Syracuse men’s lacrosse enters the gauntlet tommorow.
The two-game losing streak to end the season? Irrelevant. The disappointing road L’s to Harvard, Princeton, and North Carolina? Wiped away.
It’s a clean slate, its tournament time for the Orange.
SU comes into the dance as the 6 seed with potentially just four games left for the star-studded 2022 recruiting class. The ‘Cuse faces Yale, a squad with wins over ranked Harvard and Cornell and a close loss to 1-seed Princeton.
Analysts have noticed Syracuse hasn’t looked like itself recently; Orange have collapsed multiple times in the second half and have allowed opponents to kickstart lengthy, momentum-gaining runs. Faceoff specialist John Mullen hasn’t won over 50% of draws in two games.
2025 was an entirely different story. Yes, SU struggled in the regular season but then won consecutive ACC Tournament games to clinch an automatic bid heading into the tournament. 2025’s squad had its flaws, but it came into the dance with some serious momentum.
Syracuse has had its triumphs this season as well from beating then top-ranked Maryland in the JMA Dome back in February to captian Joey Spallina breaking the all-time points record. But the ‘Cuse finished 2-2 in conference play in addition to a deflating loss to North Carolina in the ACC semifinal round.
The senior group has no more second chances, no “Off-days”, no sluggish starts or hobbled finishes to games. The Orange begins their tournament run against the Bulldogs today at 5, and a potential win only makes the upcoming opponents harder.
It’s do or die for Syracuse.
