It’s been an unusual stretch for No. 8 Syracuse men’s lacrosse (6-2, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). The Orange are in the midst of a six-game road swing — their longest stretch away from home since 1972 — and it ends Monday night with a matchup at No. 13 Denver (4-2, 0-0 Big East).
This matchup brings some history with it. SU leads the all-time series 4-1, but Denver won the last meeting, a 10-8 victory in the 2024 NCAA quarterfinals that ended the Cuse’s season.
Syracuse picked up a 17-11 win over Air Force on Thursday, but it didn’t come easy. The Orange were sluggish early and led only 6-5 at halftime before pulling away late. SU head coach Gary Gait said the slow start wasn’t surprising after all the travel.
“We expect an academy team is gonna give it 100% no matter what. Whether they’ve won the last three games or lost the three games, they’re gonna come, and they’re gonna compete,” Gait said. “Long trip, a lot of travel. I think it was just a bit of a slow start, and we were just a little sluggish. After we got through the first quarter, we played a lot better defense, hustled, got our legs under us, and were able to finish the game.”
Syracuse eventually found its rhythm offensively, with Orange captain Joey Spallina recording a career-high eight assists against the Falcons’ defense, just one short of the program record of nine set by Tim Nelson, who reached the mark three times.
In No. 8 @CuseMLAX's 17-11 win over @AF_Lax, attackman Joey Spallina posted a career-high eight helpers.@JKlein was on the mic for a score assisted by the senior, which propelled him one spot higher on SU's all-time points leaderboard.
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“They were in a man zone look, so I knew coming in that I was gonna be behind the goal feeding the guys, and I honestly love that,” Spallina said. “It’s a one, so you’re trying to beat it with passing, and I think we did a great job with that.”
That approach could be much harder Monday night. Even with new starters this year, Denver’s system hasn't changed. The Pioneers have built its identity about defense and special teams — since the start of the 2024 season, Denver has allowed just 17 man-up goals on 86 chances, the best penalty-kill rate in the country over that span.
The Pioneers are also tough at home, going 131-31 at Peter Barton Lacrosse stadium since it opened in 2005.
Syracuse created plenty of chances against Air Force, but Gait said the offense still left goals on the field — something that could make a big difference against a defense like Denver’s.
“In offense, a lot of times, we look at getting scoring opportunities as the success of an offense. It’s how many scoring opportunities that you get,” Gait said. “We probably missed eight to ten 1v1s with the goalie. Joey probably should’ve had 12 assists instead of eight. We didn’t take our time, we didn’t finish, and we turned the ball over quite a bit on 1v1s with the goalie.”
"Air Force is a weird defense to prepare for, because it's very unlike pretty much any other defense. This is a unique defense, not something that Syracuse had seen so far."@JKlein explains the lackluster first half by SU's offense.
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That could be tougher to get away with against Denver. The Pioneers are coming off a 6-4 loss at then-No. 8 Ohio State in a defensive battle, the latest example of a team that has relied on its unit as a strength in recent seasons.
Syracuse and Denver square off Monday at 8pm ET. WAER’s coverage starts with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Faceoff at 7:30.