After suffering three straight losses to finish out the regular season, 4th-seeded No. 12 Syracuse men’s lacrosse (9-5, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) now has to face top-seeded No. 6 Notre Dame (8-3, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). The Orange defeated the two-time defending national champion Fighting Irish earlier this season 14-9, handing the Irish they’re only loss in conference play. But, since that win everything has seemed to go downhill for SU.
“The ACC is the best conference in college lacrosse. I don’t think you can ever say you’re supposed to win a game. You got to execute and actually do it,” said SU head coach Gary Gait.
The 'Cuse ended the season falling to No. 1 Cornell, No. 12 Duke, and No. 8 North Carolina. On the other hand, Notre Dame has finished out the season the exact opposite, collecting three wins in a row after its loss to Syracuse.
The last time these two teams went head to head SU was able to secure the win because everyone was pulling their weight. SU Attackman Joey Spallina showed out for the Orange leading the offense with five points. Faceoff specialist John Mullen dominated the X winning 16-of-23. The defense was also unstoppable against a top scoring offense in the nation. Goalkeeper Jimmy McCool tallied ten saves, helping the defense hold Notre Dame scoreless for almost a 40 minute stretch.
“We know we can beat anybody if we put it all together,” said Syracuse head coach Gait Gait.
But, one player still wreaked havoc for the Fighting Irish. Attackman Chris Kavanaugh put up five points against the Orange. The senior is second in the ACC in goals per game and is top-25 in the country. Kavanaugh is just one of the factors that helps fuel a top-10 Notre Dame scoring offense that averages over 13 goals a game. But SU head coach Gary Gait is still confident in his team’s ability to come out on top.
"We played really well last time to beat them and were just hoping we can do it again, if you do it once you can do it twice, so that’s kind of our mindset. But we know that we’ve got to execute at a high level and we’ve got to play our best game,” said Gait.
Syracuse can try and get back into the ACC Championship game for the first time since 2016 while Notre Dame works to defend its ACC title for the second year in a row.
The contest between Syracuse and Notre Dame gets underway on Friday at 5 p.m. WAER’s coverage on 88.3 FM or waer.org begins at 4:30 with McClurg Remodeling Countdown To Faceoff.