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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Syracuse head coach Gary Gait had no reason to believe his squad would ever play a complete 60 minutes against a high-level opponent. But he never needed one to do so, anyway.

“We haven’t pulled a full 60 (minutes) yet,” Gait said during his pre-Final Four conference call Tuesday. “So, I think that makes it easy to believe that it’s in front of us.”

But the chance to put together that 60, and their season, is now behind the Orange. Syracuse fell behind 7-4 in the first half, and struggled to claw back into the game throughout the final two quarters. After getting within two goals late in the third, Notre Dame scored three man-up goals to put the game — and a national championship — out of reach for SU.

Here’s some observations from No. 6 seed Syracuse’s (13-6, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) 15-7 Final Four loss to No. 2 seed Notre Dame (13-2, 3-1 ACC) in Scott Stadium Saturday:

Mullen, healthy or hurt?

John Mullen opened up the NCAA Tournament with two of his strongest games of the season. His 21 faceoff wins against Yale marked a season-high, and he followed it up by holding UNC’s Brady Wambach below 50% at the faceoff X in Hempstead, New York.

When he began Saturday’s matchup with a faceoff win over Tyler Spano, it seemed like Syracuse’s faceoff specialist was in for another classic postseason performance.

Then, after Notre Dame struck first just four minutes in, he lost the ensuing faceoff to Aidan Diaz-Matos. After that clash, Mullen hobbled off the field, and it appeared he might be seriously injured.

But he returned for the next faceoff, and won it on a violation. Then, he came back out for the following one, and won that one as well. That injury — whatever it was — certainly wasn’t enough to stop Mullen from dominating at the faceoff X.

While ND head coach Kevin Corrigan tried to find some semblance of consistency at the spot, alternating between Spano and Diaz-Matos, a somewhat-compromised Mullen just kept beating the man in front of him. He finished the first quarter going 6-of-8 on faceoffs, and went 14-of-24 throughout the game.

No one knows how healthy Mullen really is. But even a diminished Mullen is enough to beat an opposing team’s best faceoff man.

Ricciardelli back in form

When these two teams last faced off, Thomas Ricciardelli had what was arguably his worst game of the season. The Notre Dame goaltender was less secure in net than a faulty door lock, saving just 27.3% of Syracuse’s shots on target in the first half. It led to SU’s 8-7 halftime lead.

Overall, he finished the game with a 42.1% save rate. It was his first contest below 50% since Feb. 22. Ricciardelli, one of the nation’s best goaltenders, looked anything but that on April 25.

If Saturday was any indication, he seemingly figured out whatever it was that gave him so much trouble against the Orange the first time around. Because he was back to the world-beating shotstopper of old again in the Final Four.

He saved Syracuse’s first five shots on cage, allowing Notre Dame to get off to its early 4-0 lead. The Orange began to figure him out toward the end of the first quarter, scoring three straight goals to cut ND’s advantage to just one goal.

But right when the momentum swung in SU’s favor, Ricciardelli was there to bring it to a grinding halt. He saved two of the three shots on goal he faced in the second frame, and even brought the ball all the way out for a successful clearance with a little over eight minutes to play until the half. Overall, he finished the contest with 14 saves on 21 Syracuse attempts, good for a 66.7% mark.

Even better than his season average, 57.9%.

Final Four Finn

Finn Thomson was the Orange’s leading scorer with 41 goals entering Championship Weekend, and yet, the senior was the only one of SU’s attacks not to earn any sort of All-American honor.

“Every time there’s awards to be handed out, they seem to forget about Finn Thomson,” Gait said on Tuesday’s pre-Final Four coaches’ call.

With the Final Four on deck, Thomson had one last chance to reclaim the spotlight. Against Notre Dame, he certainly tried his best to do just that.

After Matt Jeffery scored to extend the Fighting Irish’s lead to 4-0, Thomson answered immediately for the Orange. He faked out Ricciardelli, getting the goaltender to fall to his knees, and slotted his close-range finish right past him to make it 4-1.

Fifty-six seconds later, he was back at it again, this time ripping a low-to-high stepdown into the top corner of the net. And in a second quarter where Syracuse only managed to find one goal, it was Thomson who was on the receiving end of it, finishing off his first-half hat trick with a close-range finish near the crease.

Thomson finished the day with four goals. In his final four games in a Syracuse jersey, all of which came in postseason play, Thomson scored hat tricks in each of them. Talk about rising to the occasion.

Silent end for Spallina

Unfortunately, in the final game of his SU career, Joey Spallina couldn’t match Thomson. The attack has put Syracuse on his back so many times before, singlehandedly willing the Orange into games they had no business winning.

He couldn’t pull the rabbit out of a hat again Saturday. His Syracuse career came to a close in silence.

The last time that Spallina reached Championship Weekend, he fell flat with just one point, a garbage-time assist against Maryland. He said SU was “fat and happy” to just be back at the Final Four then, and promised that the Orange would come back stronger this time around.

His performance wasn’t quite as bad as it was in that aforementioned UMD loss. But it was far from an ideal way for him to close out his career with the Orange.

Spallina scored a first-half hat trick the last time he faced Notre Dame. He had zero goals Saturday on six shots. He had one point in the first half, an assist for Thomson’s first goal. He finished the game with just two points total, his second assist again going to Thomson.

The clock struck midnight — or 5:17 p.m., same difference — for Spallina. Once it did, it was clear that there would be no fairytale ending for Syracuse’s star attack.

Published on May 23, 2026 at 5:24 pm
Contact Mauricio: mjpalmar@syr.edu | @mpalmarDO