Unranked Syracuse men’s lacrosse (3-3, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) has fallen three games in a row, all against ranked opponents. It is coming off of a nail biting 14-13 loss in overtime to No. 5 Duke last weekend.
The Blue Devils secured 21-of-30 faceoffs against the Orange. Duke also capitalized on ground balls, leading SU on that front 44-27.
“We have a poor effort in the faceoff area and ground balls,” said head coach Gary Gait following the Duke loss. “We played offense, defense, got some saves, but just not quite enough to get the job done, so we’re definitely working on trying to put it all together.”
Things won’t get any easier for SU as its next opponent is No. 10 Johns Hopkins (4-3, 0-0 Big Ten Conference) on Saturday. The Orange look for revenge after falling to the Blue Jays 10-7, almost exactly a year ago. Syracuse even outshot Hopkins 54-29. Only 21 of SU’s 54 shots were on target.
The two squads’ all-time matchup history dates all the way back to 1921. In all those years, Johns Hopkins leads Syracuse 31-28 in wins.
Both the Orange and the Blue Jays have historically held a strong presence in the national title race. SU records the most NCAA Championship victories with 10, followed by Hopkins with nine. Neither team, however, has been crowned champions in over 10 years.
Syracuse and Johns Hopkins have gone head-to-head in the NCAA final five times. The most recent was back in 2008 in the John Desko era, when SU came away with a 13-10 victory.
Recently, both teams have struggled to stay on the national map in the postseason. Last year, neither team made it to the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Jays finished 2022 with an overall record of 7-9, while the Orange ended 4-10.
Saturday is a chance for both teams to get back into the win column. On Tuesday, Johns Hopkins is coming off an 18-13 loss to top-ranked Virginia. Despite the loss, three different Blue Jays players tallied three goals: Matt Collison, Garrett Degnon, and Ian Krampf who came off the bench.
Collison is a freshman from Ontario that has had five straight multi-goal games. Graduate student Degnon tallied seven goals over the last two games, and secured two goals against SU last season. Collison and Degnon lead the Johns Hopkins squad in goal scoring with 13 and 14, respectively.
Senior Attacker Jacob Angelus only had one assist against UVA, however he ranks third in the nation with three assists per game.
In net, senior goaltender Tim Marcille has saved nearly 52 percent of shots on goal. Marcille only played in two games last season. Both were against defending NCAA champion, Maryland.
On the opposing side, Syracuse goalie Will Mark ranks third in the ACC for saves per game, averaging just under 16 a contest.
Goal-scoring-wise, the Blue Jays have to watch out for the Orange’s Joey Spallina and Jackson Birtwistle. The freshman-junior duo lead the team with a combined total of 39 goals. Birtwistle snagged three goals against fourth-ranked Maryland and three more against fifth-ranked Duke.
LISTEN: SU's Jackson Birtwistle converted on a man-up opportunity to extend the Orange lead. @francescosim16 had the call for the midfielder's 11th goal of the season.
— WAER Sports (@WAERSports) March 5, 2023
🎙️@waer883, https://t.co/BG0Q3sGq3P pic.twitter.com/yM9w6VgVmO
Saturday is a chance for both teams to bounce back from recent losses. With the Spallina and Birtwistle scoring dynamic, there’s potential for the Orange to improve their shot accuracy against the Blue Jays.
“If we’re going to get that many opportunities again this year, I think we’ll finish much better this year. It’s a different group playing offense and we’ve shot pretty well this year,” said Gait.
Also, with Hopkins’ Collison and Degnon duo, there is a strong challenge coming goalkeeper Will Mark’s way.
It all starts at 4 p.m. WAER’s coverage begins at 3:30 with McClurg Team Countdown to Faceoff.