Joey Spallina won the 1st half, but Shawn Lyght won when it mattered
In the first half against Notre Dame defender Shawn Lyght, Joey Spallina scored a hat trick. But Lyght held him scoreless in the second half. Courtesy of SU Athletics
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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — No one’s Joey Spallina. There isn’t a player in collegiate lacrosse who demands the same level of attention as Syracuse’s senior talisman, the one who just broke the most hallowed record at the most hallowed program in college lacrosse.
But around these parts, Shawn Lyght’s pretty damn close. The Notre Dame defenseman has graced the cover of USA Lacrosse magazine, just like Spallina. He’s the most famous face on an Atlantic Coast Conference team that collects top-five recognition like candy, just like Spallina. He’s a Tewaaraton favorite, just like Spallina. He doesn’t score goals, but he embarrasses opponents’ top attacks in the same fashion that Spallina exposes elite defenders.
Spallina carries the weight of the world — and SU’s offense — on his shoulders, and Lyght does the same for a Fighting Irish defensive unit that entered Saturday ranked third in the nation with a minuscule eight goals conceded per game. It was always going to be a clash of titans.
“Yeah, he’s a good player,” Lyght said of Spallina postgame. “Obviously, he’s going to get his goals. He’s going to get his assists.”
And Spallina did both Saturday, blitzing Lyght for a first-half hat trick, his first in the opening 30 minutes since SU’s win over Maryland. But the senior went silent after halftime, and as a result, Syracuse’s (11-4, 2-2 ACC) offense went with him in its 16-11 loss to Notre Dame (10-1, 3-1 ACC). Lyght finished the day with no caused turnovers and just a single ground ball, but he walked out of Arlotta Stadium with the most important statistic: a win.
“We’re an ACC matchup, we play each other all the time,” Lyght said. “Everyone wants to win.”
It sure would be nice if everyone could win, but alas, they cannot. Someone was going to shoulder a loss, and initially, it seemed like it’d be Lyght.
When Luke Miller got the Irish on the board nearly instantly with a goal, Spallina answered 27 seconds later. With Matt McIntee driving toward the left side of the goal, Spallina drifted off of Lyght, whose attention was squarely on McIntee.
McIntee noticed this, tossed a pass to Spallina and watched as Lyght desperately sprinted back to his assignment. He was too late. Spallina had all the space he needed to slot his close-range finish past ND goalie Thomas Ricciardelli. Spallina 1, Lyght 0.
Syracuse’s star didn’t score again in the opening frame, but it didn’t take him long to get the better of Lyght in the second. On a man-up possession less than four minutes in, Finn Thomson passed the ball to Spallina. Lyght’s attention was stuck between both. He didn’t commit hard enough to either, and it gave Spallina all the room necessary to finish his tight-angle try on Ricciardelli. Spallina 2, Lyght 0.
The third goal might’ve been the most damning. Five minutes after his second score, Spallina got the ball from X, starting on the reset. He dodged around the goal, bumped Lyght off his spot and spun back toward Ricciardelli for an effortless, top-drawer finish. Spallina 3, Lyght 0.
At the half, Syracuse suddenly led 8-7. The Orange were firing on all cylinders, relying on ball movement to key in on ND’s eagerness to slide, and it made life miserable for the Fighting Irish defenders.
So Lyght — and the rest of Notre Dame’s defense — adjusted out of the break. It slid less aggressively, trusted in its matchups and simply let SU shoot itself in the foot. The second-half collapse wasn’t entirely Spallina’s fault. The Orange turned the ball over nine times in the final two frames, a far cry from their five giveaways in the first half. It’s tough to put points on the board without the ball in your stick.
“The second half was possessions and turnovers, really. And faceoffs,” SU head coach Gary Gait said. “We lacked the possessions in the second half. And when we did get the possessions, we gave the ball back with the turnovers.”
But it wasn’t like Spallina was doing much to remedy the issue either. He had two additional quarters to play after he completed his hat trick, and his only contribution was a late shoving match in the game’s final seconds.
“Just a little fiery,” Lyght said of the brawl. “Hopefully, it doesn’t happen again.”
After the win, Lyght stood on the Arlotta turf, surrounded by a sea of children. They held sticks and lacrosse balls. They held towels and shirts. They held out pens and Sharpie markers, all vying for a piece of the man of the hour. He leaned down, grabbing each piece of memorabilia and resting it on his quadricep as he signed autograph after autograph.
It might’ve only been about half an hour, but it felt like an eternity. The kids came in droves. Each signed item spawned three more eager fans as if it were a game of “Call of Duty: Zombies.” His only respite came in a brief media scrum, where he dispatched about 10 questions in three minutes. He kept it quick, of course. He didn’t want to keep them waiting.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to have great fans all year, coming out to support us,” Lyght said. “We just always want to put on a show for the crowd.”
The last question is asked. Lyght answers it, begins to walk off, and a crowd of 20 kids emerges from the ether at midfield. A never-ceasing flood of, “Shawn, can you sign this?”
Spallina’s long gone by now, having returned to SU’s locker room. He’d usually be out on the turf for eons, honoring hundreds of autograph requests in the same fashion. But there’s a time and place, and this is neither the time nor the place.
Syracuse’s starboy has had his fair share of moments. It was time for Lyght to have his.
