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Syracuse’s opening three-game stretch wasn’t by design. The last time the Orange played three games in one week was 2013, when Gary Gait’s women’s lacrosse squad lost to Maryland in the Final Four.

While creating this year’s schedule, Gait hoped to have that same set in eight or nine days. Still, he’s found it fun.

“You’re not waiting around for the next game, you’re right into preparing for a new opponent … and so far, so good,” Gait said Thursday.

The Orange passed their opening two tests with flying colors, defeating Vermont and Colgate by a combined 21 goals. On Friday, there was absolutely no hesitation to continue that trend.

Mason Kohn won the opening faceoff and immediately scored from the right side, catalyzing an attack that went a perfect 3-for-3 on its first three possessions. SU reached double-digits in scoring with four minutes left in the second quarter before Joey Spallina beat the buzzer to put the Orange up by 10 at half.

No. 9 Syracuse (3-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) closed out a busy seven days with a 16-3 win over Manhattan (0-1, 0-0 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference). Spallina’s 10 points were the most by a Syracuse player since Ryan Powell in 2000. His seven assists were the most since Stephen Rehfuss in 2020.

“We got through it and it was a great first week of college lacrosse from Syracuse University,” Gait said postgame.

After Kohn perplexed James Hogan on the game’s opening faceoff, freshman John Mullen took his turn. Mullen easily won the clamp, giving it to Spallina on the left side. Spallina cut toward the middle, dropping it to Owen Hiltz, who ripped a lefty shot into the top of the net. SU dominated at the faceoff X, winning 19-of-23 on the night.

For the third straight game, Spallina’s ability to distribute was the key to Syracuse’s offense. After finding Hiltz, he threaded a pass to Jake Stevens right at the crease. Later in the first half, he returned to his normal spot at X. He found Luke Rhoa wide open in the center of the field for SU’s fifth score, then Hiltz charging in from the right side early in the second quarter.

By the 4:50 mark of the second quarter, Spallina had tied a career-high five assists, which he set on Monday against Colgate. He set a new career-high before the half ended.

“My job is pretty easy, just catch, look in and pass it along,” Spallina said. “Our guys just did a good job of getting open.”

Hiltz was as much of a problem for Manhattan as Spallina. Hiltz returned the favor for his opening goal midway through the first quarter, charging from the right side of the field before lofting the ball to Spallina for an underhand shot.

“We practice different stuff, goof around and sometimes it happens in a game,” Hiltz said. “We know where each other are.”

Instead of creating his own shot with four minutes left in the first period, he located Saam Olexo unmarked from 15 yards out. Less than a minute later, Hiltz dumped it off to Stevens for his second goal.

With Spallina and Hiltz conducting the offense, as well as Kohn and Mullen dominating at the faceoff X, John Odierna’s defense had little work to do. Still, it managed to stop the Jaspers on the majority of their limited possessions, holding them to two goals in the opening half.

The Jaspers’ first score came after they won at the faceoff X for the first time three minutes into the game. But SU rattled off seven straight goals before Manhattan could get on the board again.

Manhattan’s second goal came with less than a minute remaining in the first half. Kyle Gucwa kept the ball at X, sending it over the cage to Scott O’Connor, who gained a step on Caden Kol. O’Connor fired a lefty shot past Will Mark.

Surprisingly, the Orange answered back twice in the remaining 56 seconds. More surprisingly, they did it in the final seven seconds.

After taking roughly 45 seconds off the clock, Spallina got the ball at X. Completely alone, he took his time to spot Hiltz, who was roughly 12 yards out, for an easy step-down attempt.

Kohn won the ensuing faceoff, and tried to bounce the ball in directly after gaining possession. He was close, missing just left of the cage. Luckily, Spallina was there for support. He caught the ball in mid-air and redirected it back to its original destination with one second left on the clock.

Spallina said he scored a “very similar” goal to that in a club lacrosse game with Team 91, tying the game up against a Maryland-based team with 10 seconds left. This time around, it just served as insurance.

The blazing start lost its steam in the third quarter as Syracuse continued to submit empty possessions. Hiltz turned the ball over twice while shots either went wide or clanged off the post.

The Orange got out of their rut with five minutes left in the period, following a goal and assist from Spallina. But the drought served as a lesson for the team, giving them a chance to go back and evaluate what adjustments need to be made, Gait said.

Heading into Maryland, they won’t have just one game to look back on. They’ll have three.

“You do something in one game and you don’t know if it’s a mistake or a tendency,” Gait said. “Now we have three games worth of film, we have some tendencies we’ve developed and we can make some corrections on those. That’s going to be really important and give us a focus going forward.”

Published on February 9, 2024 at 6:17 pm

Contact Anish: asvasude@syr.edu | @anish_vasu