What to know before No. 8 Syracuse’s Dome return vs. No. 13 Georgetown
No. 13 Georgetown attack Rory Connor’s 32 goals nearly double the next-best scorer in the Big East, helping his squad to the highest-scoring offense in the conference. Eli Schwartz | Asst. Photo Editor
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Syracuse is officially well over halfway through its season. With each passing game, the postseason gets closer, and although it’s still far from now, the tension will only increase.
The Orange are currently sitting pretty. They’re 7-2 and hold the No. 2 RPI ranking, according to the NCAA. Lacrosse Reference gives SU a 99% chance to make the NCAA Tournament and a 90% chance to earn a seed in May. Although things can change fast in lacrosse, the challenges are coming thick and fast for Gary Gait’s squad.
Next up is Georgetown, which desperately needs a resume-boosting win after nonconference shortcomings. The Hoyas are a tough outfit and one of the most difficult nonconference opponents on SU’s schedule.
Here’s everything to know about No. 13 Georgetown (3-3, Big East) ahead of its matchup with No. 8 Syracuse (7-2, Atlantic Coast) Sunday:
All-time series
Syracuse leads 17-6.
Last time they played
Georgetown waxed Syracuse 18-8 in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament. The result spelled the end of John Desko’s nearly five decades with SU and 23-year reign as its head coach.
The Hoyas led 3-2 through the first quarter before scoring five straight in the second frame to take control of the contest. Syracuse got within four goals at halftime but was outscored 5-0 in the third quarter, confirming a blowout. Jamie Trimboli scored three goals, and Owen Seebold added two, yet no other SU player had more than one. Declan McDermott and Jake Carraway each scored five goals for Georgetown, while Dylan Hess added four more.
The Hoyas Report
Under Kevin Warne, Georgetown has been the cream of the crop in the Big East. The Hoyas missed the NCAA Tournament in their first five seasons under Warne but have since made seven straight postseasons. During that time, Georgetown won the Big East regular-season title or the postseason tournament each year.
With another talented roster, the Hoyas are poised to reach the tournament again. Despite being under .500, Georgetown’s current losses are to the No. 1, No. 4 and No. 9 teams in the country (Notre Dame, Richmond and Ohio State). Its wins over Penn and UAlbany are solid, but the Hoyas need a big nonconference win to avoid relying on a Big East Tournament title to secure a bid.
The Hoyas are led by Colgate transfer Rory Connor. The graduate student leads a one-man offense. His 27 goals are 18 more than the next closest Hoya and account for 38.6% of Georgetown’s goals this year. His 4.5 goals per game are the most in the country, and according to Lacrosse Reference, Rory is taking 25% of the Hoyas’ shots.
While Rory packs a scoring punch, his brother Liam is Georgetown’s set-up man, with a team-high 20 assists. Rory has the second-most assists on the roster with five. Outside of the brotherly duo, nobody is stepping up, with Jack Shubert the Hoyas’ only other player reaching a double-figure points tally this year.
Defensively, Georgetown is still above average, but not as elite as Warne might want. It has a 27.6% defensive efficiency, 26th-best in the country, while goalie Anderson Moore is saving just 53.3% of the shots he’s faced.
How Syracuse beats Georgetown
The simple thing would be to shut down the Connor brothers, mainly Rory. However, he’s going to get his, so the way to thwart the Hoyas is by keeping their supplementary options quiet. Yes, it’d be great to shut down Rory, but nobody’s held him under four points this season. As long as the Orange let the graduate student beat them on his own, they’ll be fine.
Because the Hoyas are struggling on offense, SU needs to be aware of them pushing in transition. The Orange have done upped the pace recently and Denver occasionally played fast Monday, which gave them some trouble. Moore loves to push upfield after saves, so preventing quick runouts and unsettled offense will be beneficial if Syracuse wants to get over the line.
Stat to know: 37
It’s been 37 days since Syracuse last played at home. The last time the Orange stepped on the JMA Wireless Dome turf was their 11-9 triumph over No. 1 Maryland. A lot has happened since then. The Orange lost two games in a row, which could’ve easily turned into three, if not for a miraculous comeback against Penn. SU has springboarded that into a four-game win streak, with victories over then-No. 11 Johns Hopkins, Air Force and No. 14 Denver on the West Coast.
What started rocky ended up a solid 4-2 stretch. SU’s road trip was its longest since 1972, when it opened the season with six games on the road. Now it has four of its last six games in the Dome, where Gait has a 27-13 record since 2022.
Player to watch: Ty Banks, defense, No. 17
Ty Banks is one of the best defenders in the country and the reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Year. Banks came to Georgetown as a highly touted defender, ranked No. 13 in Inside Lacrosse’s 2023 recruiting rankings. Ever since setting foot on campus, he’s shown why.
Warne relies on Banks to be a lockdown defender against the opposing team’s best attacker, meaning he’ll likely guard Spallina Sunday. Spallina handed Maryland’s Will Schaller four goals earlier this year. He’ll have the chance to dominate another elite long pole in the Dome.
