Syracuse has seen Army before. Once this year and 56 times before that. The team knows the Carrier Dome well. Orange head coach John Desko has said that some teams come to the Dome and are in so much awe of the atmosphere that they struggle to focus on the field.

But as evidenced by the Black Knights’ first trip to the Dome this year, it’s evident that won’t be a problem for Army come Sunday night.

The matchup between the No. 2 seed Syracuse (13-1) and Army (10-5) at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in the first round of the NCAA tournament is just the latest game in a long line of familiarity for the two programs. The Black Knights are one of the few teams to hold an edge in their all-time series with the Orange, taking 38 of the 57 matchups. With the strong Central New York presence on the Black Knight roster, SU is anticipating that Army won’t feel out of place when it comes to Syracuse.

‘I think that they’re comfortable with coming to the Dome,’ junior longstick midfielder Joel White said. ‘I think they have a lot of Central New York guys on their team. They’re going to get excited to play Syracuse.’

When the two teams squared off on Feb. 28, Army hung with SU for most of the game. Poor Syracuse shooting and a strong performance by Army goalie Tom Palesky kept the Black Knights within striking distance in the first half.

Then came the Black Knights’ run.

After being down 5-2 at halftime, Army stormed out of the break. Palesky repeatedly turned away the Orange attack, and junior attack Jeremy Boltus sparked a three-goal run with a goal and two assists to tie the score.

But Syracuse finally solved Palesky and went on a four-goal run of its own. The Black Knights would never get closer than three goals after the Orange rally, as SU pulled away for a 12-7 win.

‘They’re a good team,’ junior attack Stephen Keogh said. ‘They’ve got a good defense. From what I remember, their goalie stood on his head. We always seem to play a lot of good goaltenders. We just have to shoot smart.’

Desko believes that because the two teams have played once already this season, it gives a slight advantage to the Black Knights if the Orange overlooks a team it has already beaten.

‘I think it gives a little bit of an advantage to the team that lost the game the first time,’ he said. ‘On the other hand, our guys know we can beat them, but we’ve got to get into (our players’) heads and make sure we’re not going to take a team that we’ve beaten lightly.’

In addition to the history and the rematch factor, the Black Knights also take away something that usually benefits the Orange, something Desko refers to as ‘the Dome bug.’

Some of the Black Knights’ core players are from the Syracuse area. Boltus, the team’s leading scorer, went to Baldwinsville High School. Starting defender Bill Henderson, a Tully, N.Y., native, is second on the team in ground balls. His brother Tim leads the team in ground balls and has seen action in every game for the Black Knights this year.

In addition to those key contributors, Army has four more Central New York natives on its roster.

‘They have a lot of fans, they travel very well and there’s a lot of Central New York guys on their team,’ White said. ‘Those guys get hyped up to come to the Dome and play us, so it’s going to be a great atmosphere and a great game.’

In Syracuse’s last two tournament runs — which ended in back-to-back national championships — the Orange dominated its first-round games in the Dome. It crushed Canisius 20-3 in 2008 and dominated Siena 11-4 last season.

But this year, it may not be a waltz into the second round for the Orange.

‘I think that playing Army, it’s not going to be easy,’ Desko said. ‘They’re a team that comes to the Carrier Dome every year. We’ve already played them once this year. … We’ve got to be ready for them this time around. We can’t take them lightly.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on May 11, 2010 at 12:00 pm