It was a back-and-forth affair down on Long Island, but No. 4 @CuseMLAX couldn't hang with No. 1 @CornellLacrosse.@RyanRandone and @Dellie_5 had the call for SU's 17-12 defeat. pic.twitter.com/tCxK6QPP1w
— WAER Sports (@WAERSports) April 12, 2025
No. 4 Syracuse (9-3, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) went down 8-2 in the first half of its game against No. 1 Cornell (10-1, 4-0 Ivy League) and couldn’t pull off a comeback, despite its best efforts. The Orange lost 17-12 from Mitchell Field on Long Island in their third straight defeat in bouts with the top-ranked team in the nation.
Big Red attackman CJ Kirst, the nation’s top goal-scorer and current Tewaaraton Award favorite, found the net first to get Cornell an early 1-0 lead. His strike was followed quickly by a second score for the Big Red, to which the Orange would respond with a two-goal burst to knot the score at two with 6:50 remaining in the opening quarter. SU would not come that close to the lead again.
Cornell went on a 6-0 run across the next 15-plus minutes of play and never looked back.
“Even when we got stops, they got loose and scored a bunch of goals in that first half,” said head coach Gary Gait.
SU didn’t quit and would make a third-quarter surge, earning four unanswered tallies to make it 13-11 entering the final period. The Big Red responded and outscored the Orange 4-1 in the closing quarter.
“Tough battle,” said Gait. “Obviously a really good Cornell team that’s top in the country for a reason…I give our guys credit for not giving up.”
Kirst unsurprisingly led the way for Cornell, finishing the day with five goals and three assists. It’s the second straight year the attackman has tallied five scores against SU.
Kirst’s counterpart in orange and blue, Joey Spallina, did not have a similarly productive day. The Long Island native netted his 100th career goal in his return home, but it was the only point he would record across the entire 60 minutes of action. Spallina was held without an assist for the first time this season.
In his home region of Long Island, @CuseMLAX attackman Joey Spallina hit a major milestone.@Dellie_5 was on the mic for the junior's 100th career goal.
— WAER Sports (@WAERSports) April 12, 2025
📻@waer883, https://t.co/BG0Q3sGq3P pic.twitter.com/AKi6KOGk1C
Orange goalie Jimmy McCool struggled in the contest, saving only seven of the 23 shots he faced. The redshirt sophomore posted a career-low .304 save percentage in the defeat.
“What they were doing was keeping Jimmy high, and then going overhand high-to-low,” said Gait of Cornell’s success against the SU goalie.
One of the few bright spots for Syracuse in the defeat was the play of midfielder Luke Rhoa. The junior earned his third hat-trick of the year after back-to-back scoreless contests against Virginia and then-No. 5 Notre Dame. Attackman Owen Hiltz tallied four goals of his own, the most by any Orange player in the defeat.
SU's six-game win streak came to a close on Long Island as it lost its third game this season. The loss is the second of those three defeats to come at an outdoor venue, the other being SU’s first loss of the year to Maryland at SECU Stadium.
Syracuse plays outdoors once more when it travels to Durham for a bout with No. 12 Duke (9-4, 1-1 ACC) at 2:00 on Saturday. WAER’s coverage of the conference clash starts with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Faceoff at 1:30.