Gary Gait talks Trey Deere, expectations at year’s 1st media availability
During Gary Gait’s first media appearance of the season, he discussed SU’s sky-high expectations and Trey Deere’s season-ending injury. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer
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The last time Gary Gait spoke with the media, he was grappling with Syracuse’s devastating 14-8 loss to Maryland at Gillette Stadium in the Final Four. The Orange were completely outmatched, and Gait’s mood was somber.
Gait and Syracuse have had seven months to soak in the loss. Now, it’s back to business. The fifth-year head coach was back to his jolly self Thursday, 10 days before Syracuse’s season-opener against No. 17 Boston University.
The expectations for Syracuse are clear: win a national championship. The Orange’s 17-year championship drought is the longest in program history, since their first victory in 1983, but this squad is well-equipped to go the distance.
Here are some takeaways from Gait’s first media availability of the season:
Trey Deere Update
Syracuse was dealt a big blow Wednesday, when Inside Lacrosse reported SU attack Trey Deere would be out for the season after suffering a lower body injury in a car crash. Deere was a crucial part of the Orange’s man-up unit in 2025, scoring 19 goals in 19 games.
“It’s out there that Trey was in an accident, and he has a lower body injury, and he’s going to be out for the year,” Gait said. “…I’m not going to comment on his situation right now. He’s handling it and taking care of business.”
Gait provided no further detail on the extent of the injury and the details of what happened.
“We have a group of guys out there that are available and we are just preparing to execute and play against BU with what we have,” Gait added. “We could talk about what if, but he’s not here, so I don’t think we need to.”
Syracuse was always going to need to replace its lefty attack position after Owen Hiltz graduated. Deere was an option, but with him out of the picture, the spot is up for grabs. Gait said SU used a bunch of people in the fall, though he didn’t give specifics about who’d play alongside Joey Spallina and Finn Thomson.
The most realistic option is sophomore Payton Anderson, who flashed his skill, while Thomson was sidelined for seven weeks with a broken arm last season. The sophomore was SU’s highest-rated recruit in the 2024 class and scored 14 goals in 15 games as a freshman.
“He’s got the confidence,” Gait said of Anderson. “He finished the season strong last year and came back like a sophomore would, had some playing time, a lot more confident, eager and ready to go.”
Under pressure
It’s no secret Syracuse is under a lot of pressure this year. During Gait’s tenure, the Orange have improved each season. After missing the NCAA Tournament in 2022 and 2023, SU made the quarterfinals the following season and earned its first Final Four since 2013 last year.
The next step is getting over the hump and winning it all.
“It’s easy when you haven’t played anybody to say all the right things, and we’re doing the right things right now, and we’re going to be tested,” Gait said. “It’s how we handle pressure and adversity as the season goes on, but our goal is to get back to the Final Four and win a national championship. These guys are dialed in. They’re pretty focused, and they’re driven to get that done.”
Despite the work they’ve done throughout the offseason, Gait added there’s still lots to be done. For him, it’s easy to stay in the moment and put in the teaching points for Syracuse to be successful.
SU’s core is made up of seniors. Spallina, Thomson, Michael Leo, Billy Dwan III, Luke Rhoa and Riley Figueiras have been through plenty of battles, so it’s easy to say there’s a heightened urgency to win it all, though Gait explained his squad “hasn’t thought about that yet,” since they’re so busy working to get prepared for the season.
“These guys want to battle,” Gait said of his team. “They came here with the mindset they want to win a national championship, so they put a little bit of that pressure on themselves, but I think they haven’t looked at his pressure really, but more as an opportunity.
“This is another opportunity to chase that dream and that goal of a national championship. So that turns into extra work. It turns into doing the right thing at the right time and right now they’re in a good position to hopefully play well.”
Navigating a gauntlet schedule
Syracuse’s schedule is a gauntlet. There’s no two ways about it. The Orange will face nine teams from the 2025 NCAA Tournament, including four of the eight quarterfinalists. They’ll also face tests from the likes of No. 15 Johns Hopkins, No. 14 Virginia and Penn, which will be in the mix to make it back.
Gait’s never shied away from building a challenging schedule, yet this season is different. The biggest change is that Syracuse will travel a lot more than it’s used to. It only had four road games in 2025, which jumped to eight this year, the most since Gait took over in 2022. The Orange have never played more than six road games under Gait.
The bulk of SU’s road tests come from Feb. 21 to March 16, where the Orange have six straight contests away from the JMA Wireless Dome, including a West Coast trip to Denver and Air Force.
“People always complain that we don’t play enough on the road, so now’s our chance to prove that we can do that and do it well,” Gait said.
SU’s matchups against No. 2 Princeton and Penn — which come within a three day span — was what changed the outlook of its schedule. Gait explained that Syracuse’s slate was “pretty much dialed in” before it added the two Ivy League programs in what he looks at as a quasi-ACC/Ivy League challenge.
The challenging road schedule doesn’t mean SU’s home opponents are cupcakes either. It faces No. 1 Maryland in a rematch of the Final Four contest on Feb. 13. No. 5 Georgetown will travel north on March 22, before Syracuse opens up Atlantic Coast Conference play on March 28 against Duke.
“The schedule was put together to challenge ourselves and make sure that we played teams that provided strong RPI,” Gait said. “If you look at our schedule, it does that and also mixes up through the multiple conferences. And I like it. I think for this year, it’s a great schedule. It’s what we need if we want to make a run at the end.”
