Just like that, another season of Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse has come to an end. And once again, there’s not going to be a championship banner added to the Dome.
SU’s offense and defense faltered in a 14-8 semifinal loss to Maryland, ending Syracuse’s season two wins short of a national championship.
Now it’s easy to look at this loss, SU’s second of the season to Maryland, and wish the team just had a little more in them. But at the end of the day, this season was a roaring success for Syracuse.
It was far from perfect. The Orange looked strong to start before Maryland and Harvard said no. The Notre Dame win made SU look invincible, before the rest of the ACC said no. And today the Terrapins showed once again that they just have the Orange’s number almost every time.
But you have to look at the positives. That regular season Notre Dame win was one of the biggest in recent program history. Despite the late season slide, SU was able to turn things around to WIN the ACC title. And even with there being so many talented teams this season, SU pulled off impressive wins over Harvard and Princeton to make it back to Memorial Day Weekend for the first time in over a decade.
The other positives? Jimmy McCool was ACC goalkeeper of the year. He’ll be back. Joey Spallina finally found some consistency. He’ll be back next year. And a whole bunch of other stars, including John Mullen, Payton Anderson, Finn Thomson and more, all have more elgibilty with SU.
This was the year for Syracuse to show it is ready to compete again. Making it to the NCAA semifinals showed that. Will just a semifinal berth next year be impressive? Doubtful. But for now, this is a success.
