Syracuse men's lacrosse dominates rival Hobart for third-straight win

Syracuse men’s lacrosse (6-4, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) secured its ninth straight Kraus-Simmons trophy with an 18-7 win over Hobart (4-4, 0-0 Atlantic 10) on Saturday afternoon.

The Orange struggled out of the gate as two quick Statesmen goals put the ‘Cuse down 2-0. Slow starts like these haven’t been unusual for Syracuse.

“We tend to have a tendency to start a little slow,” said goalie Will Mark. “We did it against Hofstra, too, so I think we just need to come out of the gate a little faster.”

After that, a switch flipped. A stunning no-look behind-the-back goal from Joey Spallina opened up the scoring for SU. Spallina finished the day with a team-high four goals.

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That goal was the spark that set the ‘Cuse offense ablaze. The Orange tallied seven straight goals, six of which came in the first quarter. Two of those goals during that run came from freshman Michael Leo. The midfielder later picked up a third goal for the first hat trick of his collegiate career.

Spallina later capped the scoring run with a rocket into the top right corner to give the Orange a 7-2 lead.

Hobart countered that SU run with back-to-back unassisted goals midway through the second quarter, cutting the deficit to four. Unassisted goals would be a theme for the Statesmen all contest as six of their seven goals came via solo shots.

The Orange rallied soon after with two quick goals from Tyler Cordes and Leo to end the first half.

The second half was more of the same for SU. It buried Hobart with goal after goal, stringing together back-to-back four-goal runs - only interrupted by two goals from the Statesmen.

During those two runs to put the game out of reach, Spallina reached his fifth hat trick of the season. His third score pushed the gap to 13-5 with goals from John Cohen, Griffin Cook and Cole Kirst.

As time was winding down, the Orange tallied five more goals, including Spallina’s fourth and final goal which looked nearly identical to his first of the contest. The attack went behind the back on a no-look shot and finished by bouncing it in.

“I’ve practiced that move hundreds and hundreds of times,” Spallina said. “I kind of just felt where I was on the field and shot it low. I didn’t really look or have any idea where it was going to go.”

SU’s win moves its all-time record in the Kraus-Simmons trophy game to 79-26-2, with nine straight wins over the Statesmen - who are now 4-4 on the season.

Looking ahead, the Orange face No. 3 Notre Dame (6-1, 0-1 ACC) on Saturday, April 1 inside the JMA Wireless Dome. The Irish were the last remaining undefeated team heading into Saturday, but a 15-10 loss to No. 1 Virginia put the first blemish on the team's record. That ACC matchup is slated for 2 p.m. WAER’s coverage begins with McClurg Team Countdown to Faceoff starting at 1:30 p.m.