Syracuse men’s lacrosse drops to No. 10 in Week 4 Inside Lacrosse Top 20
Following its loss to Princeton and win over Penn this past weekend, Syracuse men’s lacrosse dropped four spots to No. 10 in the Week 4 Inside Lacrosse poll. Eli Schwartz | Asst. Photo Editor
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Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Two weeks after reigning as Inside Lacrosse’s No. 1 team for the first time since 2020, Syracuse men’s lacrosse has nearly fallen like a stone. SU fell four spots to No. 10 in Inside Lacrosse’s Week 4 Top 20 Poll Monday, its lowest ranking thus far this season.
After suffering its first loss of the season to then-No. 14 Harvard last week in Cambridge, Syracuse (4-2, Atlantic Coast) dropped a second straight game to then-No. 7 Princeton (3-1, Ivy League) Friday, another Ivy League foe it eliminated from last season’s NCAA Tournament. Joey Spallina finished with zero points for the third time in his SU career in the loss, and his offensive struggles led to the Orange’s season-worst seven-goal performance.
However, SU avoided disaster in the second leg of the ACC/Ivy League Challenge Sunday, defeating then-No. 19 Penn 9-8 in overtime to escape a third-consecutive loss. The Orange went down 8-4 late in the third quarter, but held the Quakers scoreless over the final 19 minutes and 14 seconds of the game.
That defensive effort was all Syracuse’s offense needed to spark a comeback effort. SU went on a run of five unanswered goals — two of which came from Finn Thomson — to seal its third ranked victory of the year, capped off by Michael Leo’s game-winning goal in overtime.
The Orange have an opportunity to boost their ranking on the road next week, when they take on No. 11 Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field in Baltimore, Maryland. The Blue Jays are coming off their own comeback victory against then-No. 17 Virginia Saturday, going on a late 10-2 run to escape with a 11-13 win.
