Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

You hear it every year around late March: Syracuse is approaching an extremely difficult Atlantic Coast Conference slate. And here the Orange are, beginning their 2025 conference schedule on the road against Virginia Saturday. Head coach Lars Tiffany’s squad is typically among the nation’s best. But that’s nowhere near the case this year.

The Cavaliers are unranked through nine games and sit one game above .500. Their offense isn’t the same without former standout attack Connor Shellenberger, who led UVA to a 2021 National Championship win and a Final Four appearance last season. Virginia’s also suffered some rough losses, like getting demolished 14-5 by Ohio State and a 12-6 defeat to Maryland.

For SU, this is a welcome time to face UVA. The Orange ride a season-best four-game winning streak into their weekend road test. With a victory over the ACC’s worst team, Syracuse can extend it to five — which would tie the Orange’s longest winning streak under Gary Gait.

Here’s everything to know before No. 8 Syracuse (7-2, 0-0 ACC) battles Virginia (5-4, 0-0 ACC) in Charlottesville to open conference play:

All-time series

The series is tied at 21-21.

Last time they played …

In a thriller to close SU’s 2024 regular season, the then-No. 6 Orange defeated then-No. 4 Virginia 18-17 in the JMA Wireless Dome. It was Syracuse’s first win over UVA since 2021. The Orange came through in crunch time, courtesy of a highlight-reel game-tying pole-goal from Billy Dwan III and a dagger with 48 seconds left by Sam English. Even without a point from Joey Spallina, SU’s offense was still untouchable against the Cavaliers.

Syracuse rode high into the ACC Tournament as a result, earning the No. 2 seed. Yet, it struggled immensely in an 18-13 first-round loss to No. 3 seed Duke.

The Cavaliers report

Virginia’s posted disappointing results thus far in 2025. It hasn’t won a ranked matchup in three tries. Its offense scores two goals fewer than it did in 2024. Its heir to Shellenberger, McCabe Millon, isn’t playing as dominantly as many thought he’d be, putting up 31 points in nine contests (14 goals, 17 assists).

Instead, junior attack Truitt Sunderland is having a career year to spearhead UVA’s offense. His 23 goals and 18 assists both lead the team. Fellow junior attack Ryan Colsey has been a consistent No. 2 option, also tallying 23 goals. However, the Cavaliers, typically an offensive juggernaut, only have four players with double-digit goals.

Their defense hasn’t held up to standard either, ranking tied-for-33rd in the nation with 10.33 goals allowed per game. It doesn’t help when Virginia’s faceoff group has been weak. UVA’s three-man rotation at the X — Anthony Ghobriel, Andrew Greenspan and Henry Metz — combines for a 50.6% faceoff winning percentage.

According to Lacrosse Reference, if you don’t count garbage-time scenarios, the Cavaliers’ faceoff group is only the 37th-best in the country.

Virginia’s goalie situation is notable, too, as both Matthew Nunes and Kyle Morris have rotated in and out of the cage. Morris started the Cavaliers’ first five games and has tallied a middling .494 save percentage. Nunes got the nod in UVA’s previous four contests. His numbers — .529 save rate — aren’t much better.

Cole Ross | Digital Design Director

How Syracuse beats Virginia

This is another pristine opportunity for the Orange to hand the keys to Spallina and let him drive them to success. He didn’t score against UVA last year, but he’s put together his most consistent year yet in 2025. He averages 6.00 points per game, third-best in Division I and the best scoring clip among ACC players. It’s simple: Spallina’s ready to dominate, and he has the pieces around him, so give him the ball.

It’ll help to have faceoff specialist John Mullen going up against a middle-of-the-road Virginia faceoff unit. Mullen leads the country with 136 faceoff victories. Gait has said Mullen is a luxury who can carry the Orange through games. Saturday is another strong chance for him to do so.

Stat to know: .849

Virginia isn’t one of the better clearing teams in the country. The Cavaliers’ .849 clear percentage ranks 42nd in D-I, a steep drop from Syracuse’s .909 clear rate, which is the third-highest mark.

The last thing an opponent wants to do against SU is give it free passes. The Orange already turn the ball over fewer than any squad in the nation. And they rank 17th overall for most turnovers forced per game. Look for Syracuse to be aggressive on the ride with tenacious turnover forcers and ground-ball getters like attack Trey Deere and midfielder English.

Player to watch: McCabe Millon, attack, No. 9

The former No. 2 overall recruit in the class of 2023, per Inside Lacrosse, Millon elicits a lot of excitement. Especially after his downright absurd rookie campaign, where he unleashed 41 goals and 25 assists — setting a UVA program record for most goals as a freshman.

But Millon isn’t experiencing the level of dominance that both he, Shellenberger and Payton Cormier, who led the country with 65 goals in 2024, had last season. He’s been held scoreless twice this year, and has a measly .179 shooting percentage, which is far lower than his .304 freshman-season clip.

Millon faces another tough task Saturday, likely matched up versus Syracuse defensemen Dwan, Riley Figueiras and Nick Caccamo — who’ve combined to cause 37 turnovers.

Published on March 26, 2025 at 10:53 pm
Contact Cooper at: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews