No. 8 Syracuse (7-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) will host Binghamton (4-7, 2-2 America East) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in the Carrier Dome in its final game before the ACC tournament.

SU beat then-No. 11 North Carolina, 13-7, on Saturday to bounce back from a stretch of four losses in five games including three blown fourth-quarter leads.

Binghamton is coming off a 12-8 loss to No. 6 Albany on Saturday. The Bearcats clawed within two goals at the beginning of the third and fourth quarters before Albany finally pulled away.

Syracuse will face No. 13 UNC in the semifinal of the ACC tournament on April 29 in Kennesaw, Georgia, as either the second or fourth seed.

All-time series: Syracuse leads 4-0

Last time they played: The then-No. 7 Orange beat Binghamton, 10-8, on April 2, 2014, in the Carrier Dome. SU was coming off its first ACC win against then-No. 7 Notre Dame, 11-10, four days earlier and nearly suffered a letdown loss to the Bearcats on a Wednesday night.

Syracuse trailed Binghamton by one goal at the end of the first quarter and went into halftime with only a one-goal lead. But three straight goals in the third quarter pushed SU’s lead to three heading into the final frame. The Bearcats climbed back to within one with 7:22 left in the game only for a Kevin Rice tally to ice the game just 38 seconds remaining.

Binghamton held the advantage at the faceoff X, 12-10, and had eight different players each score at least a goal. Rice led Syracuse with two goals and two assists. Derek Maltz, Dylan Donahue, Randy Staats and Nicky Galasso had two points each.

The Binghamton report: The Bearcats started its season with four straight losses, to Colgate, Marist, Hobart and Delaware, losing by an average of four goals per game. Since then, Binghamton improved from the rocky start, but is still winless in six away games this season while going 4-1 at home.

Senior midfielder Zach Scaduto leads the Bearcats offense with 23 goals and 33 points — both career highs. He’s scored at least three goals and taken at least seven shots in each of the team’s last three games. Scaduto is in a starting role for the first time in his career and had previously started just one game over the last three seasons. He picked up three groundballs and had one caused turnover when Syracuse and Binghamton played in 2014.

Defensively, Garrett Waldron leads the way with 10 caused turnovers. The defender and Syracuse native played at West Genesee (New York) High School with Syracuse players Tim Barber, Dylan Donahue and Nick Mellen.

Tanner Cosens starts in goal for the Bearcats, saving 44.2 percent of shots and letting in 11.5 goals per game. Dan Mazurek is the team’s primary option at the faceoff X and is winning 53.8 percent of draws.

Binghamton’s best weapon is its ability to clear the ball. The Bearcats rank 12th in the nation with an 89.2 percent success rate on clears. It ranks in the bottom half of the America East in nearly every other statistical category.

How Binghamton beats Syracuse: It’ll take a nearly perfect game from the Bearcats to take down the Orange. It’ll have to keep turnovers to a minimum, win the majority groundballs and capitalize on every opportunity. Binghamton played close with Albany, outshooting the Great Danes and nearly matching them in groundballs and turnovers, but failed on two clears in the fourth quarter on the way to the loss. The margin of error will be even smaller for the Bearcats on Wednesday though, with Syracuse faceoff specialist Ben Williams likely to control the X.

Numbers to know:

89.2 – Binghamton clears the ball with an 89.2 percent success rate, which is 12th best in the country.

6 – The Bearcats have six losses in six games on the road this season. Their trip up Interstate 81 will mark the fifth time they face Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.

55-24 – Syracuse has outscored Binghamton 55-24 in the four games between the two squads.

Player to watch: Zach Scaduto

Scaduto is Binghamton’s biggest offensive threat. He scores the most goals and only one player on the team has more assists. Scaduto is in the best stretch of his career, averaging 3.8 points per game over the last four games. The Bearcats are 3-2 when he scores at least three goals, but just 1-5 when he’s held to less than that.

Published on April 19, 2016 at 10:48 pm

Contact Jon: [email protected] | @jmettus