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Roughly 32 minutes before Syracuse’s Saturday matinee against Saint Joseph’s, the Orange released their starting lineup. It was practically the same one SU trotted out in its season-opening victory over Boston University.

Jimmy McCool in net; a backline of Billy Dwan III, Riley Figueiras and Jordan Beck; the usual suspects — Luke Rhoa, Tyler McCarthy, Michael Leo, Finn Thomson and Joey Spallina — populating SU’s midfield and attack.

But there was one name conspicuously absent from the lineup that Gary Gait selected. And conversely, one conspicuously present in his stead. Payton Anderson, who scored two goals and notched three points in Syracuse’s win over BU, was out. Ten minutes before the opening faceoff, an SU spokesperson confirmed Anderson was out with an illness.

In his place? Bogue Hahn, the five-star freshman midfielder who was rated as Inside Lacrosse’s No. 17 recruit in the class of 2025. He scored off the bench in SU’s season-opener, and Gait sang his praises during Thursday’s media availability.

“He played a very solid game, didn’t make any mistakes and buried a goal for us,” Gait said of Hahn’s performance against BU. “We’re expecting some things out of him.”

Thus, it was up to Hahn — and the rest of the Orange — to shoulder the offensive load while Anderson, who is affectionately known as “Bear,” was forced to hibernate. They didn’t seem to have much trouble doing so. Syracuse’s (2-0, Atlantic Coast) offense dominated Saint Joseph’s (0-1, Atlantic 10) start to finish in its 20-2 victory Saturday. With 20 goals on 23 shots on goal, it was the first time the Orange scored 20 goals while netting over 85% of their on-target tries in Gait’s tenure.

“I don’t know the exact number,” Spallina said postgame. “But I felt like almost every shot was either pipe or in the goal.”

His assessment wasn’t all that inaccurate. St. Joe’s goalkeeper Tommy Gross, who led the A-10 with a 56.9% save rate in 2025, had one of the worst performances of his career, saving just two of the 20 shots on goal he faced.

His understudy, Charlie Giachetti, didn’t fare much better. After replacing Gross in the fourth quarter, he let in two of the three shots on goal he faced. As Spallina said, it felt every time the ball left an SU player’s stick, it was either hitting the post or the back of the net.

“They have a lot of talent on the offensive end,” Saint Joseph’s head coach Scott Meehan said postgame. “When they can play ‘Make it, Take it’ and win some face-offs, it’s tough to really get into a groove.”

And the Orange weren’t even at full strength. When Gait found out Anderson would be out of commission, he began conversing with SU offensive coordinator Pat March. Impressed with his performance in his collegiate debut, March decided to give Hahn the chance to shine as a starter.

So, that’s what Gait did. Hahn slotted for Leo in the midfield, and SU’s star midfielder was pushed up to attack to fill in for Anderson. The freshman scored his second goal in as many games, filling in admirably in the midfield.

“Our middies played very well in the first game, so we knew there’s an opportunity to bump somebody up there,” Gait said postgame of his thought process in starting Hahn. “He does everything we’ve asked. He’s gonna be a good one for us, for sure.”

Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t Hahn — or Rhoa — who got the party started for Syracuse in the midfield. It was Wyatt Hottle, the diminutive midfielder fresh off a season-opening three-point performance against BU.

Coming in off the bench roughly four minutes into the game, Hottle beat Gross to sink Syracuse’s first shot on goal, making it 1-0 SU. Soon after, he was back with another goal — this time off a feed from Leo near the top of the arc — to make it 3-0 Syracuse.

“He’s just one of many guys that takes practice seriously every day, puts in the same effort and executes at the same level in practice and in games, as well,” Gait said of Hottle.

The Orange just kept pouring it on from there. Syracuse’s next two shots came courtesy of Finn Thomson — who drained his first goal of the season — and Spallina, who delivered his second goal of the game to put the Orange up 5-0.

Gross hadn’t even made a save yet.

He’d get a stop eventually, about two minutes later, trapping a shot from sophomore Syracuse midfielder Matt McIntee. But once the second quarter rolled around, Leo was right back at it with a goal, this one a shot he delivered after dodging around a defender.

The rest of the game was much of the same. Leo, Thomson and Spallina kept pouring it on. The final tallies were gaudy. Thomson — who had zero points against BU — scored four times and collected five points Saturday. Spallina scored four times and totaled eight points. Leo, the debutante in SU’s attack, chipped in with four points.

“He’s always open,” Meehan said postgame, referring to Thomson. “Outside of giving him a bear hug and tackling him, there’s not many great ways to keep him from at least getting his stick on the ball.”

John Mullen struggled to win possessions out of the gate, losing his first two faceoffs. But once SJU’s starting faceoff specialist was forced out due to injury in the second half, there was nothing Meehan could do to stem the bleeding.

The Orange outshot SJU 22-12 in the second half, and their bench was practically cleared by the fourth quarter. Reserve players Charlie Kraftson, Greg Elijah-Brown and Drew Angelo began to find the scoreboard. It was complete and utter domination.

“In the second half, we didn’t give ourselves an opportunity to get into it,” Meehan said. “We weren’t able to generate long offensive possessions and multiple-shot possessions, which played in Syracuse’s favor.”

Postgame, Spallina didn’t think Syracuse changed anything on the offensive end from its season-opener against BU, when it scored just 13 goals on 26 shots on goal. If that’s the case, then what’s the secret behind SU’s unbelievable offensive efficiency?

“This week, we just got to good spots,” Spallina said. “We just did what we were supposed to do.”

Ah, yes, of course. If only it could be so simple against Maryland.

Published on February 7, 2026 at 5:18 pm
Contact Mauricio: mjpalmar@syr.edu | @mpalmarDO