No. 6 Syracuse looks to stay above .500 at No. 19 Penn

No. 6 Syracuse men’s lacrosse (3-2, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) has maintained a winning record throughout its past three seasons, but an ACC/Ivy Challenge bout with No. 19 Penn (2-2, 0-0 Ivy League) could change that. Riding a two-game losing streak, the Orange have transformed from the nation’s team to beat to a squad that can’t beat a ranked foe.

Less than a week ago, SU held the top spot in the Inside Lacrosse poll. But a late-game collapse at the hands of then-No. 14 Harvard last week and a first-quarter demolition on Friday at No. 7 Princeton have terminated that distinction for Syracuse.

If the Orange want to get back on track, they can’t afford first-quarter blunders like they did Friday against the Tigers. Conceding the first six tallies among both teams won’t cut it. SU actually outscored Princeton the rest of the way, but it dug itself too vast of a hole to escape.

“They covered the back side of the field, and we didn’t execute when we did move the ball,” Orange head coach Gary Gait said postgame. “We got some opportunities, and their goalie was outstanding today.”

Rather, the issue is that Syracuse needs attack Joey Spallina to come back to life. Friday marked the first time since May 19, 2024, that the senior didn’t record a point. For Spallina and his highly-regarded 2022 recruiting class to cement their legacy, offensive performances like that won’t propel the Orange far.

But a matchup with Penn is SU’s most favorable since its second game against St. Joseph’s three weeks ago. The Quakers have proven that they crumble against top-10 opponents, dropping matchups to No. 2 North Carolina on Friday and then-No. 5 Georgetown in their season opener. The Orange still nabbed one, dethroning then-No. 1 Maryland two weeks prior.

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“We have one of the toughest schedules in the country,” Gait said Friday. “There’s a lot of great teams in college lacrosse, and we got to be prepared.”

SU will have to be prepared for Penn, which comes off the heels of a 4-10 finish last year. It moved on from 16-year head coach Mike Murphy and snagged Taylor Wray, who helmed St. Joseph’s just a few miles away for over a decade. His winning pedigree is evident, having won a Northeast Conference and Atlantic 10 title after the Hawks switched conferences.

Even through four games, Wray has coached two players to double-digit goals. Midfielder Griffin Scane, who already has two four-goal performances and scores nearly 70% of his shots on goal. Attack Davis Provost is the other, and he’s up to 11 goals with three hat tricks.

The Quakers’ defense isn’t anything special, but it has held ranked foes to 11 goals per game, nabbing the fourth-best goals against average in the Ivy League. Short-stick defensive midfielder Anthony McMullan leads the charge with 17 ground balls scooped up, but Penn sits last in the Ivy League within the category.

The turnaround is tight against yet another ranked opponent, and Gait knows that he won’t have much time to fix things in practice.

“It’s just about executing and taking advantage of the opportunities all over the field,” he said.

Syracuse and Penn battle Sunday at noon. Our coverage begins with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Faceoff on 88.3 FM and waer.org at 11:30 a.m.