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For the first time in over a month, Syracuse returns to the friendly confines of the JMA Wireless Dome. During SU’s six-game road trip — its longest since 1972 — it went 4-2. The Orange fell to then-No. 7 Princeton and then-No. 14 Harvard but bounced back with wins over then-No. 19 Penn, then-No. 11 Johns Hopkins, Air Force and No. 14 Denver.

It’s not quite the home stretch, but Syracuse is approaching it. Sunday’s contest against Georgetown is SU’s second-to-last nonconference game. The Orange and the Hoyas haven’t faced off since the 2021 NCAA Tournament, where Georgetown thrashed SU in John Desko’s final game in charge after 23 years.

Kevin Warne’s squad needs a win to boost its hopes of earning an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament, while Syracuse will try to win its fifth game in a row.

Here’s how our beat writers think No. 8 Syracuse (7-2, Atlantic Coast) will fare against No. 13 Georgetown (3-3, Big East):

Zak Wolf (7-2)
Revenge for Desko
Syracuse 12, Georgetown 10

The last meeting between these two programs marked the end of Desko’s 23-year reign as Syracuse’s head coach. Syracuse didn’t send Desko out with a bang. Instead, it was a whimper, getting blown out 18-8 in a game that was never close.

There are no carryovers on either roster, as the game was five years ago. Even so, there’s a bit of a revenge factor here, which has been the theme of SU’s season. The Orange avenged their Final Four loss to Maryland last year, only for Princeton and Harvard to do the same to them. SU recently defeated Denver, which knocked it out of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

On Sunday, Syracuse will exact some long-awaited revenge on Georgetown. The Hoyas are in need of a resume-boosting win and will come into the Dome desperate. However, Warne’s squad is too heavily reliant on Rory Connor. The graduate student has accounted for 38.6% of the Hoyas goals this year. Nobody else has more than nine goals. That’s not a recipe for success against Syracuse, which has two lockdown defenders in Billy Dwan III and Riley Figueiras.

Connor will get his, but SU will shut off the water on Georgetown’s supplementary options. Meanwhile, the Orange will stay hot on offense after pouring 13 goals on Denver, which entered as the nation’s best defense.

Being back at home after 37 days on the road will also help. Syracuse is 27-13 in the Dome under Gary Gait, and he’ll earn No. 28 soon enough.

Nicholas Alumkal (6-3)
Home Hoya Cooking
Syracuse 14, Georgetown 11

Syracuse is back in the Dome, and the result should be favorable. Yes, Monday’s win at Denver was a nailbiter that shouldn’t have come down to a missed Pioneer shot in the waning moments. But going 4-2 on the Orange’s six-game travels — including winning the last four matchups against non-top-10 opposition — is the kind of momentum you want as you enter ACC play. It’s the kind of momentum that’ll hand SU another win over a respectable, ranked opponent.

How do you slow down Connor, you ask? He leads the country with an incredible 4.8 goals per game. You can let him get his boatload of goals and still beat the Hoyas. Richmond did, allowing six Connor conversions and still triumphed 14-10 on March 7. No other Georgetown player averages more than 1.5 goals per game. If Syracuse doesn’t let Connor explode for a half dozen or so goals, it should be fine.

That’s because SU’s offense has proven lethal. Monday was the latest reminder. The attacks have a quiet day? The deep midfield corps will step up in their stead, as they did versus Denver, with nine of Syracuse’s 13 goals.

With two historic college basketball rivals meeting on the lacrosse field in a highly-ranked matchup, the Orange will come away with a win in their return to their welcoming confines.

Mauricio Palmar (6-3)
Rough day for Rory
Syracuse 13, Georgetown 10

I’m predicting it. Connor will be held without a hat trick for the first time all season.

My fellow scribe, Nicholas, seems to be confident Connor will get his goals no matter what, and there’s nothing the Orange can do to stop him. The only thing SU can do, in his opinion, is just let him score and shut down all of his peripheral options.

But I’m feeling good about this Syracuse defense. It’s conceded 11 and 12 goals to Air Force and Denver in its past two games — neither of which are high-powered offenses — but something is telling me Connor is due for a rough game.

Figueiras has been on a heater this season. He knows a national championship is the only way for him to live up to the No. 11’s historic legacy at SU, and he’s been playing with that sense of urgency all year. His 13 caused turnovers lead the Orange by a country mile, and he already has 28 ground balls on the year — for context, he had 31 in 19 games last season.

As formidable as Connor has been, the conversations around him seem mightily similar to those around Hunter Chauvette heading into SU’s matchup against Johns Hopkins. You want to know what Syracuse’s defense did to Chauvette at Homewood?

It held him to one goal. Call me crazy, but I think Connor’s in for a similar outcome.

Published on March 18, 2026 at 11:18 pm