3 takeaways from Syracuse Lacrosse’s 14-9 win over No. 5 Notre Dame

Syracuse, in front of 11,268 fans, the most since 2015, overcame an early deficit and rallied to defeat No. 5 Notre Dame, 14-9, at the JMA Wireless Dome on Saturday. It was their first win over the Fighting Irish since 2018.

Here are the key takeaways from the win.

Syracuse started in very familiar territory. The Orange fell behind by three goals for the second game in a row. But, just before the media timeout, Freshman midfielder Peyton Anderson got one back for Syracuse.

Little did Anderson or his teammates know that Syracuse was about to go on a 40-minute 9-0 run. With the help of a challenge by Head Coach Gary Gait and a costly offside by Notre Dame, Syracuse held the Fighting Irish scoreless.

Syracuse was able to complete this outstanding feat largely because of the “Junkyard Dogs,” more commonly known as the man-down defense. During the run, they shut down three man-up opportunities, including a six-on-four chance.

This run gave Syracuse a cushion for the rest of the game until the end.

Syracuse dominated most of the stats columns. One stat stuck out.

In the last matchup against Notre Dame, Syracuse had a rough outing at the faceoff circle. Notre Dame dominated the orange, winning 20 out of 29 faceoffs. However, this time around, face-off specialist John Mullen was able to dominate in the circle. He won 16 of 25 faceoffs, giving Syracuse many possessions.

When asked what Mullen did to change these numbers around, Mullen pointed to his pre-game prep and his wings for his success.

“The guys in the faceoff group, we do an amazing job working well with each other”. Mullen said “Big shout to my wings. “

Many social media critics have said that Syracuse star attackman Joey Spallina disappeared against big teams. Today, that myth might have been shattered. Joey Spallina led all players in scoring this game with four goals.

A big part of that was assistant coach Pat March’s change in plans. With Peyton Anderson added to the starting lineup, they put him behind the cage on most of the offense sets. It allowed Spallina to operate in front of the net, which worked perfectly.

When asked about the switch, Spallina was confident in his new offensive role.

“Coach March put it us in a set I am able to play in front of the goal,” Spallina said. “I think coach March is putting us in spots he thinks we will do well in and I thought we did pretty well in those spots.”

Syracuse will travel to Long Island next Saturday to take on the nation’s #1 team, Cornell.

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