Syracuse men’s lacrosse capped a 12-2 regular season by earning the No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, announced Sunday night.

The Orange will play Canisius in the first round of the tournament Sunday at 7:30 in the Carrier Dome (ESPNU). The matchup will be the first ever between the two schools. Canisius finished with a 10-5 record and won the Mid-American Athletic Conference Championship Sunday to earn the first NCAA tournament berth in school history.

The Orange returns to the NCAA tournament this year after missing it last year for the first time in 25 years.

‘I think it was very motivating,’ Desko said of the 2007 season, shortly after the decision was announced on the NCAA tournament selection show on ESPNU. ‘The guys came back very focused. Had we crept back into the tournament last year, I’m not sure things would’ve changed that much.’

If Syracuse wins its first-round game, it could be on a collision course with the only two teams to beat it this year. Syracuse will play its second-round matchup in nearby Ithaca, N.Y., against the winner of the Notre Dame-Colgate game. Colgate ended Syracuse’s 10-game win streak yesterday with a 12-11 upset over the Orange in Hamilton, N.Y.

Should the tournament play out as seeded, the Orange would be on a final four collision course with Virginia, who it lost to in overtime, 14-13, back on March 1. The final four is in Foxborough, Mass., for the first time ever.

Syracuse, which ranks second all-time with nine NCAA titles, is making its 28th tournament appearance. The Orange holds a 53-18 record in the tournament.

The three seed is the highest seed SU has been awarded since the 2002 tournament, when it was the two seed.

Three Atlantic Coast Conference schools occupy the top four seeds along with SU: Duke (No. 1), Virginia and North Carolina (No. 4).

Syracuse currently sits at No. 2 in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, and No. 1 in the USILA coaches poll. Syracuse likely gave up its chance for the two seed after losing to Colgate yesterday.

Despite the loss, the Orange’s 12 wins during the regular season was the most since 2004, the last time it won the tournament.

Return to dailyorange.com for full coverage of the SU men’s and women’s lacrosse teams’ runs through the NCAA tournament.

Published on May 3, 2008 at 12:00 pm