Cardiac ‘Cuse is alive and well.
Syracuse men’s lacrosse advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament with a nervy 19-18 win over No. 3 seed Princeton on Saturday, relying on a superhuman effort from Joey Spallina to send the Orange into the semifinals, which will be hosted in Foxborough at Gillette Stadium next weekend.
In the high-scoring affair, which featured the most goals of any non-overtime NCAA Quarterfinal game ever, Spallina dominated with four goals and four assists, setting up Owen Hiltz with 3:40 left to play for the game-winning goal. Hiltz scored a hat trick along with Michael Leo, who helped Syracuse overcome an off day from goalie Jimmy McCool, who had a save rate of just 40%.
With McCool struggling, the Orange again fell into an early hole a week after the Orange had to grind out a 13-12 win over Harvard in the opening round of the tournament. Syracuse trailed Harvard 3-0 to start the game, and the Orange faced another three-goal deficit in this one as Princeton took an early 5-2 lead.
The Tigers went into the break with a slim 11-10 advantage, but Syracuse roared back in the third quarter by scoring six straight goals, relying on physical, aggressive play to break Princeton’s defense, along with sheer dominance from Spallina.
The game seemingly wrapped up, Princeton went on a run of its own, tying the contest at 16 with 10 minutes left to play. From there, the two teams traded punches before Spallina set up Hiltz late to give Syracuse the lead for good.
The Orange now advance to the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament, where they’ll face No. 2 seed Maryland or Georgetown. Regardless of the outcome, it’s remarkable that Syracuse is even in the Final Four, considering it lost three straight games to end the regular season, which almost cost the Orange a spot in the NCAA Tournament before it won its first ACC Tournament since 2016 to secure its place in the field.
If it was hard to predict the outcome of its game against Princeton, there’s no telling what will happen in Foxborough. No matter who Syracuse ends up playing, the Orange have already saved what looked to be a lost season, and have a chance to win its first national championship since 2009.
