Who Syracuse men’s lacrosse needs to go through in quest for ACC title
Following a loss at Notre Dame, Syracuse enters the ACC Tournament as the No. 3 seed for a chance at its second straight conference championship. Eli Schwartz | Asst. Photo Editor
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For Syracuse, the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament mattered a whole lot more a year ago than it does right now.
SU limped into last year’s tournament holding nine wins, a three-game losing streak and a tenuous — at best — grasp on an NCAA Tournament bid. There was a real chance the Orange would’ve been left out of the field entirely if they didn’t make a statement in the ACC Tournament. Then, SU won the whole damn thing and rode that momentum to its first Final Four since 2013.
The stakes aren’t as dire this time around. Lacrosse Reference pegs Syracuse as an NCAA Tournament lock, no matter what happens in Charlotte. It’s not do or die for the Orange. If anything, the ACC Tournament is just the cherry on top.
But SU still has a title to defend. Here’s No. 3 seed Syracuse’s (11-4, 2-2 ACC) path to doing so at the 2026 ACC Tournament:
Semifinal: No. 2 seed North Carolina
There are only two rounds in a four-team tournament, which means the Orange get a berth to the ACC Tournament Semifinals simply by existing. Yippee.
Their reward? A matchup with No. 2 seed North Carolina, a squad that waxed them in Chapel Hill on April 4 with a dominant 14-9 win, handing SU its first ACC loss.
It was an awful all-around showing from the Orange. Evidently, they couldn’t practice on UNC’s grass field before the contest. John Mullen was bullied by Brady Wambach at the faceoff X. Joey Spallina was pointless for the second time all season. And Jimmy McCool had his worst game of the campaign, saving just 36.8% of shots he faced and getting benched for the second time in his career.
But there’s a consolation for Syracuse. First, Charlotte’s American Legion Memorial Stadium is turf — not grass. Second, the Tar Heels squad that faced the Orange then was playing much better than they are now.
North Carolina still has Wambach, but his 18-for-31 performance against Duke Saturday was subpar. That stout defense, the one that held Spallina pointless? It allowed 15 goals to Virginia two weeks ago and conceded 16 against the Blue Devils. Since hosting the Orange, UNC has dropped two of its three games.
Zoey Grimes | Design Editor
With a combined 108 points, star attackmen Owen Duffy and Dominic Pietramala are still Owen Duffy and Dominic Pietramala, and the Tar Heels are a tough out for anyone in the nation. But with the Orange’s talent, it’d be ludicrous to say they don’t have more than a puncher’s chance.
Final: No. 1 seed Notre Dame or No. 4 seed Virginia
In the event SU gets past North Carolina, one would assume No. 1 seed Notre Dame is the favorite to play the Orange in the ACC Tournament Final.
But you would be remiss to overlook No. 4 seed Virginia, which handed ND its only loss of the season on March 28. Helmed by two-time national champion head coach Lars Tiffany, the Cavaliers are still a force to be reckoned with in the ACC.
Jake Marek’s been doing a fine job in net, and John Schroter and Michael Meredith have been just as solid on the Cavaliers’ backline. The headliner, however, is their attacking unit.
McCabe Millon has followed up his impressive 50-point sophomore campaign with a 40-assist, 64-point showing through 14 games. His freshman brother, Brendan, might be better, bursting onto the scene with a team-leading 67 points. Behind that duo is Truitt Sunderland, whose 41-goal output paces the Cavaliers by 10.
Virginia’s good, there’s no doubt about it. But when the Orange played the Cavaliers on April 11, SU handily dispatched them 14-9. The same can’t be said for Notre Dame, whose second-half domination over Syracuse led to a 16-11 win Saturday.
After conceding a first-half hat trick to Spallina, Shawn Lyght looked every bit like the Tewaaraton Award-contending defenseman he is, holding SU’s star attack pointless over the final two quarters. ND goalie Thomas Ricciardelli — who entered Saturday saving at least 50% of opponents’ shots in his last seven games — looked human against the Orange. Even that wasn’t enough for Syracuse to overcome the Fighting Irish.
Currently, Notre Dame has no players with over 35 points. But led by Josh Yago and Luke Miller, ND’s attack had the necessary juice to get past SU. It was far from Notre Dame’s best defensive game — its 11 goals conceded tied a season-high — but it already knew that.
“Letting up 11 goals isn’t necessarily like us,” Lyght said postgame.
That speaks volumes to the defensive reputation the Fighting Irish have built for themselves.
