Previewing No. 6 seed Syracuse’s NCAA Tournament 1st-Round clash with Yale
Syracuse's defense huddles during its 14-7 win over Colgate on April 18. That was the last time the Orange conceded single digits, and they may need a defensive performance like that Sunday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Yale. Eli Schwartz | Asst. Photo Editor
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It’s now or never for Syracuse men’s lacrosse. The Orange enter the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year and know their margin for error is non-existent. For a team helmed by seniors talking about winning national championships as their sole priority during their whole careers, this is their last chance.
SU’s path to the Memorial Day mountaintop begins against Yale Sunday in the First Round. The Bulldogs were the last at-large team to make the tournament field, NCAA Selection Committee Chair Matthew Colagiovanni said on Inside Lacrosse’s podcast Monday. The Ivy League outfit made the competition over the first team out, Maryland, Colagiovanni added.
Despite just sneaking into the field, Yale enters the NCAA Tournament in much better form than Syracuse. The Bulldogs lost 12-10 to Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament Semifinals Friday, but the Tigers are the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Before that, Yale closed its regular season with six straight wins, two of which were against top-10 teams. Syracuse, meanwhile, has lost three of its last five games.
With a loss ending either team’s season, here’s everything you need to know about Yale (9-5, 4-2 Ivy) ahead of its NCAA Tournament First Round meeting with No. 6 seed Syracuse (11-5, 2-2 Atlantic Coast):
All-time series
Syracuse leads the series 20-4.
Last time they played
The Orange haven’t faced the Bulldogs since 2017, but that last meeting was also in the NCAA Tournament First Round. That day, No. 2 seed SU came away with a thrilling 11-10 win.
Really, Syracuse had no business winning that game. It lost the faceoff battle 18-4 and was outshot 42-29. However, Orange goalie Evan Molloy stood on his head with 15 saves, and SU killed all three of the Bulldogs’ penalties.
The game-winner came from Stephen Rehfuss, who put the Orange up for good with 2:09 remaining in the final quarter. The scoring was spread out for SU, with nine different players chipping in at least once.
The win was an 11th straight against Yale, an infrequent opponent for SU over the years. The last time the Bulldogs beat the Orange was in 1963.
The Bulldog report
Halfway through the season, Yale was 3-4 and on pace to miss the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year. A six-goal loss at Army, a 10-goal loss at Penn State and two narrow defeats to open Ivy play — by one versus Princeton and by two at Penn — were all missed opportunities.
However, the Bulldogs flipped a page and rampaged to six consecutive wins to close the regular season, which put them back in contention. The most impressive of those victories came at then-No. 9 Cornell, now the No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, when Yale beat the Big Red 13-12 in Ithaca on March 28.
Two weeks later, the Bulldogs blew past then-No. 5 Harvard 15-9, which beat Syracuse earlier in the year. Yale entered the Ivy League Tournament as the No. 3 seed and hung tight, but couldn’t beat Princeton, losing 12-10 Friday.
Yale’s recent surge has come with a young team. Only three of Yale’s 10 starters in its most recent game were seniors, compared to eight for Syracuse. The biggest attacking weapon for the Bulldogs is sophomore Connor Gately, who has a team-high 54 points (25 goals and 29 assists). First-year Sean Grogan leads the team in goals with 28 on the year.
In his 22nd year at the helm, head coach Andy Shay, who brought the national title home to New Haven in 2018, has built a team that doesn’t jump off the page in many statistics, but is the fourth-most accurate shooting team in the country with 34% of the Bulldogs’ attempts turning into goals.
How Syracuse beats Yale
If Syracuse plays up to its potential, it can beat Yale. But it’s a matter of the Orange not causing self-inflicted wounds. Penalties. Careless turnovers. Sloppy offense. Lackluster defense.
For the first time since SU’s last win, a nonconference victory against Colgate, the Orange have the better faceoff man. Despite John Mullen falling from sixth in the country last year to 44th now, his 52.5% win rate is better than Yale’s FOGO Nick Wehmeyer at 50.6% and 52nd in the country. In recent defeats, Syracuse has lost the possession battle. If the Orange can have the ball more than the Bulldogs, which seems very possible, SU’s attack will be too much for Yale’s backline.
The biggest and simplest factor on whether Syracuse can keep its season alive is if it plays a complete game against competent competition — something it arguably hasn’t done all season and has struggled with recently. The Orange had a halftime lead at Notre Dame and wilted. Then, they had a fourth-quarter lead against UNC at the ACC Tournament and capitulated. Put together a full 60 minutes, and SU’s season will remain alive.
Stat to know: 60%
Penalties have plagued Syracuse recently, allowing 3.25 per contest in its last four games. Yale has the second-best man-up conversion rate in the country, scoring on those man advantages 60% of the time.
The Bulldogs have converted 15 extra-man goals on 25 attempts. They scored once man-up Friday against Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament and three times against UAlbany on April 18. SU, for its part, is tied for the 19th-best man-down defense in Division I, but it conceded a game-swinging goal down two men versus North Carolina Friday.
Player to watch: Ben Friedman, goalie, No. 41
The Yale goalie may be under frequent duress Sunday, tasked with stopping the high-octane Orange attack. But Friedman, a sophomore, has proved himself a capable goalie. He holds the ninth-best save percentage in the country, stopping 56.2% of shots coming his way.
He’s been tasked to come up big already this season. He logged 21 saves in Yale’s win over Boston University in February, denied 20 shots in the Bulldogs’ narrow statement win at Cornell in March and did his part with 17 saves Friday in Yale’s loss to Princeton.
His 2026 oeuvre earned the Scarsdale, New York, native All-Ivy League Honorable Mention honors.
