For the first time since 2017, the Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse team is ranked No. 1 in the country. The undefeated Orange now face a very familiar opponent. This will be the 59th time SU plays Johns Hopkins and John Desko’s squad is 2-2 in the last four matchups. When these two teams clash, it is must-listen lacrosse. Two of those last four games have gone into overtime. Syracuse is coming off a victory over Hobart to keep the Kraus-Simmons trophy here in the Salt City. In that game, Tucker Dordevic had a career day in his sophomore season.
Dordevic had a slow start to the season with high expectations coming back from injury. The midfielder finally had a breakout performance against the Statesmen, finishing five goals and seven points. Before that game against Hobart, the midfielder hadn’t scored multiple goals in a matchup this season. The Orange will look to Dordevic to build off this stretch and start to maintain consistence. He already has seven goals this season which is nearly half of his total in his first season. With the added scoring presence of Dordevic, the Cuse’s midfield is one of the most complete units in the country.
Another member of the team that had a bounce back game was Loyola transfer Chase Scanlan. In addition to Dordevic’s performance, Scanlan scored four goal. Everyone remembers the sophomore’s historic seven goal game against Colgate in his Syracuse debut, but had not been able put up crazy numbers in the subsequent games. A prime example of this was in the game Army where he was
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completely shut out. Similar to Dordevic, consistence is a key to the Orange success down the stretch and will be something to look for against the Blue Jays.
Johns Hopkins has had a rough start to the season. The team is 1-3 to start the season and have faced multiple ranked opponents. The three losses came from Loyola, North Carolina, and Princeton, which are teams currently in the top-20.
Scanlan may be the star player for the Orange, but the Blue Jays have a star of their own and it’s Cole Williams. Williams is a senior attack who leads the team in total points with 11. The main portion of his game comes from facilitating the offense by way of assists. Williams kicked off the season with four assists and has slowed down some but compensates with goal scoring when needed.
One can not talk about this Syracuse Lacrosse team without talking about Drake Porter. Porter has been a phenomenal and his play earned him ACC Defensive Player of the Week last week. This came after a career game against an 18-save performance against No. 7 Army. The senior is averaging above 50% save percentage, which is the best in a stacked ACC.
Saturday marks another notch in this storied matchup. The Orange look to maintain momentum; meanwhile, the Blue Jays look to right the ship. This will be the first away game this season for SU, but they look to bring some of the home magic to Baltimore.