Almost exactly a year ago, Syracuse men’s lacrosse fell to Maryland 14-10 in the Dome. The Orange were down just 9-8 at the end of the third quarter, but lost hold of it quickly in the final frame.
UMD went undefeated all year. The Terps won the 2022 Big Ten Championship and NCAA Championship.
This Saturday, the No. 18 Orange (3-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) have a shot at revenge against the No. 9 Terrapins (1-1, 0-0 Big Ten Conference) and arguably their hardest test this season. This time the contest is down in College Park for the first time since 1997.
SU is on a three-game win streak and has held its opponents to under seven goals in each contest. Senior goaltender Will Mark ranks fourth in the nation for save percentage, saving just over 70% of shots faced.
“He’s got a lot of confidence right now and that’s usually the key for goaltending, being able to play it with confidence and believe in yourself,” said head coach Gary Gait on Mark’s recent performances.
Last weekend, Syracuse defeated Holy Cross 15-6 with freshman Joey Spallina stealing the show.
The attacker led the field with five goals and two assists. This was the Long Islander’s second-straight five-goal game. Spallina was recognized as the ACC Offensive Player of the Week following his performance against the Crusaders.
LISTEN: Syracuse defeated Holy Cross 15-6 behind nine combined goals from attackman Joey Spallina and midfielder Finn Thomson. @JoePuccio_ and @EthanGFrank had the call. pic.twitter.com/Iqq5BxpaXU
— WAER Sports (@WAERSports) February 12, 2023
Spallina worked well alongside fellow freshman Finn Thompson. The Canadian tallied four goals for the Orange, and has five total this season. Both Thompson and Spallina are in Syracuse’s top four scorers thus far.
The other two are veterans Jackson Birtwhistle and Owen Hiltz with six and five goals, respectively.
SU’s scoring dynamic between new players and returners has shown out well so far, but its first ranked opponent of 2023 poses a more difficult challenge.
Despite the ranking, the Terrapins have had a rocky start to the season. Especially after their perfect, 18-0 season last year, UMD’s 1-1 start is a bit of a shock. That loss was a 12-7 defeat to Loyola Maryland last weekend.
Of UMD’s five goal scorers in last year’s NCAA Championship against Cornell, only junior Eric Malever has returned this season. The rest graduated, including 2022 Tewaaraton winner Logan Wisnauskas.
Regardless of the early .500 record, a Terrapin to look out for is junior Daniel Kelly. The in-state native leads the squad with five goals, four of which came against the Greyhounds.
In terms of the man in net, UMD returner and starting goalie Logan McNaney is out for the rest of the season. The senior tore his ACL against Loyola last week.
It’s likely that graduate student Teddy Dolan will start in net. The Binghamton transfer has played 11 minutes over Maryland’s two games.
Traditionally, the Terps have been a tough challenge for the Orange.
Of 18 total meetings, Maryland has come away with 12 victories. SU hasn’t won since 2009.
Even though the Orange’s start to the season appears a bit more promising, there’s a few key points that prove this will be a good and difficult test for them.
The first is that Syracuse has a rocky history against Maryland. Not to mention that Maryland is the reigning national champion.
Secondly, UMD’s starting keeper is out with an injury, so there’s an opportunity for SU’s offense to take advantage.
Lastly, Saturday showcases a matter of fairly new squads. Syracuse gained 22 total new players this year, the freshmen attacker duo, Spallina and Thompson, is putting on a strong performance.
Maryland lost ten of its players that saw the field in the national championship last year, but gained 11 new faces. Still, it also had six Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-Americans that were all upperclassmen returners. One of which is grad student defender Brett Makar.
Gait said throwing in Spallina or Hiltz might be a good matchup for Makar. “We’ll take advantage of whatever they give us. We’ll be ready for it and ready to play,” he also added.
Maryland is also the first of four ranked opponents in a row for Syracuse. The other three are North Carolina, Duke, and Johns Hopkins.
Both teams have also partnered up with 15 for Life in support of mental health. The squads will be wearing stickers representing the cause on their helmets.
Faceoff between the two teams is at 1 p.m. on Saturday down in College Park, M.D. WAER’s coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. with McClurg Team Countdown to Faceoff.