No. 3 Syracuse men’s lacrosse (9-2, 1-1 in Atlantic Coast Conference) lost to No. 1 Notre Dame (6-1, 1-0 in ACC) 14-12 on Saturday. The Orange have now dropped seven straight to the Fighting Irish.
Third-ranked @CuseMLAX's fourth quarter comeback bid fell short in a 14-12 defeat to top-ranked @NDlacrosse in South Bend. @IanNicholasTV and @AndrewSelover had the call. pic.twitter.com/XjxUrzVXCt
— WAER Sports (@WAERSports) March 30, 2024
Coming into the contest, SU knew it had to deal with the top scoring offense and defense in the country, but the challenge from the faceoff x was a surprise. The Orange rank above the Irish in faceoff win percentage, but you wouldn’t have known that after Saturday’s affair. ND won the battle from the dot 20 to nine led by junior Will Lynch who went 19 of 26.
“Things were just going their way,” said ‘Cuse head coach Gary Gait. “When it was a ground ball (off the faceoff) it just kept bouncing their way.”
Coming into the game, it was assumed that everyone was healthy, but after the game ‘Cuse faceoff specialist Mason Kohn was said to be under the weather.
“Our starting guy wasn’t 100% today,” said Gait. “I give him (Kohn) a lot of credit for showing up and competing.”
Kohn went just 6 of 21 from the x, a notable drop from his 60% season average. This begs the question, should Syracuse have played fully healthy backup John Mullen more against Notre Dame? Mullen has won nearly 60% of his faceoffs this season and went three of eight against the Irish in limited action.
Without a doubt, Mason Kohn is a top FOGO in the nation when healthy, but for a team like SU that has a competent back up, it makes decisions a bit harder. On Saturday that wasn’t the case though, at least to head man Gary Gait.
“Kohn wanted to play… We love him.”
Losing at the dot means more possession for the other team. This also means more pressure on the goalie, but SU netminder Will Mark kept his squad in this one until the end. The grad student had 15 saves, two in the final five minutes when SU was storming back.
Goals from midfielders Jake Stevens and Michael Leo cut the lead to two with 2:43 remaining. The Orange failed to score after that and fell in a game in which the ‘Cuse did not hold a lead after going up 1-0 early in the first quarter.
Despite the loss, there’s not much time to dwell on it for SU. The ‘Cuse are in Ithaca on Tuesday to battle No. 7 Cornell. Gametime is at 7 p.m., and our coverage will start at 6:30 p.m. with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Faceoff.