THE GAME
- The NCAA Tournament is BACK in the JMA Wireless Dome for the first time since the 2018 campaign as the fourth-seeded Orange get set to host No. 12 Towson in a rematch of a 2017 NCAA Tournament Quarterfinal clash.
- The Orange picked up an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament after going 11-5 through the regular season and the ACC Tournament, boasting a 3-1 conference record this season as well. Towson was awarded the automatic qualifying bid after winning the Coastal Atlantic Association (CAA) title with a 15-6 win over a common opponent, Delaware, in the league title match.
- It's a familiar time slot for long-time Syracuse men's lacrosse fans with a 7:30 p.m. opening faceoff on Sunday following the University's commencement exercises at the JMA Wireless Dome. Sunday's clash will be carried nationally on ESPNU with Drew Carter '19 and Ryan Boyle.
- Tim Leonard (play-by-play) and Kyle Fetterly (analyst) take to the airwaves on TK99/105, Cuse.com, The Varsity App, and TuneIn App, as well as Syracuse University student-radio station WAER. Ian Nicholas and Andrew Selover  are on-air for WAER this week.
- Syracuse is looking to rebound from a loss against Duke in the ACC Tournament Semifinals last weekend.

IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL
- The lacrosse community is a tight-knit bunch, with many connections up and down every roster every weekend.
- Sunday's game is no different as the two head coaches, Gary Gait (Syracuse) and Shawn Nadelen (Towson), are former teammates from the MLL's Bayhawks organization.
- The pair helped the 2005 Baltimore Bayhawks team lift the Steinfeld Cup after a 10-2 season, capped by a 15-9 win over the Long Island Lizards.
- Equally involved in that championship game were Syracuse graduates Tom Marechek and Mike Powell with three Towson graduates Dan Cocchi, Ben DeFelice, and the late Drew Pfarr.
- Opposite player-coach Gary Gait in the title game was New York Lizards head coach Jim Mulé, father of current Syracuse attackman Christian Mulé.
- From 2004 until 2006 the Baltimore Bayhawks (later the Chesapeake Bayhawks) played their home games at Towson's Johnny Unitas® Stadium, the site of next weekend's NCAA Tournament Quarterfinal site for Sunday's winner.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE DOME...
- As the saying goes, there's no place like home - doubly true when it's the JMA Wireless Dome.
- Syracuse opened the 2024 season with seven-straight games at home - the most consecutive home games to open a season since the Orange moved into the Dome in 1981.
- The previous highwater mark for consecutive games at the Dome to open a campaign was six to lead off the 2019 season. The Orange went 4-2 in that span, picking off No. 14 UAlbany, No. 15 Army West Point, No. 17 Johns Hopkins, and No. 16 Rutgers along the way. 
- Syracuse is 29-3 in season openers at home since the Dome opened.
- 'Cuse is 269-54 all-time in the JMA Dome since the 1981 season after taking down No. 4 Virginia on April 20 in an 18-17 thriller.
- The Orange went 5-2 in the seven-game homestand that opened the 2024 season.
- Syracuse is 15-11 in the Dome under head coach Gary Gait, including a 7-2 mark this year. The Orange have had a winning record at home over the last two years, going 5-4 in 2023 for an 12-6 mark across the past pair of campaigns.
- Postseason play returns to the Dome for the first time since 2018 while Syracuse hunts its first NCAA Tournament win since the opening round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament over Yale.

THE TOWSON SERIES
- Fits and starts is one way to describe the all-time series between the Orange and the Tigers.
- The two teams first met in late March 1972 in the Baltimore suburbs, a 17-9 Towson win. The Tigers won the next season but the sides did not clash again until a 10-9 Syracuse win on Long Island in 1989 (Gary Gait racked four goals in that game).
- Syracuse and Towson did not meet again until 1993, sparking an eight-year run of games, with the Orange going 8-0 in that span. 
- Towson won the most recent showdown 10-7 in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals at Delaware Stadium.
- Syracuse has won the previous three meetings in the Dome (1993, 1996, 1998).