This was not the season opener #4 Syracuse men’s lacrosse had envisioned.
Well, everything was going according to plan after the first quarter when the Orange came out of the gates firing. SU held an early 6-1 lead thanks in part to a natural hat trick from midfielder Tucker Dordevic who finished with four scores on the day.
That’s when #12 Army flipped the script on Coach John Desko’s squad.
The Black Knights looked like a completely different team the rest of the way, outscoring Syracuse 6-1 in the second quarter, and 5-1 in the third. The Orange had no answer for midfielder Bobby Abshire and attacker Brendan Nichtern, who scored six and seven points respectively. Abshire and Nichtern each buried four goals a piece. Five different Black Knights players recorded hat tricks.
SU looked a little bit better in the 4th period but by then it was too late. The Orange were outscored in the final 15 minutes 5-3.
After a rough opening quarter Black Knights goalie Wyatt Schupler locked in and allowed just five goals the rest of the way. The junior netminder finished with a solid 52% save percentage against 23 shots on goal.
For Syracuse, this is one of the worst defensive games it has played in years. 18 goals against is the most scored vs. SU since 2015 when the ‘Cuse fell 21-7 to Duke. This was also the most goals ever scored against Orange goalie Drake Porter.
While this was the season opener for Syracuse, Army had already gotten in a game and a scrimmage.
“We normally have two or three scrimmage games under our belt and a few games before we normally play Army,” Coach Desko said. “They’ve had some scrimmages and some games and they played more experienced than we did. They had more composure on the field.”
Dordevic, who led the Syracuse offense, echoed the same sentiment.
“I think we have a ways to go. We gotta learn from this stuff. We only started practice two weeks ago. Not using it as an excuse but it’s just time to learn from this game and move on to the next one.”
Things won’t get any easier moving forward for Syracuse. The Orange take on #3 Virginia next weekend in the dome to kickoff ACC play.
WAER’s next broadcast is Monday night's men’s basketball game against Duke. Coverage begins with Countdown to Tipoff at 6:30 p.m.
WAER also has coverage for the next men’s lacrosse game Saturday the 27th against Virginia.