No. 7 Syracuse defeats No. 5 Notre Dame 14-9 behind 9-0 run
After falling behind 3-0 in the first quarter, No. 7 Syracuse scored nine unanswered goals en route to defeating No. 5 Notre Dame 14-9. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer
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Falling behind by three goals within four minutes is never ideal. Especially when matching up with the two-time reigning national champions. It’s a scenario most teams dread facing, but that was Syracuse’s situation Saturday against Notre Dame.
In years past, the Orange might’ve folded when getting punched in the mouth early. Joey Spallina doesn’t hide from that. It’s why he and the rest of Syracuse’s roster feel this year is different. Their experiences as a group over the past two seasons have shaped their sky-high expectations of winning a National Championship.
They feel like they’re built for these types of moments. Though it’s one thing to say it and another to execute on it. Saturday, the Orange faced a threat of getting boat-raced by a team they hadn’t beaten since 2018. The same story seemed to be playing out. That was until the Orange completely flipped the script, leaving no doubt about their ability to stay calm in the face of adversity.
After falling behind 3-0, No. 7 Syracuse (9-2, 2-0 Atlantic Coast) reeled off nine straight goals to help it defeat No. 5 Notre Dame (5-3, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) 14-9. In SU’s biggest game of the season, it answered the call. The Orange played complementary lacrosse all over the field, led by Spallina’s five-point outing. John Mullen wreaked havoc at the X, going 16-for-23, while Jimmy McCool was steady in net with 10 saves, keeping Notre Dame scoreless for 40 minutes. It culminated in Syracuse breaking a seven-game losing streak to the Fighting Irish and giving itself a boost to its NCAA Tournament resume.
“We know we can beat anybody if we put it all together,” Syracuse head coach Gait Gait said postgame. “We knew that, we found that out about ourselves last year, that we could play with anybody, but we didn’t finish games sometimes last year. We’ve done a better job this year of making plays when we needed them.”
The Orange put together one of their most complete outings ever under Gait, extending their win streak to six games, their longest since Gait took over in 2021. That reality looked bleak when Devon McLane curled around untouched from X and finished past McCool with 11:03 left in the first quarter to make it 3-0.
There was a simplicity to Notre Dame’s execution. Whether it was a perfect pick-and-roll between Will Angrick and Matt Jeffery, leading to a wide-open step-down for Jeffery, or Chris Kavanagh’s precise feed to McLane on the crease, Notre Dame was perfect.
An all-too-familiar reality started to set in for Syracuse. The Fighting Irish haven’t just beaten SU in recent times, they’ve bludgeoned it, with an average margin of victory of eight goals.
Despite SU’s recent history with Notre Dame, heading into the matchup, Gait felt Notre Dame was vulnerable after losing Tewaaraton winner Pat Kavanagh and finalist Liam Entenmann. He saw a team still capable of beating anyone in the country but one that lacked the same chemistry.
Notre Dame made Gait eat his words early, but eventually Syracuse settled. The momentum shifted when Payton Anderson split two defenders on a dodge from X, which got Syracuse on the board, 11 minutes in.
Last week against UVA, SU trailed 5-1 when Anderson — in his first career start — gave the Orange a boost with two goals. Once again, he provided them a jolt when they needed it. This time, the stakes were higher, but the same calmness remained.
“We were just saying, you can’t score three goals on one shot,” Spallina said. “It was just taking it one possession at a time.”
Once Spallina saw Anderson’s shot hit the back of the net, it was a sigh of relief. From there, the floodgates opened. The Orange unleashed an avalanche, which consumed Notre Dame.
Owen Hiltz found Sam English to cut Syracuse’s deficit to 3-2 heading into the second quarter. Once Mullen started to settle in at the faceoff X, Syracuse completely controlled the pace. Back-to-back Spallina goals within three minutes of each other gave Syracuse a lead it never gave up.
The junior dominated his matchup with Shawn Lyght, one of the best one-on-one defenders in the country. With Anderson’s ability to dominate at X, Spallina operated from above the goal, which he’s spent the past two summers doing while playing box lacrosse for the Orangeville Northmen.
That was evident in Spallina’s third goal of the first half. Prior to that, Syracuse scored three straight unassisted goals with midfielders Michael Leo, Wyatt Hottle and English. So when Luke Rhoa made his way across the field, he drew a heavy slide from two Notre Dame defenders. Rhoa fed Spallina, who caught the ball facing away from goal but contorted his body to drive a shot past Thomas Ricciardelli. Spallina’s effort capped off a masterful first half, which put Syracuse up 8-3.
“Our guys are showing they can play any type of lacrosse and they’re showing that right now. I thought they did a heck of a job,” Gait said.
Syracuse’s play provided it with a wide margin of error in the second half. That increased when both teams went nearly 12 minutes scoreless in the third quarter before Hiltz got his hands free to make it 9-3.
Hiltz’s finish would be the last of Syracuse’s nine consecutive goals, but ultimately, it provided Notre Dame with too steep of a hill to climb. Within the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, ND cut SU’s lead back down to three at two separate points.
Though the Orange never wavered. Leo converted on the run, and Spallina recorded his fourth goal of the day when he pirouetted to get short stick midfielder Ben Ramsey up in the air, before finishing with his left hand.
From there, Notre Dame never got within four goals, as Syracuse sealed the deal on Gait’s first-ever win over the Fighting Irish.
“We didn’t panic … This team doesn’t doesn’t quit. Whether you’re down five, one or three, nothing, we just keep playing, because we know that we’re going to get it done eventually,” Gait said.
There’s a simplicity to the saying that to be the best, you have to beat the best. Under Gait, questions have surrounded the program about if the Orange can perform when the pressure’s on. There’ve been various steps in the right direction, but not enough consistency within those contests.
Saturday could potentially be the start of that narrative changing. Syracuse made a statement by beating the best team in lacrosse the past two seasons. Notre Dame is a different team than in years past, yet its talent is still present. That didn’t stop Syracuse from completely dismantling the Fighting Irish.
Yet, one question remains: Can Syracuse put together an encore when it takes on No. 1 Cornell next week?
