On the back of a dominant second half, No. 6 Syracuse (7-2, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) blew past No. 20 Delaware (3-3, 1-0 Coastal Athletic Association) 14-6 on Saturday. The win marks the second Top-20 victory for the Orange in a week’s span after beating then-No. 2 Johns Hopkins 14-13 last weekend.
Orange attacker Owen Hiltz scored six goals in No. 6 @CuseMLAX's 14-6 win over No. 20 @DelawareMLAX. @AndrewSelover and @IanNicholasTV had the call. pic.twitter.com/rlzQ8G4106
— WAER Sports (@WAERSports) March 16, 2024
Saturday’s meeting between SU and UD, which was played at Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Virginia, was part of Corrigan Sports Enterprises’ College Lacrosse Live series.
On the neutral field, the Blue Hens came out of the gate firing. Delaware controlled possession for much of the first quarter, and scored four of the game’s first six goals.
In the waning seconds of the opening frame, after a Finn Thomson goal cut the UD lead to 4-3, Delaware defenseman Louie Atkinson delivered a major hit to SU attackman Joey Spallina that sent SU’s leading scorer to the locker room.
With its top point-getter on the shelf, Syracuse opened the second quarter on the man-up while Atkinson served a two-minute penalty for his hit on Spallina.
Orange attackman Owen Hiltz cashed in. The redshirt junior ripped a perimeter shot into the top corner of the net to tie the game at 4-4.
“It definitely lights a fire,” Hiltz said of his teammate’s injury. “But it’s kind of the game of lacrosse.”
Across the next six minutes of the second quarter, SU’s offense was stagnant without its facilitator. The Blue Hens re-took the lead before Orange long-pole Billy Dwan III netted a transition goal to re-tie the game.
Then Spallina trotted back onto the field, assumed his familiar position at X, and assisted Christian Mulé’s goal that gave SU a halftime lead it never relinquished.
Spallina back on the sideline again. Got a ton of “hell ya 2s” after coming back. pic.twitter.com/k9TPuAajBH
— WAER Sports Talk (@WAERSportsTalk) March 16, 2024
“[SU offensive coordinator Pat] March had some new offense going after halftime,” said Hiltz. “We stuck to it and scored some goals.”
In the third, while March’s offense returned to form, the Syracuse defense battened down. The Orange didn’t allow a Delaware goal in the period, and a one-goal halftime advantage was a five-goal cushion by the start of the fourth.
“Incredible effort by the defense to hold [UD] to one goal in the last three quarters,” head coach Gary Gait said.
The SU run continued in the fourth quarter. After Blue Hens freshman Tyler Owings snapped a nearly 31-minute dry spell with a bounce shot into the cage, Hiltz scored three times consecutively to put the game out of reach.
Hiltz finished with six goals, his most in a game since he tallied seven against Robert Morris in May 2021, but the story of the day was SU’s defense.
From the 11:50 mark of the second quarter to the 10:43 point in the fourth, Syracuse held Delaware off the scoreboard. The stretch marked the second-longest scoreless period by an SU opponent this season. The Orange forced the Blue Hens into 10 turnovers and SU goalie Will Mark made a season-best 17 saves in cage.
“It’s been a great week of lacrosse for Syracuse,” Gait said after the game.
With a second-straight ranked victory in tow, SU returns home for its penultimate home game of the season and perhaps its toughest test to date. Syracuse clashes with No. 2 Duke (8-1, 0-0 ACC) in its conference opener on Wednesday. Opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m. WAER’s coverage starts with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Faceoff at 6:30 p.m.