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Syracuse–Virginia lacrosse rivalry

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Syracuse–Virginia lacrosse rivalry
Virginia Cavaliers
Syracuse Orange
First meetingApril 14, 1938
Syracuse 13–4
Latest meetingApril 20, 2024
Syracuse, 18-17
Next meetingtbd
Statistics
Meetings total41
All-time seriesTied, 21–21
Largest victorySyracuse, 20–10 (2021)
Longest win streakVirginia, 5 (2005–2008)
Current win streakSyracuse, 1 (2024–present)

The Syracuse–Virginia lacrosse rivalry is an intercollegiate lacrosse rivalry between the Syracuse Orange and the Virginia Cavaliers. The teams first met in 1938 and have met 42 times.[1] The teams are tied in the all-time series 21–21, but Virginia leads NCAA Tournament play 7–3.[1] This rivalry is considered especially fierce because of its extremely even-matched nature,[2][3] and its historic tendency to occur in key NCAA Tournament matches.[4] Its intensity has been further heightened in the 21st century due to Syracuse joining Virginia in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013, and is now considered one of the most monumental matchups in the sport year after year.[4] Unique to this rivalry in the ACC is that it has its primary roots in lacrosse itself, and isn't a carryover from other sports.[4]

These rivals have met in the Final Four or Championship Game of the NCAA Tournament on six occasions, with Virginia winning four.[1] They decided the last NCAA Championship of the 1900s, with Virginia defeating Syracuse, 12–10, in 1999.[5][6] In their Final Four matches, Virginia defeated Syracuse in 1986, in 1994, and in 2006; while Syracuse defeated Virginia in 1995 and in 2008.[1]

This rivalry game has been an annual fixture of the regular season since 1995, nearly two decades before the teams played in the same conference.[1] The exception was 2020 when the game was cancelled due to COVID-19.[1] Their rivalry game then occurred twice in the 2021 regular season for the first time.[1] Syracuse swept both regular season matchups in that year, including the most lopsided victory in the history of the rivalry.[7] Ironically, it was Virginia that would then go on to win its seventh (and second consecutive) NCAA Championship in that year.[8]

With 17 NCAA Championships between them, Syracuse and Virginia rank first and third all-time for NCAA titles in the sport.

Orange and blue

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An odd facet to this rivalry is that the two schools share the exact same school colors: orange and blue.[4] Virginia declared the orange-and-blue combination to be its unique colors—previously unused by any other university's sports teams— in 1888, some 79 years before Syracuse (having faced Virginia twice to that point in lacrosse but never in football or basketball) adopted the same combination in 1967.[9] Between 1890 and 1966, Syracuse previously used orange as its sole school color, complemented only by white, an apparent reference to the Netherlands' House of Orange-Nassau which had originally colonized New York during the Dutch Republic.[10] Virginia and Syracuse are the only Division I men's lacrosse programs to sport these colors; the founder of Auburn University's athletics programs, a Virginia graduate named George Petrie, adopted the orange-and-blue of his alma mater for that school as well, but Auburn only has a team that only competes in the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association.[9] After Virginia (and Auburn, by extension) but before Syracuse, several other prominent college and professional (but non-lacrosse) teams began also using orange-and-blue as their team colors, including the Florida Gators (1906) and New York Knicks (1946).

History

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Rival accomplishments

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Team Syracuse Orange Virginia Cavaliers
NCAA National Titles 10† 7
Pre-NCAA National Titles 5 2
NCAA Final Four Appearances 26† 24
NCAA Tournament Appearances 38† 40
NCAA Tournament Record 64–28† 55–33
NCAA Tournament Winning Percentage .696† .625
Conference Tournament Titles 4 7
Conference Championships 5 25
Tewaarton Award Recipients 3 3
Lt. Raymond Enners Award Recipients 7 4
Consensus First Team All-Americans 100 70
All-time Program Record 920–358–16† 675–376–6
All-time Winning Percentage .717† .641

†Syracuse was forced to forfeit its 1990 NCAA Tournament record and Championship due to a rules violation, and these records do not reflect the forfeited games.

Game results

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Syracuse victoriesVirginia victoriesTie games
No.DateLocationWinnerScore
1 Apr 14, 1938 Charlottesville, VA Syracuse 13–4
2 Apr 11, 1950 Charlottesville, VA Virginia 13–7
3 May 24, 1986 Newark, DE #3 Virginia 12–10
4 May 28, 1994 College Park, MD #5 Virginia 15–14OT
5 Mar 14, 1995 Syracuse, NY #3 Virginia 15–7
6 May 27, 1995 College Park, MD #3 Syracuse 20–13
7 Mar 2, 1996 Charlottesville, VA #1 Virginia 17–15
8 Feb 28, 1997 Syracuse, NY #2 Syracuse 22–21
9 Feb 28, 1998 Charlottesville, VA #2 Syracuse 18–17
10 May 16, 1998 Hempstead, NY #3 Syracuse 17–14
11 Mar 6, 1999 Syracuse, NY #2 Syracuse 14–12
12 May 31, 1999 College Park, MD #3 Virginia 12–10
13 May 4, 2000 Charlottesville, VA #1 Syracuse 13–12OT
14 Mar 3, 2001 Syracuse, NY #1 Syracuse 13–7
15 Mar 2, 2002 Charlottesville, VA #1 Syracuse 15–13
16 May 25, 2002 Piscataway, NJ #2 Syracuse 12–11 2OT
17 Mar 1, 2003 Syracuse, NY #2 Virginia 16–15
18 Mar 6, 2004 Charlottesville, VA #3 Syracuse 18–12
19 Mar 5, 2005 Syracuse, NY #3 Virginia 12–11
20 Mar 4, 2006 Charlottesville, VA #2 Virginia 20–15
21 May 27, 2006 Philadelphia, PA #1 Virginia 17–10
22 Mar 3, 2007 Baltimore, MD #7 Virginia 11–8
No.DateLocationWinnerScore
23 Mar 1, 2008 Baltimore, MD #3 Virginia 14–13
24 May 24, 2008 Foxboro, MA #3 Syracuse 12–11OT
25 Feb 27, 2009 Syracuse, NY #2 Virginia 13–12
26 Mar 7, 2010 Charlottesville, VA #2 Virginia 11–10
27 Mar 4, 2011 Syracuse, NY #1 Syracuse 12–10
28 Mar 4, 2012 Charlottesville, VA #1 Virginia 14–10
29 Mar 1, 2013 Syracuse, NY #18 Syracuse 9–8OT
30 Mar 1, 2014 Charlottesville, VA #4 Virginia 17–12
31 Mar 1, 2015 Syracuse, NY #2 Syracuse 15–9
32 Mar 4, 2016 Charlottesville, VA #3 Syracuse 14–13
33 Mar 5, 2017 Syracuse, NY #12 Syracuse 14–13
34 Mar 4, 2018 Charlottesville, VA #12 Syracuse 12–11
35 Apr 27, 2018 Charlottesville, VA #11 Virginia 11–10
36 Mar 2, 2019 Syracuse, NY #10 Virginia 15–14OT
37 Feb 27, 2021 Syracuse, NY #10 Syracuse 20–10
38 Apr 24, 2021 Charlottesville, VA #11 Syracuse 13–11
39 Feb 26, 2022 Charlottesville, VA #2 Virginia 20–11
40 Apr 23, 2022 Syracuse, NY #2 Virginia 21–15
41 Apr 22, 2023 Charlottesville, VA #3 Virginia 19–12
42 Apr 20, 2024 Syracuse, NY #7 Syracuse 18–17
Series: Tied 21–21

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Syracuse vs. Virginia Opponent History, Syracuse University. Accessed June 15, 2021.
  2. ^ Preston Willett. "UVA-Syracuse lacrosse rivalry is as close as it gets". CBS 19 News, February 26, 2021. Accessed June 15, 2021.
  3. ^ Dave Rahme. "Syracuse-Virginia lacrosse rivalry a dead heat since the 1994 season commenced". The Post-Standard, March 4, 2010. Accessed June 15, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d Mark Donahue. "SYRACUSE VS. VIRGINIA: REKINDLED BY THE ACC". Lax All-Stars, April 9, 2014. Accessed June 15, 2021.
  5. ^ William M. Wallace. "LACROSSE; Virginia's 26 Seasons of Frustration Melt Away". The New York Times, June 1, 1999. Accessed June 15, 2021.
  6. ^ "Virginia over Syracuse – 1999 NCAA DI Championship: Throwback Thursday". Lacrosse All-Stars, February 23, 2017. Accessed June 16, 2021.
  7. ^ Mike Barber. "Syracuse completes sweep of Virginia by dominating faceoffs". Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 24, 2021. Accessed June 15, 2021.
  8. ^ "Virginia Wins 2021 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship". Atlantic Coast Conference, May 31, 2021. Accessed June 15, 2021.
  9. ^ a b Kazek, Kelly (January 1, 2011). Hidden History of Auburn. The History Press. p. 71. ISBN 9781609492922.
  10. ^ "Origins of Orange: Colors, nicknames and mascots of Syracuse sports over the years (from the archive)". Syracuse.com. May 31, 2004.
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