Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

Three penalties on one play. That was a feat head referee Scott MacCaull had to announce on the JMA Wireless Dome loudspeakers with 20 seconds left in the first quarter.

One would assume fisticuffs was the reason for the litany of flags. But no. Syracuse committed three legit penalties; Michael Leo got called offsides, while Joey Spallina was whistled for a cross-check and received a one-minute violation for language toward an official.

The three fouls resulted in two minutes of uninterrupted man-up play for Vermont, including 30 seconds down two men. It concluded with the Catamounts registering zero shots on net — the highlight of a pristine performance from SU’s man-down unit.

“It’s easy to assess how they did: they did awesome,” SU head coach Gary Gait said of his penalty kill group. “I thought that was one of their best performances today.”

Elite man-down play spurred a second straight defensive masterclass from No. 2 Syracuse (2-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) in a 13-5 home victory over Vermont (0-1, 0-0 America East) Friday. The Orange successfully fended off 5-of-6 extra-man chances for the Catamounts, who received little to no wiggle room in their offensive zone throughout the night.

SU committed eight penalties against UVM — tying last year’s season-worst — but it didn’t matter. The Orange’s penalty kill rendered any threat from the Catamounts meaningless.

Jimmy McCool, who arguably receives the biggest boost from a top-end man-down unit, credited them for giving him relief between the pipes. The redshirt sophomore is in his first year starting. Though he made 11 saves Friday, he often has it easy: either watching shots sail by or directly approach his chest.

“The defense has been unreal,” McCool said. “We’ve got, as I’ve said in the past, three of the best defensemen in the country in Billy (Dwan), (Riley Figueiras) and (Michael Grace). I think we just have a really tight unit, too, which helps out everyone.”

This isn’t a new development for Syracuse in its second year under defensive coordinator John Odierna. The Orange finished with a 64.4% man-down success rate last season. In the all-world ACC, that ranked third among five teams and was nearly 10% higher than NCAA Champion Notre Dame’s man-down rate.

Even while losing long-stick midfielder Saam Olexo to graduation, new LSM Michael Grace is picking up the pieces. The RIT transfer is proving to be crucial to SU’s penalty kill, using his 6-foot-5, 220-pound physique to bully attacks and midfielders all over the field.

Vermont was often left passing the rock around the yard on any given man-up without much of an idea how to kickstart its offense. The Catamounts’ cutters found no room to breathe, their attacks — namely Luke Reiter — couldn’t generate anything from X and, when they did get a shot, they were inaccurate.

Of UVM’s four shots on goal in the first half, only one came on a man-up chance. And it had plenty of chances, too. The Orange racked up six first-half penalties.

“They do a great job of scraping passing lanes,” Vermont head coach Chris Feifs said of Syracuse’s penalty kill. “We talked about their length. If you watched their last game, they really packed it in and made it really tight. It was hard to really get them to move.”

SU bunched its formation together to clamp the Catamounts’ man-up group. With Grace manning the middle, Dwan and Figueiras on the flanks and Jake Spallina running ragged in the midfield, the Orange closed virtually every window UVM had. Feifs complemented Odierna’s man-down design, saying Syracuse stretched Vermont’s extra-man team too wide.

“(They were) making our guys move off of their spot … which allowed them to recover,” Feifs said.

Vermont’s lone man-up goal came when the game was essentially over as Tristian Whitaker slotted a shot past McCool early in the fourth quarter, which decreased SU’s lead to 13-4. It was silent other than that. Three of the Catamounts’ five failed man-up possessions were a direct result of turnovers. The other two were due to off-target shots.

Syracuse now boasts an 80% penalty kill rate through two games to start its campaign. It went 3-for-4 on man-downs against Jacksonville. In that game, too, the Orange faced a two-man-down situation and prevailed without panic.

While their attack is notably firing on all cylinders, the Orange are playing well-rounded lacrosse through two games in 2025. McCool is saving 74% of shots faced, SU’s defense is forcing over 20 turnovers a game and faceoffs, even though John Mullen struggled Friday. If a high-level man-down unit remains through the hard part of its schedule, then is there a single weak point on Syracuse’s roster?

“I’m lovin’ what they’re doing,” Gait said of SU’s penalty kill. “Two games (in a row) where they’ve been down two men, and they’ve been able to not allow them to score in those situations. I think special teams is always a big part of the game. I thought our man-up did a good job, 2-for-2, and I thought our man-down did a great job.”

Published on February 7, 2025 at 10:56 pm

Contact Cooper at: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews