There aren’t many athletes who have ever come into Syracuse with more expectations than Joey Spallina. The attackman came to Central New York as one of the best recruits the sport has ever seen. The second he stepped on campus, Spallina was given the legendary #22. Worn by Gary Gait, Mikey Powell, and countless other All-Americans, the bar was set as high as it gets.
When Spallina came to the Orange, the program was in desperate need of a superstar. In 2022, Gary Gaits’ first year as head coach, Syracuse went an abysmal 4-10. The program was officially at rock bottom. It was the team’s worst record in NCAA history. Spallina came in and instantly brought energy to the program. As a freshman, SU had a better year but still wasn’t close to good enough at just 8-7. Last year as a sophomore, Spallina brought the Orange back to the NCAA tournament, but Syracuse lost to Denver in the quarterfinals. Spallina was held to no points in the defeat.
Even though the Orange were steadily improving year by year with Spallina, it wasn’t close to enough. As the star, he didn’t show up in the biggest game. The fans online let him hear it. Joey Spallina is the first true SU super star to play in this era of NIL and social media so he’s gotten more hate than just about anyone in the sport.
This season, now as an upperclassmen, Spallina has continued to lead Syracuse to victory. Yesterday, in the quarterfinal game against Princeton, in the same round that SU lost last year, he played maybe the best game of his career. Spallina scored four unassisted goals to help propel the ‘Cuse to victory. Dodging has always been considered the biggest weakness of Spallina’s game but he excelled at it against the Tigers and took over. It was the type of performance that people will remember for years to come. Spallina cemented himself as a legendary player who has brought this program back. Now let’s see if he can bring it all the way back to winning the national championship.
