2023 Men's Top 30: How Syracuse Fared vs. Projections

Before USA Lacrosse Magazine looks ahead to what’s to come in 2024, our team of staff and contributors decided it was worth taking one last look at 2023.

After all, you have to look at the most recent results before making projections for what’s to come. To do that, we’re taking a journey through the top 30 teams in men’s and women’s lacrosse — what went right, what went wrong and what we should all think of that team’s season.

Was it a success? A failure? A mixture of both? You’ll find out our thoughts over the next month or so.

SYRACUSE MEN’S LACROSSE

Nike/USA Lacrosse Preseason/Final Top 20 Ranking: Unranked (also considered)/16
2023 record: 8-7 (1-5 ACC)

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Joey Spallina (36 G, 32 A) lived up to his advance billing as the Orange’s New 22, and a bunch of other freshmen (Finn Thomson, Michael Leo and Billy Dwan, among them) logged extensive minutes. Goalie Will Mark (.542 save percentage) was a capable addition from LIU. And for a couple weeks in mid-April, Syracuse handled itself like the Syracuse of old.

WHAT WENT WRONG

With so many young guys and other new pieces running around, this group wasn’t quite ready for primetime. Syracuse went 1-6 against eventual postseason teams (the win came against Princeton), and while its defense made progress, it still allowed 16.6 goals per game in the Orange’s losses.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

Leo’s goal with 12 seconds left sent Syracuse to its only conference win of the season April 15 against North Carolina in Olney, Md.

VERDICT

Syracuse wasn’t going to go from 4-10 to knocking on the door of reaching Memorial Day Weekend. But it laid an intriguing foundation and got to play meaningful games in late April at Virginia and Duke in what amounted to a bridge year. The Orange didn’t win against either eventual final four team, but there’s little doubt Gary Gait’s program is trending in the right direction.