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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — No matter what Saturday brought, Syracuse was in a far different spot than this point last season. Gary Gait could at least admit that.

The Orange were under the microscope back then, their every move dissected as they closed the regular season on a three-game losing streak. SU was a bubble team then. Had it not pulled off a miraculous Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament run, it might’ve missed the NCAA Tournament.

This year, Syracuse could roll into Arlotta Stadium Saturday knowing that, no matter what happened against Notre Dame, its ticket to the NCAA Tournament was punched for weeks. But in a game that was a back-and-forth shootout, it’s fair to say SU certainly would’ve preferred to be on the winning end of it.

Instead, the Orange walked out of Arlotta Saturday with their second ACC loss.

Here are some observations from No. 5 Syracuse’s (11-4, 2-2 ACC) 16-11 loss to No.1 Notre Dame (10-1, 3-1 ACC):

Frenetic 1st quarter

Asking either of these teams to hold onto a lead in the first quarter would’ve been like asking an eighth grader to perform brain surgery: it’s impossible.

Whenever one squad scored, the other immediately responded. Luke Miller scores for Notre Dame to make it 1-0? No problem. Joey Spallina comes to the rescue, equalizing the game with a shot past Thomas Ricciardelli 27 seconds later.

A little over two minutes later, Brock Behrman dodged around Jake Spallina and found just enough space to make it 2-1 by ripping one past Jimmy McCool. But on Syracuse’s next offensive possession — 54 seconds later — Chuck Kuczynski became an unlikely hero with a pole goal from way downtown, making it 2-2 with his second score of the season.

Not even halfway through the opening frame, there had already been a combined six goals, each team holding three scores apiece. ND and SU combined for 20 shots in the quarter, 12 of which ended in goals.

The first period slowed down slightly after that. Max Busenkell’s score at the 3:05 mark, which gave Notre Dame a 4-3 lead, was the only goal from either side in the second half of the frame. But that opening quarter set the pace for what proved to be a high-octane matchup.

It’s rough for Ricciardelli

There wasn’t a goalie in the country who was playing better than Ricciardelli entering Saturday. That’s an objective fact.

Notre Dame’s netminder entered Arlotta averaging 14.25 saves per game in his previous four outings. He’d only allowed double-digit goals once all season. It was 11 goals against Virginia in ND’s lone loss. The Fighting Irish escaped Duke with a one-goal win last week, and it was almost entirely because of Ricciardelli’s miraculous 17-save performance.

But the man who backstopped that victory was not the same one who showed up to play against the Orange on Saturday.

The first three shots on goal he faced entered the back of the net. He exited the first quarter with just one save on Syracuse’s four shots on cage. Notre Dame had a 4-3 lead at that point, but it wasn’t because of its goalie play.

Everything snowballed from there. He saved the first shot on goal he saw in the second quarter, and Miller responded with a goal to stretch ND’s lead to 5-3. But the Fighting Irish got outscored 5-2 throughout the rest of the period, and Ricciardelli made just one more stop in the frame.

He finished the half with a 27.3% save rate and ended the game with a 42.1% clip. It was his first performance with a sub-50% save rate since Feb. 22, a 15-9 ND win over Georgetown.

Spallina vs. Shawn

Saturday’s contest wasn’t only a meeting between two top-five teams. It was also a meeting between two of the nation’s foremost Tewaaraton Award finalists.

Joey’s reputation precedes himself. He was fresh off a seven-point performance in Syracuse’s win over Colgate, where he broke Mike Powell’s career program point record. He entered 2026 as the nation’s preeminent Tewaaraton favorite, and he’s done nothing to lose that distinction thus far. He entered Saturday second in the nation with 67 points, just one point behind Bellarmine’s John Alie.

But Notre Dame was about to give him his toughest test yet. Shawn Lyght has been one of the best defenders in the country for years, and you can remove the “one of” qualifier now. He’s the best, full stop. All of those aforementioned Ricciardelli stats? They’re practically Lyght stats as well. He doesn’t make those saves without Lyght making life uncomfortable for opposing teams’ top attacks, which is something the defender has done all year.

Everyone knew that Lyght was going to be on Joey. The nation’s best defender against the nation’s best attacker. Appointment viewing. Grab your popcorn.

The matchup didn’t disappoint. Joey got the best of ND’s star defenseman early, drifting into open space near the goal to tie the game 1-1. Then, he scored on a man-up possession in the second quarter, and he finished off his first-half hat trick against Lyght by spinning past him and fitting in a shot past Ricciardelli from the tightest of angles.

But then he went silent, and Lyght got the upper hand in the second half. Joey didn’t score at all in the third quarter and remained silent in the fourth as well. Meanwhile, Lyght’s ND squad had all it needed to reclaim control over the game.

2nd-half script flip

Entering halftime with an 8-7 lead, it seemed the Orange had the world in their hands. Syracuse was coming off one of its most complete offensive halves of the season. Notre Dame hadn’t been able to match its offensive firepower.

It was only a one-goal game, but the momentum was all in SU’s favor. That only made its third-quarter performance even more confounding.

Syracuse’s defense, which had been stout all game, suddenly couldn’t stop a nosebleed. Will Maheras tied it at 8-8, and Dylan Faison followed with a goal to make it 9-8. Three ND goals followed those two scores, and all of a sudden, SU was staring at a 12-8 deficit with just two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Its attack couldn’t buy a goal, and its defense couldn’t buy a stop. Things got better for the Orange later on, as Payton Anderson and Finn Thomson closed the third quarter with two consecutive goals to cut the deficit to 12-10. Soon after, when Wyatt Hottle opened the fourth quarter with a score to cut the Irish advantage to one, the Orange seemed ready to reclaim control.

Then, just as quickly as they recovered their momentum, they lost it. Behrman scored to put the Fighting Irish ahead by two before Will Angrick made it 14-11. As if it wasn’t clear enough that the rails had fallen off for Syracuse, Miller sniped a close-range shot past the diving arms of Billy Dwan III to make it 15-11.

The game was over by then. Soon after, Dwan attempted a pole goal, but that couldn’t bring SU back into the contest. He missed it anyway. A fitting end to Syracuse’s collapse.

Published on April 25, 2026 at 2:22 pm
Contact Mauricio: mjpalmar@syr.edu | @mpalmarDO