#13 Orange Defeats #11 Navy in Annapolis

Photo is courtesy of Syracuse University

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 13 Syracuse University men's rowing team fell just short in its quest for the Goes Trophy, but defeated No. 11 Navy on its home course in the first varsity eight competition on the Severn River on Saturday morning.

"If we can keep taking these little steps forward every week I think we will do some good racing at the Sprints and IRA," head coach Dave Reischman stated. "The key for us is to keep getting better each and every week, regardless of who we are racing."

For the third consecutive year, No. 8 Cornell brought home the Goes Trophy by virtue of winning the
first varsity eight race. Syracuse was never able to overtake Cornell, but held off a late surge by Navy to finish in second place. It marked the second straight weekend that the Orange knocked off an opponent ranked higher in the USRowing Collegiate Poll.

"I don't know if we think about it like that," commented Reischman. "I think we try to take each week, week-by-week. We try to ignore the polling as best as we can. I think what was great today for us was that all three crews were able to identify things from last week that we wanted to improve on for this week. I thought we did that."

Cornell led wire-to-wire in the second varsity eight race. Things got interesting in the final 500 meters of the competition. Ultimately, the Big Red came away with its second victory of the day. Syracuse once again finished in second, while Navy took home third place.

In the final race of the day, the Orange sprinted past the Midshipmen in the final 500 meters to finish in second in the third varsity eight competition. With its third win of the day, Cornell wrapped up the Stagg Cup for third consecutive year, as well.

"We wanted to change the rhythm of our start," said Reischman. "I think we did that in the varsity. We thought we got a little loose in the third 500 last week, as well. We wanted to tighten that up this week and make sure as fatigue set in we were still able to execute to the level we are capable of. I thought we took a step forward there."

Syracuse is back on the water on Saturday, April 23 when it takes on No. 7 Boston University and No. 18 Columbia in Leonia, N.J. with the Conlan Cup on the line.

Goes Trophy Lineup
Annapolis, Md.

1V
C – Santora, Reichard, Dawson, Staprans, McKenney, Messner, Schiera, Douglas, Tavares

2V
C – Kollman, Oster, Conroy, Barni, Leimeister, Walker, Kelley, Johnson, Busco

3V
C – Vlahandreas, Will, Weitekamp, Vanderberg, Marks, Graves, Hunt, Bauerfield, Shober