No. 4 Syracuse men’s lacrosse dominated by No. 9 Notre Dame, 18-11
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The No. 4 Syracuse Orange men’s lacrosse team got dominated in their return to the Dome on Saturday, falling to the No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 18-11.
For the second consecutive game, the story was the Orange getting dominated at the face-off X. After going 8-of-32 against Duke, SU went 9-of-32 (28 percent) today against the Irish. As you would expect, they also got beaten badly in the ground ball game, getting more than doubled up, 45-20.
Put those together and you have a recipe for Notre Dame controlling 66 percent of the possession, a disaster for a Syracuse team that has the talent on offense but needs the ball in order to do anything about it.
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Couple those statements with Porter’s most recent, at a preseason media day ahead of the 2021 season: “Our goal is a national championship, and anything less than that is a failure,” he said.
With the talent is largely the same as last, the story of Syracuse heading into 2021 is a direct result of how ’20 ended. The 5-0 Orange ended No. 1 in the country, and there was a Championship Weekend buzz around the program not seen in some time. It’s continued with a newsworthy offseason that’s been told through multiple headlines including the January cover story of Inside Lacrosse Magazine.
Welcome back to the Syracuse Orange men’s lacrosse season preview series.
We’re now just two days away from SU’s season opener against the Army Black Knights at Noon on Sunday. We’ve already talked about ‘Cuse’s attack, offensive midfield, and defensive midfield/close defense, so now it’s time to finish off our look into the roster with the face-off specialists and goalies.
Both groups have the experience and talent to be a major reason for Orange fans to feel optimism heading into the season, so let’s get right to it:
Face-Off
Jakob Phaup, redshirt senior