Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

Syracuse is back in the NCAA Tournament Final Four for the second straight year. It’s the first time the Orange have reached consecutive Championship Weekends since they won successive national championships in 2008 and 2009.

Awaiting SU in Charlottesville Saturday is No. 2 seed Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have already defeated Syracuse 16-11 in South Bend on April 25. But losing to an opponent earlier this season didn’t stop SU from beating No. 3 seed North Carolina in the quarterfinals last Saturday. The Orange lost to the Tar Heels twice in 2026 before overcoming them at the third time of asking in Hempstead, N.Y.

SU and its vaunted 2022 recruiting class have progressed each postseason since their arrival. In 2023, the Orange missed the NCAA Tournament. In 2024, Syracuse lost in the quarterfinals to No. 5 seed Denver. In 2025, the squad made the Final Four but was crushed 14-8 by No. 2 seed Maryland. Can the Orange, and their senior-heavy team, do one better this season?

Here’s how our beat writers think No. 6 seed Syracuse (13-5, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) will fare against No. 2 seed Notre Dame (12-2, 3-1 ACC) in the NCAA Tournament Semifinals Saturday:

Zak Wolf (16-2)
End of an era
Syracuse 10, Notre Dame 13

Sorry to rain on everyone’s parade, but Syracuse’s season ends right here. Call me a hater, even label me a hypocrite — because I picked SU to win it all preseason — but I’d like to think I have my finger on the pulse of this team after three years of covering them.

It’s unfortunate because this group of players deserves a national championship. They made Syracuse a relevant program again and brought excitement back to central New York. They just happen to be facing the best program in the sport over the past four years.

If anybody else from SU’s side of the bracket was in this game, I’d likely pick the Orange. But the Fighting Irish have too much depth for SU, especially in the midfield. The Orange have struggled all season against athletic dodgers at midfield, and Notre Dame has plenty of them. Matt Jeffrey, Will Maheras, Will Angrick and even freshman Dylan Faison will be too much to handle.

That’s not even mentioning Notre Dame’s balanced attack, led by Luke Miller and Josh Yago. Syracuse might have more talent, but at this time of year, it’s about who you trust more. This is ND’s third Final Four in four seasons, winning twice. Yes, Syracuse has made back-to-back Final Fours, but it went out with a whimper last year.

The Orange will put up more of a fight this time around, but it simply won’t be enough to take down Notre Dame. And with the defeat, an era of Syracuse lacrosse comes to an end. It’ll leave a sour taste in everyone’s mouths, but this group should be looked upon fondly in the coming years, despite falling short of their ultimate goal.

Nicholas Alumkal (14-4)
Complete game. Complete statement.
Syracuse 12, Notre Dame 11

The progression continues for Syracuse. Its seniors, who desire a ring more than Gollum, will be one step closer to summiting the mountaintop. It won’t be a Mt. Doom, but Mt. Vernon in Virginia, where the Final Four is held.

It’ll all come down to playing a complete game.

Yes, it hasn’t happened yet. The Orange have an 18-game sample size and copious examples of disintegration down the stretch. A fourth-quarter lead against North Carolina in the ACC Tournament evaporated. A halftime lead at Notre Dame in the regular-season finale disappeared.

However, SU head coach Gary Gait seems to mean it when he says — and he’s said it ad nauseam — that a complete game is coming. The fact it hasn’t occurred yet — even while beating UNC, Syracuse had a season-high 19 turnovers — and the Orange have made it this far is proof another level is there. The Orange can, and will, tap into it in Charlottesville.

Sure, there are signs of optimism. After his winning percentage regressed during the season, John Mullen has won 59.6% of draws in the NCAA Tournament and made North Carolina’s Ironman faceoff specialist Brady Wambach look like Tony Stark without his armor for the first time this season. Even though grass — a surface Mullen has gone 44.6% in his collegiate career — awaits in Charlottesville, the fine form will overcome it.

That applies to all of Syracuse. To goalie Jimmy McCool and his 53.6% save percentage in the NCAA Tournament. To the Orange’s lockdown defense, which held UNC scoreless for almost 15 minutes straight. To SU’s highly-touted offense, delivering a balanced attack with a star in Joey Spallina, who will bolster his Tewaaraton candidacy against fellow finalist Shawn Lyght.

It’ll take everyone being on song for 60 minutes to defeat Notre Dame — a deep, disciplined juggernaut. But it’ll happen. It’s what you call a complete game.

Mauricio Palmar (13-5)
Gettin’ ignorant
Syracuse 15, Notre Dame 13

I’m in a silly, goofy mood right now. There is probably no reasonable way I should pick Syracuse to win this game.

The Orange can hang with Notre Dame for 30 minutes; we know that for sure. They proved that in April, when they entered halftime with an 8-7 advantage. But they cratered down the stretch in that game, getting outscored 9-3 in the second half. The Fighting Irish threw the knockout punch, and SU never got up.

I haven’t seen any evidence that Syracuse can play a complete 60 minutes against a high-level opponent. In all fairness, Gait hasn’t either.

“The belief’s there, just because we really haven’t put a full 60 minutes together yet,” Gait said.

There’s a famous quote attributed to Socrates, in which he says, “To believe without evidence and demonstration is an act of ignorance and folly.” To that, if Socrates were still alive, I would respond by telling him to boot up Spotify and listen to the 11th track of Mac Miller’s 2012 mixtape, “Macadelic.”

“We gettin’ ignorant, this ignorance,” Miller raps on the chorus of that song.

Because there’s no evidence showing me — or Gait — that Syracuse will ever put together a complete 60 minutes of lacrosse. But that won’t stop us from believing it’ll happen Saturday.

Published on May 22, 2026 at 11:49 am