.

Collin Orr, who took 350 of Colgate’s 378 faceoffs last season, graduated. From the handful of returners who took a faceoff in 2018, Malcolm Feeney seems likeliest to take the job. He took the second most faceoffs for CU in 2018 with 12, winning nine.

How Syracuse beats Colgate: Settle in and play to the obvious strength: the defense. SU returns its entire defense, and though it will be breaking in new goalie Drake Porter, the back end is an obvious advantage for SU.

Sans Brendan Bomberry (graduation) and Tucker Dordevic (injury), the offense might start slow, but Syracuse simply has more talent than the Raiders. Between Stephen Rehfuss, Nate Solomon, Jamie Trimboli and Brendan Curry, there’s more than enough coming back from 2018 for the SU offense.

Mix in Bradley Voigt, Griffin Cook, Owen Seebold and Pete Fiorini, among others, and the Orange have plenty of options to score the ball.

Stat to know: 80.8 percent — Syracuse is 80-19 in season openers, an 80.8 winning percentage. The Orange have won five-straight openers, dating back to a 19-7 win over Siena on Feb. 10, 2014.

Player to watch: Sam Cleveland, senior attack, No. 18

Cleveland only scored nine goals in 2018, but he fed his teammates for 31 more. The Raider’s leading assist man opens up the offense for the top-two scorers, Griffin Brown and Mike Hawkins, facilitating a balanced attack. If Cleveland can operate well and keep feeding his teammates for goals, Syracuse will struggle to silence Colgate.

Published on February 8, 2019 at 3:11 pm

Contact Andrew: aegraham@syr.edu | @A_E_Graham