How No. 7 Syracuse can escape a difficult April slate unscathed
No. 7 Syracuse takes on four top-12 teams in April. Our beat writer details how the Orange can best position themselves for the postseason. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer
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At this point of the season, all bettors of age can hammer Syracuse’s odds of making the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Lacrosse Reference’s Bracketology gives SU a 96.2% chance.
The Orange sit at 8-2 through 10 games and ride a five-game winning streak into the month of April, tied for their best stretch under fourth-year head coach Gary Gait. Six of those wins are against teams that rank within the top half of the NCAA’s Division I RPI index, highlighted by defeating then-No. 7 Johns Hopkins and, most recently, Atlantic Coast Conference foe Virginia.
Something would have to go horrifically wrong for SU, currently seventh in RPI, to miss the Big Dance. But that reality isn’t incredibly unrealistic, considering the Orange’s treacherous final four games. From April 5-26, Syracuse will battle four of Inside Lacrosse’s top-12 ranked teams: No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 1 Cornell, No. 12 Duke and No. 8 North Carolina. It’s quite the difficult litmus test, one that’ll finalize the Orange’s postseason resume.
Here’s a breakdown of No. 7 Syracuse’s (8-2, 1-0 ACC) painstaking April slate, and how it can successfully trudge through the difficult stretch:
April 5: No. 5 Notre Dame
This Saturday is the first leg of SU’s late-season gauntlet as it hosts two-time defending NCAA Champion Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are 5-2 through seven games in 2025, with losses to No. 2 Maryland and No. 3 Ohio State serving as their low points thus far.
ND may not have 2024’s Tewaaraton Award winner, Pat Kavanagh, but its offense is led by attacks Chris Kavanagh, Pat’s brother, and Jake Taylor. The two have combined for 59 points in seven games, with Chris’ 15 assists leading the team and Jake’s 21 goals ranking first on ND.
The Fighting Irish started slow, but they’re coming off their best two-game stretch of the season heading into Saturday’s contest. They demolished No. 13 Michigan 19-7 on March 15 before crushing No. 12 Duke 14-7 two weeks afterward. Propelled by the explosive winning streak, Notre Dame ranks No. 1 in Division I in adjusted offensive efficiency (43.4%), per Lacrosse Reference.
Syracuse must rely on its long-pole play to thwart one of the nation’s most underrated attacks. Taylor has been a thorn in SU’s side over his six-year college career, scoring a whopping 15 goals in four total matchups — all ND victories.
Riley Figueiras, who Gait calls Syracuse’s best coverage defenseman, will likely draw Taylor. Figueiras has caused 15 turnovers thus far in 2025, and he’ll need to be a pest against Notre Dame’s top option. Fellow close defenders Billy Dwan III and Nick Caccamo, who’ve combined for 26 caused giveaways, should provide stable relief against ND’s attacking depth.
On the other hand, the Orange need to dictate the tempo by controlling possession and maintaining a consistent transition offense. Both of Notre Dame’s losses came when it gave up double-digit goals. If John Mullen, the country’s co-faceoff wins leader, can hold strong against Will Lynch, whose .638 winning percentage ranks sixth in D-I, it’d go a long way in getting Joey Spallina, Owen Hiltz and Co. some quick scoring opportunities.
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April 12: No. 1 Cornell (neutral-site)
How in the world will the Orange stop Tewaaraton Award shoe-in CJ Kirst? I’m not sure if anyone knows. But there are other means Syracuse can use to upset a juggernaut Cornell squad, which along with the Terpains and the Buckeyes, is a surefire NCAA title favorite.
The Big Red filters their offense through Kirst, the country’s leader in points per game with 6.78. When SU lost to Cornell in double overtime last season, it was because the Orange let the Big Red’s entire array of attackers go ballistic. Kirst had six points. Attack Michael Long erupted for a career-high nine. It didn’t help that Syracuse coughed the ball up 19 times, gift-wrapping free possessions for Cornell.
However, SU’s defense has taken a step forward this year. It boasts the No. 4 scoring defense in the nation with 8.20 goals allowed per game. Syracuse had to sell out to stop the Big Red’s top attacks last season. This campaign, it doesn’t.
The Orange shouldn’t overthink their game plan heading into this neutral-site battle in Long Island, New York. Trust Figueiras against Kirst. Use the matchup zone defense that defensive coordinator John Odierna threw at Virginia on March 29. Have faith in goalie Jimmy McCool, who’s accumulated a .596 save percentage — ninth in the country, first among ACC goalies.
Cornell isn’t a horrible matchup for Syracuse, especially if its offense plays like it did last year when it dropped 17 goals. This year’s Orange squad gives the ball away fewer than any team in the country and has kept lapses to a minimum over their last month of play. They’re more prepared to battle the nation’s No. 1 team. Still, it may take divine intervention to curb Kirst’s impact.
April 19: @ No. 12 Duke
The Blue Devils, shockingly, present the most winnable game left on Syracuse’s schedule. SU’s most recent meeting with Duke resulted in a dismal 18-13 loss in the first round of the 2024 ACC Tournament. This is a much different Blue Devils’ team, however. And the Orange should be thankful for it.
Brennan O’Neill’s departure for the Premier Lacrosse League left Duke’s offense significantly weakened. While the Blue Devils have five players with 20-plus points, much of that production has come against lower-tier programs. Their offensive struggles were exposed in their last two games, mustering six goals versus Denver then seven against Notre Dame for two straight losses.
Other than Eric Malever, who leads the Blue Devils with 46 points, there are no Duke weapons that should concern SU. Figueiras and Co. must resist the urge to overslide toward Malever and instead just play their role in the zone.
But what makes this an apparent mismatch is Syracuse’s vaunted offense versus Duke’s middle-of-the-road defense. The Blue Devils’ 26.9% adjusted defensive efficiency ranks 26th in the country, their lowest total since 2020, according to Lacrosse Reference. Meanwhile, SU’s adjusted offensive efficiency, 39.3%, ranks fourth overall.
If the Orange can get Spallina activated to spur their signature rapid ball movement on offense, it should be easy for the junior attack to find vast pockets of space against Duke. All that’s left is Blue Devils goalie Patrick Jameison, who’s been one of the worst starting goalies in the ACC. Syracuse has to pepper him with shots. Jameison’s .495 save percentage is just over 10 percentage points lower than McCool’s save rate.
April 26: No. 8 North Carolina
Seventeenth-year head coach Joe Breschi has resurrected the Tar Heels’ program back to national-contender status in 2025. After three straight seasons without an NCAA Tournament appearance, North Carolina is certainly postseason-bound this year. It ranks No. 8 in the nation, and is in the top 15 of every major efficiency metric — offense, defense, faceoffs, goaltending — according to Lacrosse Reference.
It’ll take an all-around masterpiece for SU to defeat UNC. But it has the tools to do so.
It’s no secret the Orange’s duo up front, Spallina and Hiltz, will need to match the output of Dominic Pietramala and Owen Duffy, who’ve combined for 56 goals and 18 assists. Yet, SU’s path to victory hinges on two critical areas: dominance at the faceoff X and clean execution on clears.
The Tar Heels are the No. 1 team in the nation in adjusted possession margin, +12.1, per Lacrosse Reference. This statistic doesn’t mean UNC does well maintaining the ball; in fact, it’s tied-30th in the nation with 16.11 turnovers per game. It means North Carolina is better than anyone at controlling the ball through the faceoff X and forcing turnovers.
Those areas are where the Orange must excel. Mullen has a tough challenge ahead of him as UNC’s .667 team faceoff win percentage is third in the country. And UNC’s not afraid of throwing out an aggressive ride package to force giveaways. However, Mullen’s shown his stripes against top faceoff men before, and Syracuse only coughs the ball up 12.30 times per game, two trends that’ll need to continue in SU’s regular-season finale.
