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The ball reaches Finn Thomson’s stick near the goal. Before you know it, the ball is gone.

Wait, the ball is in the back of the net. Thomson has just scored on your team.

The Syracuse offense has figured that out — that Thomson’s release in tight is rapid and deadly. Get the ball to him, and he will score. Namely, Joey Spallina has built that chemistry. The Canadian Thomson grew up playing box lacrosse near Toronto. Spallina, despite hailing from Long Island, has played box in The Great White North for three summers.

So, you wouldn’t be surprised their connection in their fourth year together at Syracuse is near-telepathic. You would only expect opponents to catch on. Or maybe that chemistry is so strong it’s unstoppable — like hydrogen and oxygen sparking into flame, instant and impossible to contain.

No. 6 Duke (8-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) couldn’t do much to quell Thomson’s finishes in its electric 16-15 loss to No. 5 Syracuse (9-2, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) Saturday. Thomson scythed home three goals — two of which came from Spallina, and all of which were in the back of the net moments after the ball arrived in his stick. There were no gathers; rather, winners that might belong on the tennis or volleyball court.

After the win over the Blue Devils, one-third of Thomson’s 90 career goals have come from Spallina assists. Now, that’s a connection.

“I know what he’s gonna do before he even does it,” Spallina said of Thomson postgame. “And it’s just reps, right? It’s the same thing with a quarterback and a wideout, right? It’s just the more that you throw to him, the more that you play together, I think the more chemistry that we have.”

A quarterback and a wide receiver. SU football might want a loan. They don’t have anyone who can match Thomson and Spallina’s rapport, especially in tough situations. On the gridiron, it’s the red zone and end zone. On the lacrosse field, which, in the case of the JMA Wireless Dome, is still covered in the yard markers, it’s right near the 10-yard line, where the goal sits.

“The inside is definitely my game, little more so than other guys,” Thomson said.

Thomson attributes playing box lacrosse for his “whole life,” starting with joining Mimico in the Baby Peanut Division at age 5, for his finishes that are faster than a hummingbird’s flap of its wings. The box game is quicker in tighter quarters with six players on the field and smaller goals, and it’s traditionally played on converted hockey rinks during the warm months in Canada. So, that explains a lot about Thomson’s legerdemain. But how about the man setting him up?

“Obviously, having a great feeder in Joey behind at X,” Thomson said. “He just finds me in there, leads me with the ball and just put in the back of the net.”

Spallina did exactly what Thomson described twice Saturday, resulting in goals. Those plays were familiar, almost routine.

But before we recount those, you probably want to hear about attack Payton Anderson doing something Thomson had never seen him do before?

All right. Let’s get into it.

SU was locked into a 1-1 tie midway through the first quarter. Its offense hadn’t yet found its rhythm. It held the back up with seven seconds left on the shot clock. As Spallina picked the ball up on the end line, Thomson realized the low clock, he said. Then, he noticed Anderson was matched up with a short-stick defensive midfielder. Give Bear the ball.

Anderson bounced off his defender and “did his thing,” driving down the right alley, Thomson said. Anderson looked up as he reached the goal-line extended and saw Thomson on the back post. Thomson’s defender had hedged to the opposite pipe, leaving him space.

It “wasn’t smart,” Anderson observed.

Anderson had to get it across to the open Thomson. So, he opted for an underhand pass. It was like a pitch-hand off in football to a running back. Only with a lacrosse stick, and you need to redirect it into the net at an acute angle in the waning seconds of the shot clock.

None of that mattered for Thomson. He touched it home and praised Anderson for the feed he’s “never seen him do before.”

After some pressing, SU head coach Gary Gait admitted Anderson had pulled off something similar in practice. The four-man crew of Gait, Spallina, Anderson and Thomson assembled in front of the media postgame, then burst into laughter. That’s what you can do when you beat Duke in an ACC opener.

On the other end, all Blue Devils head coach John Danowski could do was just praise the Orange’s execution.

“They’ve been together for a while,” Danowski said. “They know each other, right? They know, if I’m going to move right, you’re going to move left. They can anticipate each other’s movements.”

Preparing for Syracuse’s synchronicity was a challenge, the head coach added.

“You can show them on tape, but you really can’t emulate that in practice, especially when you go, and I’m not disparaging our second team, but when you practice against your second team and scout and prep (teams),” Danowski said postgame. “It’s just not quite the same as it is (at) game speed on game day.”

Back to Spallina and Thomson’s connection. You probably can picture the play in your head. Spallina at X, dissecting the defense, and a cutting Thomson arrives in front of the net and applies a lightning-quick finish.

Well, that’s what happened Saturday. Thomson peeled away from his defender on a pick just in front of goal. Spallina saw the separation and rewarded him. The game’s tied at 9-9 with 1:01 left in the second quarter.

You could blindfold them, make them spin around their planted lacrosse stick 10 times and Thomson and Spallina could still conduct that play seamlessly.

They did exactly that — blindfolding and dizziness aside — to begin the third quarter to make it 11-10 SU. But Thomson challenged himself slightly. He blasted a behind-the-back goal facing the opposite direction of the net.

When Spallina dished it to him, Thomson sensed pressure on his left. So, he uncorked the shot to his right in one fluid motion.

It was astonishing. But it was also familiar. Finn Thomson had done that before. He was just doing it again.

Published on March 28, 2026 at 7:35 pm
Contact Nicholas: njalumka@syr.edu | @nalumkal