It wasn’t the prettiest display you’ll ever see, but the Orange took care of business to start the season 1-0.
The Syracuse Orange men’s lacrosse team got their season started off on a winning note on Sunday afternoon inside the JMA Dome, taking down the No. 17 Boston University Terriers by a score of 13-6.
It was an uneven day in a number of respects from the No. 3 Orange, who struggled with turnovers throughout. They especially had a bit of a nightmare against BU’s 10-man ride, mostly looking devoid of ideas on how to break it down, throwing the ball long and hoping for the best.
They were still able to pour in 13 goals despite the 17 turnovers (felt like way more than that) and exhibited some exciting moments in doing so, particularly looking like they may have more athleticism and bite off the dodge than last year. The movement, both ball and man, was suspect and sluggish at times and more efficient at others, certainly not unexpected in a new year with some key replacements coming in.
Joey Spallina (3G, 2A) led the way with five points on a hat trick and a pair of beautiful cross-defense passes. He had a few forced passes and shots mixed in, as well, but tough to argue with a five-point day from the senior captain.
Wyatt Hottle (2G, 1A) and Payton Anderson (2G, 1A) both had strong starts to their seasons as each looks to step up into more centrally focused roles this year, while Luke Rhoa (2G) and Michael Leo (2G) combined for four goals.
The defense had a few breakdowns here and there, primarily on poorly executed switches defending picks, but overall they had a very solid day to begin their 2026. BU has a lot of player back from an offense that scored just under 14 goals per game last year, and they held them to a meager six.
Riley Figueiras (2GB, 1CT) and Billy Dwan (2GB, 2CT) both had strong days in helping shut down the BU attack, and holding their particular matchups, Timothy Shannehan and Peyton Forte, to three goals on 15 shots. Shannehan’s two goals were both scored when Figueiras was switched off him.
Jimmy McCool (12SV) had a very strong day as the backstop, racking up a dozen saves and finishing with a .667 save percentage while also throwing a couple very nice hustle plays into the mix.
Perhaps the most important player of the game was actually Johnny Mullen (1G, 8GB), who mostly dominated in going 14-of-19 on restarts while picking up eight ground balls and scoring a very nice goal straight down main street.
On a day when the Orange were having a disastrous time clearing against the 10-man, Mullen’s ability to neutralize that by winning as many face-offs as possible to avoid those situations was critical in keeping the Orange away from too much danger of an upset.
Luke Rhoa got ‘Cuse started fast in this one when he took advantage of a shortie matchup from up top and opened the scoring less than two minutes into the season. After Ryder Ochoa got beaten on a similar shortie disadvantage on the other end, Joey took advantage of a perfect pick from Finn Thomson to gain separation and score his first of the year.
Highly-ranked freshman Bogue Hahn (1G) started his career off right with a very nice alley dodge, roll back into a shot to score his first collegiate goal and put SU up 3-1 in the first.
After BU scored to end the quarter at 3-2, Wyatt Hottle got his first coming up from GLE on the left side and scoring on the run for a very nice effort. BU answered once again midway through the second quarter, but Payton Anderson got on the board with a fantastic dodge out of a timeout where he blew right past his defender and scored in front of the crease to put ‘Cuse up 5-3.
At the very end of the half, Anderson and Hottle combined on the tail end of SU’s best moment against the 10-man all day. Billy Dwan threw a ball long to Finn, who caught and threw a diagonal pass to a wide-open Anderson, who went diagonally back to Hottle for a finish with one second left in the half. It was a beautiful breakdown and exposed the vulnerability of any 10-man ride, but unfortunately it was the only time all day the Orange did it with that level of efficiency. ‘Cuse took a 6-3 lead into the halftime break.
The third quarter was a completely different story as the teams combined for nine goals after nine total in the first half. SU got started right away when Michael Leo scored on an alley dodge immediately after subbing in front the sub box. That was followed 12 seconds later by a tic-tac-toe off the face-off with Hottle finding Spallina for a finish, and in less than a minute going back to the first half, the Orange scored three goals to expand their lead to five at 8-3.
Timothy Shannehan scored his first when he got a switch off Figueiras, but a few minutes later SU got another 1-2 punch when Rhoa scored off an unsettled situation and was followed by Mullen’s goal eight seconds subsequent to balloon the lead up to 10-4 with just under six minutes remaining in the quarter.
After ‘Cuse scored four of the first five goals to grab that bigger lead, the teams traded goal back and forth the rest of the third. The Orange’s two tallies were scored by Leo and Anderson, both off beautifully thrown cross-defense passes by Spallina, exactly the kind of decision-making the offense requires of him.
Those goals made it 12-6 after the third, and a sloppy fourth quarter was highlighted by only Spallina getting his hat trick with a few minutes to play in the game to reach the final tally of 13-6.
It was a very typical first game of the season in a lot of ways for SU, with a lot of good signs mixed in with a handful of things to work on moving forward. In the end, a 1-0 start and a win over a ranked team.
The Orange will be back in action next weekend for round two when they host the Saint Joseph’s Hawks on Saturday, February 7 at 12 PM on ACC Network Extra.
Category: General Sports
