Wolf: Syracuse’s season is heading south at the worst time
Two weeks ago, SU was playing its best lacrosse under Gary Gait. But after consecutive losses, the Orange are heading in the wrong direction. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer
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Two weeks ago, Syracuse was playing its best lacrosse under Gary Gait. Its 14-9 win over two-time reigning national champion Notre Dame marked its sixth straight victory, its longest streak under Gary Gait. The Orange looked poised to return to Championship Weekend for the first time since 2013.
Following losses to No. 1 Cornell and then-No. 12 Duke, it’s hard to say that now. Syracuse is heading in the wrong direction at the most important juncture of its season. With the postseason right around the corner, the Orange must get their act together fast. If they don’t, their hopes of making a deep run in May will be squashed, and they could even miss the NCAA Tournament altogether.
Getting back on track starts with defeating No. 8 North Carolina in the JMA Wireless Dome Saturday. A win clinches SU’s first Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title since 2018 and a much-needed momentum boost heading into the postseason. A loss would continue Syracuse’s downward spiral at a time when it should be peaking.
This isn’t the first time Syracuse has lost two straight games this season. It fell to then-No. 6 Maryland and then-No. 15 Harvard in February. The Orange then responded by winning six straight. But this two-game losing streak is different; Syracuse has just one regular-season game left to respond.
Another problem is how Syracuse fell to Cornell and Duke. Entering its matchup with the Big Red, SU was fresh off a dominating win over ND. Defeating Cornell could’ve established Syracuse as the favorite to win it all. Instead, it fell flat.
CJ Kirst ran riot, recording eight points, while Syracuse went on multiple prolonged scoreless streaks. SU’s droughts led to two separate six-goal deficits en route to a 17-12 loss.
On paper, losing to arguably the best team in the nation seems fine. But it became more concerning when the issues persisted the following week against Duke.
Syracuse was playing like a national title contender a couple weeks ago. But after consecutive losses to No. 1 Cornell and No. 12 Duke, our columnist writes Syracuse needs to get back on track to avoid missing the NCAA Tournament altogether. Leonardo Eriman | Asst. Video Editor
The Orange instantly trailed 4-0. The Blue Devils punched Syracuse in the mouth with their physicality, forcing it to commit a season-high 18 turnovers. The Orange also let Duke’s offense get going, which had failed to score eight goals in three of its previous four games.
In Durham, Syracuse could’ve asserted its dominance and shown its poor showing against the Big Red was a minor blip. Instead, it played even worse and looked far from a national title contender.
It wasn’t too long ago that SU looked to be a force to be reckoned with. After the Orange dropped to 3-2, they rattled off five straight wins. Yet, their next challenge was Notre Dame, a team that’d bullied them since 2018.
Before this season, ND outscored SU by eight goals on average across seven straight wins. The latest meeting was a totally different story. Syracuse completely dismantled the Fighting Irish, holding them scoreless for over 40 minutes, while Joey Spallina orchestrated a masterful performance with four goals. The victory marked the highest moment in the Gait era and showed Syracuse was hitting its stride.
“We know we can beat anybody if we put it all together,” Gait said after beating ND. “We found that out about ourselves last year, that we could play with anybody, but we didn’t finish sometimes last year. We’ve done a better job this year of making plays when we needed them.”
Amid its hot streak, Syracuse was playing complementary lacrosse. Spallina dominated his matchups and continued to dispel the narrative that he’s “not a big game player.” SU’s defense was playing at an elite level, holding teams to eight goals per game, while Jimmy McCool became a true No. 1 goalie. With John Mullen excelling at the faceoff X, the Orange looked like a complete team.
Syracuse’s players have talked ad nauseam over the past two seasons about wanting to bring the program back to the top of college lacrosse. The Orange finally looked like they were backing up those ambitions, but their recent stretch halted that.
It’s time for them to put up or shut up against North Carolina.
Winning cures everything, and Syracuse desperately needs a remedy against the Tar Heels. Losing three consecutive games to close the regular season could potentially put Syracuse’s NCAA Tournament prospects at risk.
Joe Zhao | Design Editor
Before SU’s loss to Duke, the NCAA Tournament selection committee released its rankings. SU was No. 9 and the Blue Devils were unranked. Saturday’s result likely changed that dynamic, since Notre Dame — the No. 10 team in the rankings — also won.
For now, USA Lacrosse and Inside Lacrosse have Syracuse in the field. Though its position isn’t comfortable. USA Lacrosse has SU as one of its “last three included,” while Michigan, Boston University and Saint Joseph’s are the “first three on the outside.”
Syracuse still has the ninth-highest RPI in the country — a key metric the selection committee uses — which significantly boosts its at-large bid hopes. Michigan (13), Saint Joseph’s (15) and Boston University (18) can’t make up that gap.
But things could get nerve-wracking for the Orange. Michigan or Yale could automatically qualify by winning their conference tournaments. Or, a team outside the field could snag the Patriot League Tournament over Army. Syracuse can’t gain automatic qualification through the ACC Tournament — since there are only five teams in the conference — which could allow bid steelers to burst its bubble.
The Orange shouldn’t be in this mess. They’re too talented and their expectations are too high for their place in the NCAA Tournament to be questioned. Yet, they only have themselves to blame, and it’s up to them to turn the season back in a positive direction.
“The opportunity is in front of us if we win this week, win the practices every day, and we got an opportunity to take care of business next weekend,” Gait said after the Duke loss. “And we forget about this one and move on.”
Defeating North Carolina won’t be a walk in the park. The Tar Heels’ attacking duo of Owen Duffy and Dominic Pietramala are a handful, combining for 67 goals this season. Brady Wambach, who wins 65% of his faceoffs, boosts UNC’s repertoire.
However, Spallina, Owen Hiltz and the rest of SU’s offense can keep up with anyone. Mullen can also give Wambach a run for his money. Whether Syracuse loses or wins a game, Gait always harps on whether his team made plays when it needed to. The pressure will be on against the Tar Heels to accomplish that.
If Syracuse gets the job done, it’ll have nothing to worry about. Its minor two-game hiccup will be forgotten as it heads into the postseason. Lose, and questions will continue to swirl about a late-season collapse.
Zak Wolf is a Senior Staff Writer at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at zakwolf784254@gmail.com or on X @ZakWolf22.
