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Syracuse is amid its longest winning streak of the Gary Gait era. Since a shocking early-season loss to Harvard on Feb. 22, the Orange have rattled off five straight wins. Each victory proved to be more crucial than the next, due to the thin margin for error to make the NCAA Tournament. With two early defeats, Syracuse couldn’t afford another slip-up due to having one of the most difficult schedules in the country.

The Orange took care of business when they needed to, with their latest triumph being a 12-10 win over Virginia to start Atlantic Coast Conference play. Escaping Charlottesville with a win kept SU on the right path, though its mettle will be tested during its final four regular-season games. All of Syracuse’s remaining opponents are top-12 teams in Inside Lacrosse’s rankings.

The first of those matchups is against two-time reigning national champion Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish aren’t as strong as the past couple of years, but they remain a formidable foe. SU also hasn’t beaten ND since 2018.

Here’s everything to know about No. 5 Notre Dame (5-2, 1-0 ACC) before it faces No. 7 Syracuse (8-2, 1-0 ACC):

All-time series

Notre Dame leads 11-10.

Last time they played …

Then-No. 3 Syracuse entered Arlotta Stadium with a five-game winning streak on March 30 to take on then-No. 1 Notre Dame. The Orange were outclassed by the Fighting Irish, falling 14-12. The final score made the game look closer than it actually was. Notre Dame entered the fourth quarter up six goals and allowed Syracuse to creep back in, but it came up short.

SU struggled at the faceoff X, with Mason Kohn and John Mullen combining to go 9-of-29 for their worst performance of the season. Finn Thomson led the way with four points for SU, while Michael Leo and Christian Mulé added three. Pat and Chris Kavanagh both totaled three for Notre Dame.

The Fighting Irish report

Notre Dame had one of the most dominant lacrosse seasons of all-time last year. It lost once and finished the season with 14 straight wins, defeating Maryland 15-5 in the national championship. The backbone of that team was Pat, who won the Tewaaraton Award, and goalkeeper Liam Entenmann, who was also a finalist for the award. But both have since graduated. Yet, that doesn’t mean the Fighting Irish are void of talent.

Chris has stepped up without his brother to be the initiator of ND’s offense, recording a team-leading 35 points (20 goals, 15 assists) so far. Jake Taylor has continued to be a goal-scoring threat (21 goals) around the crease, while on the back end, short-stick midfielder Ben Ramsey and long pole Shawn Lyght have provided shutdown defense. Thomas Ricciardelli has also demonstrated steady play in net, saving 59.4% of the shots he’s faced.

It took a little, but the Fighting Irish have hit their stride the past couple of weeks. They spent the first few weeks as the No. 1 team in the country, but suffered back-to-back one-goal losses to No. 2 Maryland and No. 3 Ohio State. Since then, Notre Dame demolished both No. 13 Michigan and No. 12 Duke by a combined 19 goals.

How Syracuse beats Notre Dame

Syracuse needs to be better at the faceoff X if it wants to break its six-game losing streak to Notre Dame. Mullen went 9-of-22 versus UVA, which was his worst performance of the season. Mullen’s been great all season, but if he has a performance like last week, the Orange will suffer a similar fate against ND that they did last time around. Mullen will face Will Lynch, another seasoned veteran from last season’s national championship team, who has won 55% of his faceoffs on 1,020 career attempts.

This could be said about any game, but it’ll be crucial for Syracuse to execute down the stretch. The Orange did so by scoring the final three goals against UVA, but this time they’ll have to do it in a bigger game. If Syracuse can stay composed and not play sloppily late, it might have a shot at gaining its first top-five win of the season.

Stat to know: 39.3%

Per Lacrosse Reference, Notre Dame has the most efficient offense in the country, scoring on 39.3% of its possessions. That’s in conjunction with the Fighting Irish boasting the most explosive offense in the ACC, scoring 15.57 goals per game. According to those metrics, Syracuse and Notre Dame boast the two best offenses in the conference. Syracuse is sixth in the country with an efficiency of 36.3%, while averaging 15 goals per game.

Syracuse midfielder Sam English drives against Virginia’s Will Erdmann in SU’s 12-10 win over the Cavaliers. English has contributed to the Orange’s efficient offense this season. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer

Player to watch: Jake Taylor, attack, No. 13

Taylor is in his sixth season with Notre Dame, making him one of the most experienced players in college lacrosse. In 2022, Taylor was relatively unknown, with just two career goals in two and a half seasons prior. That was before he unleashed an eight-goal barrage on Syracuse, handing them a 22-6 defeat. Since then, the attacker’s been one of the most consistent scorers in the country, recording 30 and 41 goals, respectively, over the last two campaigns.

Taylor was having a pretty quiet season before last week. He scored 10 goals against Cleveland State and Marquette, but outside of that, he had just six in ND’s other four games. But, Taylor came alive last week, exploding for five goals and two assists in Notre Dame’s win over Duke. The graduate student will be a handful with his finishing ability Saturday.

Published on April 2, 2025 at 9:52 pm
Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22