The first two years of the Gary Gaits tenure as the head coach of Syracuse men’s lacrosse went about as bad as possible. The Orange missed the tournament in back-to-back years for the first time ever. It’s important to preface how hard it is to win in the ACC. 15 of the last 23 national champions play in the Atlantic Coast Conference. But, in the 315, winning is expected and the pressure was on this year for Gait. The 2022 recruiting class which was the best in the country along side the top transfer class in the nation helped lead the ‘Cuse to a successful regular season. The Orange finished 11-4, with three losses in overtime and one by two on the road against the top team in the country.
The Orange made the ACC tournament and had big expectations as the two-seed. However, things went horribly wrong for the ‘Cuse. Duke won 18-13 but the actual game was much worse than the final score. SU went down 5-0 to start the game, not touching the ball for the first five minutes. The Orange trailed 9-2 after the first quarter and its All-American goalie Will Mark was pulled. But, with the youth of the ‘Cuse the ACC tournament can be used as a big learning moment. Many of Syracuse’s key contributors had never played postseason lacrosse at the collegiate level.
Even with the ACCT loss, Syracuse was given the four seed in the NCAA tournament. The seed means that the Orange are hosting a first-round game for the first time since 2018. Many of SU’s starters were in middle school then. The last time Syracuse won an NCAA tournament game was in 2017 when the #2 seed ‘Cuse beat Yale in the first round. However, the next game SU fell to Towson in the quarterfinals.
The Orange have a chance at revenge against the Tigers tonight at 7:30. Towson won the CAA this year and finished 13-3. TU enters the game on a nine-game winning streak. The Tigers have the top-ranked scoring defense in the country and the 7th-ranked scoring offense. It is important to note though that Towson played just three NCAA tournament teams in the regular season and went 1-2. Syracuse on the other hand went 4-3 against tournament teams. The Orange and Tigers get underway tonight at 7:30 with the game broadcast on ESPNU.
