In homeland of Long Island, Joey Spallina delivers his signature moment
Joey Spallina caught fire when it mattered most, pouring in a team-leading eight points Saturday against Princeton to send Syracuse to the NCAA Tournament Final Four. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer
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HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Joey Spallina is the king of Long Island. That fact was cemented Saturday, when his royal subjects swarmed him on the sideline, searching for an autograph, after he racked up eight points to propel Syracuse past Princeton and into the Final Four.
Little kids screaming his name, grown adults asking for photos; Spallina was a hot commodity among locals in his native area of Long Island. It turns out playing in his homeland, where he became hailed as the prophesied savior of SU men’s lacrosse, was the perfect location for Spallina to shred the narrative he doesn’t show up in big games.
Revenge sure is sweet. It’s even sweeter when it comes in front of your people.
“But hey, I mean, I guess I can’t dodge anybody or beat anybody,” Spallina said sarcastically on the field postgame during ESPN’s telecast.
Spallina showed up in front of the nation’s eyes Saturday as he spearheaded No. 6 Syracuse (13-5, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) to a 19-18 victory over No. 3 Princeton (13-4, 5-1 Ivy League) in the NCAA Quarterfinals. Four goals. Four assists. And no signs he’d ever be stopped with a Final Four on the line. Spallina delivered the signature moment SU faithful have waited for since he chose to don the program’s legendary No. 22 jersey. In the highest-scoring non-overtime NCAA Quarterfinal game ever, Spallina’s offense reigned supreme.
His legacy as an all-time great at Syracuse is sealed.
“To do it on a field that I pretty much grew up on is crazy,” Spallina said.
As he reminisced postgame, still bearing a thick coat of eye black across his smiling face, Spallina’s mind transported back to when he was a 10-year-old kid in the Long Island Lizards’ locker room. Spallina’s father, Joe, served as head coach and general manager of the former Major League Lacrosse team. At the time, Spallina said he had the time of his life. He never processed how lucky he was and realized other kids “would kill” to switch places with him.
He’d watch and emulate legends of the game like Paul Rabil and Rob Pannell. Spallina will never forget when he was at James M. Shuart Stadium — the site of Saturday’s quarterfinal — in 2015 for a Lizards MLL Semifinal game against the Boston Cannons, the season after Long Island traded Rabil to Boston. Spallina remembers Rabil possessing the ball late with a chance to take a shot and be the hero. But instead, he “made the correct play” by dishing it off to a teammate who scored.
Spallina said it’s something that’s stuck with him — making the correct play. He’s well aware everyone wants him to be the hero. But that’s not who he is. He plays loose and lets the results do the talking.
Saturday was just the day it all came together, and it happened in the biggest game he’s ever played.
Spallina’s tenacity was palpable from the jump. He wouldn’t hesitate for even a millisecond while he cradled the ball in his stick. Never has the junior attack been so clinical, so precise, so assured in his movements during a game before.
Bouncing off long pole Michael Bath en route to a far-side finish from the right flank for his first goal of the day with 3:35 left in the opening quarter proved to be the play that kicked Spallina into high gear.
He unleashed three goals within a two-minute, 52-second stretch early in the second quarter, which, to that point, was the most dominant run either side had produced. One goal came after a long charge from the far-left corner of the field, on which he finished a twister in front of the cage. On another, Spallina wrapped around from X and placed an off-balance release past Tigers goalie Ryan Croddick. Seemingly every move he made resulted in perfection, and he initiated each goal himself — a rarity on a team that displays smooth ball movement.
It was Spallina’s third career game with four or more unassisted goals, according to Lacrosse Reference. Two of them, including Saturday, occurred in the last two months.
“We’re putting defenses in a spot where they don’t have to think,” he said. “I think we did that a lot today. I think the way (the Tigers) were guarding us, they weren’t really sliding.
“We got to just beat our guys and score.”
Princeton head coach Matt Madalon admitted the Tigers did not slide quickly enough on Saturday, crediting the “elite speed” of Syracuse’s top-nine guys. He felt the whole game was a chess match of playmakers dealing tactical blows at one another.
The thing is, though, he failed to attack the opposition’s king — Spallina.
“Obviously, (there were) a handful of mistakes on our end,” Madalon said.
Dissecting Spallina’s outing Saturday is like stripping away layers of his career journey. He began as an electric goal-scorer, then progressed into a technician when distributing the ball. The second half featured all four of Spallina’s assists. The Tigers keyed in on him more and tightened his shooting lanes, leading the attack to search for open teammates on most touches.
The most memorable dish from Spallina’s spectacle? It was the game-winner.
Spallina fed Owen Hiltz as the clock ticked below the 4:00 mark, deking his defender, Jack Stahl, before threading a pass to his bread-and-butter connection in the middle of the Tigers’ zone. Hiltz rocketed Spallina’s setup into the back of the net and thrust the Orange up 19-18. Princeton couldn’t answer.
“On that last possession, I think I got to my sweet spot,” Spallina said. “I saw Owen was just kind of popping up, and then I kind of ball-faked his eyes like I was going to back-door cut, and I just put it on his ear (instead).”
All he was doing was making the correct play — a mindset that boosted Syracuse to its first Final Four appearance since 2013.
“Experiencing those games and wins and losses (in Long Island), it’s helped me just become the player that I am (today),” Spallina said.
Those times basking in the riches of his father’s lacrosse club were Spallina’s memories while he was merely the prince of Long Island.
Now, he’s rightfully seated at his throne.
