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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Welcome to the house of horrors, Syracuse. Since 2017, whenever the Orange have seen the flash of Notre Dame Fighting Irish green at Arlotta Stadium, it’s like kryptonite to the Superman SU.

In the last four meetings at the venue, Syracuse has been outscored by 35 goals. Saturday, in the Orange’s regular-season finale of a campaign with national championship-or-nothing expectations, it couldn’t exorcize its leprechaun-shaped demons against the Fighting Irish.

Instead, the luck continued for the Irish, and the misery persisted for the Orange. No. 5 Syracuse (11-4, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) couldn’t hang with No. 1 Notre Dame (10-1, 3-1 Atlantic Coast), falling 16-11. An 8-7 SU halftime lead evaporated. Joey Spallina’s hat trick and Payton Anderson’s four goals couldn’t overcome the offensive firepower of ND’s unit, which had 34 shots on goal, nearly equaling the Orange’s total shots. Goalie Jimmy McCool’s 18 saves and 52.9% save percentage weren’t enough either.

So, Syracuse slots into the No. 3 seed in the ACC Tournament. It’ll play No. 2 seed North Carolina at 8 p.m. ET Friday in Charlotte.

“Possessions through turnovers and lack of faceoff wins and making mistakes, it’s hard to win with it,” SU head coach Gary Gait said postgame on a field teeming with Fighting Irish faithful.

Gait is right. The Orange lost the faceoff battle for the third time in four ACC contests, 18-13. SU also coughed the ball up 14 times.

And then there were the runs. Gait often says lacrosse is a game of runs. Saturday was the latest proof. Last year, when the Orange and the Fighting Irish met in the regular season, and SU won, Notre Dame went scoreless for 40 minutes, allowing a 9-0 Syracuse run.

Notre Dame had its own game-changing runs Saturday, scoring five unanswered in the first 14 minutes of the third quarter to build a four-goal lead. Then, ND scored the final four goals of the contest, turning a one-goal lead to the final five-score cushion.

Syracuse could only survive so long with its gaffes. Within touching distance at 12-11 two minutes into the fourth quarter, turnovers and mistakes took center stage. Finally, Notre Dame’s Brock Behrman and Will Angrick knocked down the door, building a 14-11 advantage just past the halfway point of the period.

It unraveled from there. Tempers flared, brawls ensued and Notre Dame applied salt to SU’s wounds.

“We hung around for a while, but unfortunately, they took control in the second half, made plays when they needed to and came out on top,” Gait said. “Tough one for us. We learn and get better and move forward.”

On a day where there were so many green-clad fans you’d think the hill they sat on along the sideline was sprouting hedges, the ND faithful had a reason to celebrate less than 90 seconds into the game. Attack Luke Miller blistered a bid below McCool in net. However, like a grace note in an Irish jig, Syracuse’s Spallina answered less than 30 seconds later to tie the score 1-1.

Both teams entered the matchup ranked top 20 in scoring offense and defense, but it was the attacks that had the upper hand. A 2-2 score quickly turned into 3-3 midway through the first quarter. Even in defeat, Syracuse can take solace its 11 goals tied the most the Fighting Irish had conceded all year. Goalie Thomas Ricciardelli, second in the nation in save percentage at 60.6%, posted a 42.1% mark.

Notre Dame began to separate itself, pushing ahead 5-3 early in the second stanza. However, in 50 seconds, the Orange were back to level pegging.

Spallina, left as open as a highway-side convenience store on the left wing on a man-up opportunity, cut down the left alley into an acute angle against Ricciardelli. Couch your concerns. Spallina made like Brazil’s Maicon in the 2010 World Cup. Only Spallina did it against the No. 1 team in the country — supposed to lowly North Korea — and nutmegged the netminder in the process. Ingenious.

Spallina striking the cross bar set up Anderson to score his second of the day. Then, Michael Leo found Finn Thomson in tight for a finish that handed Syracuse its first lead of the day at 6-5 with 7:53 left in the second quarter. Spallina tacked on a fourth successive SU goal after shedding Shawn Lyght, arguably the best defender in college lacrosse, like a feather in the blustery spring South Bend wind.

The Fighting Irish clawed back with two goals before the break. Afterwards, Lyght bottled up Spallina, and ND put together the decisive runs of its own. It made holistic defensive changes to rebound from allowing the most first-half scores they’d allowed all year.

Lyght commended the Orange’s offense and ball movement, which he pinpointed as the primary avenue of attack in the opening 30 minutes. ND aimed to slide slower and “trust” the matchups coming out of the break, he added.

It worked.

“We weren’t getting those open looks we were in the first half,” Gait said. “We weren’t finding the people inside. They were just definitely marking a little tighter. And we just didn’t really…”

Gait trailed off.

He then repeated the same chorus about the third quarter. Four straight goals. Lost faceoffs. Back-breaking turnovers. That was the ballgame. That was all Gait had to say.

“It’s exactly what I just said: We had a great first half, but I think we went in at halftime, and they felt really good about the way they were playing and kind of took the foot off the pedal,” he said. “And Notre Dame, they were down by a goal at the half, and came out and said, ‘Let’s do something about it,’ and they did.”

At the final horn, the parting shot was a jaunty rendition of the ND fight song for the Fighting Irish. For Syracuse, it was the same somber tune at Arlotta.

Published on April 25, 2026 at 2:22 pm
Contact Nicholas: njalumka@syr.edu | @nalumkal