No.10 Syracuse men’s lacrosse takes down No.11 Johns Hopkins 12-8 on road

After a thrilling overtime victory over UPenn (2-3, 0-0 Ivy League) last weekend, #10 Syracuse men’s lacrosse (5-2, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) beat #11 Johns Hopkins (4-2, 0-0 Big Ten) on Saturday afternoon.

The Orange rolled past the Blue Jays 12-8 for their fourth ranked win of the season. Syracuse head coach Gary Gait thought his team made the right plays when it needed to.

“[It] wasn't the cleanest game, but we did what we needed to have success and walk away,” Gait said. “Great effort by the defense, offense when we needed it and happy to start spring break with the W.”

SU’s offense exploded in the second quarter by going on a 3-0 scoring run within two minutes. Defenseman Billy Dwan scored a goal in back-to-back games off a feed from Finn Thomson.

Dwan added another goal in the third quarter, bringing his tally to four on the season. The senior’s nod was something coach Gait said the team worked on in practice.

“After our last couple games, we wanted to focus on bringing back some transition and scoring some goals that we didn't possess the play six on six the entire time,” Gait said. “I think we accomplished our goal today and you know Billy with two big goals, so happy we executed it and we got it done.”

SU wasn’t the only one who found success on one side of the field. The ‘Cuse defense made stops when it needed to, holding the Blue Jays to just a single goal in both the first and third quarters. A big reason for that tally was the play of netminder Jimmy McCool.

McCool made 14 saves, which were his second most for the season. Six of his stops came in the third frame as Hopkins outshot Syracuse 15-5. Despite outshooting the Orange, the Blue Jays still trailed by two heading into the final quarter.

In the final frame, SU attacker Joey Spallina stepped up his game and took over. The senior was involved in three of Syracuse’s five goals scored. Spallina converted a man-up opportunity early on and scored his fourth of the afternoon to give the Orange a four goal cushion.

@CuseMLAX on X

It was the ‘Cuse’s highest scoring quarter of the game, including one from faceoff specialist John Mullen. He went 11-of-20 at the faceoff dot and picked up a game-high 10 ground balls. The junior took matters into his own hands as well.

All around it was a balanced day for Syracuse as it had six different goal scorers and win its first game in Baltimore since 2022. SU leaned on a motto that has been synonymous with #15 Syracuse women’s lacrosse.

The road trip continues for Gait’s side when it travels to play Air Force (1-5, 0-0 Atlantic Sun Conference) on Thursday. Spallina said postgame that the team can’t get carried away with this win because there’s still work to do.

“We have to use this game to kind of propel us into these next couple games here,” Spallina said.

Opening faceoff is at 8pm. Follow @WAERSports on X for live updates. Tune in to McClurg Remodeling Countdown to faceoff at 7:30 and listen to the full game on 88.3 FM.