Syracuse Program Equips Athletes for Global Lacrosse
By: Jillian Schumacher
Lacrosse at Syracuse University is a long-standing tradition dating back to 1916.
Since then, the Orange have won 15 national championship titles and have made 39 tournament appearances.
That tradition has led various players to become professional athletes, and many compete in World Lacrosse field and box championships.
Twenty-five percent of this year’s Haudenosaunee team in the World Lacrosse Box Championships are either former or current players for the Syracuse Orange.
Syracuse’s Jeremy Thompson, Randy Staats, Cody Jamieson, Warren Hill, Trey Deere, and Brendan Bomberry are all competing for the Haudenosaunee box lacrosse team.
The World Lacrosse Box Championship has been held in 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2024.
In those first five meetings, the Haudenosaunee team earned a spot to compete in the gold medal game.
Trey Deere, a Syracuse lacrosse sophomore on the Haudenosaunee team, says Syracuse has prepared him to play with professional athletes in games like these.
“This is a great testament to what we do at Syracuse and how we handle ourselves, and it just gets us ready,” Deere said.
Since being in Utica, Deere says he has learned a lot from other players on his team and is excited to translate what he has learned here to his spring season at Syracuse.
“Playing against the best, playing with the best, you know, it all translates over, and I hopefully take that, I look to take that to the spring,” Deere said.
His team will compete in the bronze medal game against England after falling short by one goal to Team USA in the semifinals.
Sixteen of the Haudenosaunee goals leading up to this bronze medal match have come from Staats, Deere, and Jamieson.
“Anytime I can represent my people on a world stage is amazing, and there’s really no words to describe that feeling,” Deere said.
Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse Falls to Duke in the ACC Championship Semifinal
Charlotte, N.C – With a rough start to the matchup, Syracuse was outscored by 5 goals within the first 5 minutes of the first quarter.
This is the second time Syracuse has played Duke this year, the last bout ended with a huge win for Syracuse as they won 10-4. However, in the ACC Semifinals, Syracuse struggled during the first quarter.
That dry spell didn’t last long for Syracuse as they began to climb back later in the first quarter, with two unanswered goals. Jake Stevens made both of those shots to get the Orange back on track.
At the start of the second quarter the tide began to tip in favor of Syracuse as they scored an additional two more unanswered goals. One goal from Joey Spallina and the other from Mason Kohn.
Stevens was able to score is third goal shortly after, getting another hat trick on the season and pulling the Orange closer with the score sitting at 5-9 with 8:30 seconds left in the second quarter.
With a barrage of goals from Syracuse, the team still had their work cut out for them as Duke continued to add to their lead. Syracuse trailed the entire game and struggled to stop Duke’s attacks all night.
Duke continued the third quarter with 6 straight goals, making the score 17-7. Syracuse began to climb back towards the end of this matchup, but it proved to be too little too late. Duke left Charlotte with a revenge victory against Syracuse, the final score of the game was 18-13.
Syracuse head coach Gary Gait felt that Duke was much more prepared in their second matchup against the Orange.
“It was a tough game against a motivated Duke team, they played outstanding. From the opening whistle they were ready to prove they weren’t the same team we played earlier in the season.”
Despite the loss, Syracuse has earned the number 4 and will face Towson University on Sunday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse Falls to Army in Overtime.
Syracuse men’s lacrosse suffered another close defeat in a top 10 matchup against the Army Black Knights on Wednesday night in the JMA Dome, losing 14-13. This game echoed their recent loss to Maryland in overtime a few weeks prior, with both matches showcasing intense competition until the very end, ultimately marred by last-minute errors leading to defeat.
The game remained neck and neck, with the score tied eight times, the final tie coming from attackman Owen Hiltz, who managed to level the score at 13-13 with just 2:28 remaining in the fourth quarter.
A critical save by goalie Will Mark in the final seconds sent the game into overtime. Although Syracuse gained possession from the opening face-off in overtime, they struggled to create scoring opportunities against Army’s formidable defense. Sudden victory was within Syracuse’s grasp,when fifth-year player Christian Mulé caused a turnover and found himself facing an open net. However, his shot from near midfield missed wide left, handing possession back to Army, who capitalized on the opportunity.
A look of defeat overcame the Orange when Army’s junior Jackson Eicher got out of a double team and scored the game-winning goal, securing Army’s third consecutive victory over Syracuse in their series.
“It was an incredible game, we gave ourselves the opportunity,” said head coach Gait. “Another valuable game to develop this young team … I believe in these guys.”
Sophomore standout Joey Spallina had a tough game, failing to score a goal and committing four turnovers while being closely defended by Army’s AJ Pilate. However, he did contribute with two assists.
When asked about Spallina’s role in the game, sensing criticism, teammate Christian Mule quickly jumped into his defense.
“Joey is a freshman and he’s getting the best defenseman on him every game… they’re trying to take him out the game,” said Mule. “It opens up our offense and people need to realize that. People are just way too hard on him.”
Looking ahead, Syracuse aims to bounce back when they host High Point on Saturday, March 2, at 5 PM.
Orange Lacrosse Aims for a Championship
Only four weeks into practice, each player on the Syracuse University Men’s Lacrosse team, has his mind fixated on winning the 2014 championship.
“We don’t really care who’s starting as long as we get that championship,” Junior goalie Dominic Lamolinara said.
That was the sentiment from most players and Coach Desko on Media Day.
How is this year going to be different?
“I think the glaring one [issue last year] was face-offs,” Desko said, echoing what most anyone who watched the team in the 2013 NCAA title match. “I thought everything else went well, in all aspects of the game. I thought we were efficient. We came out on top are most of our [games]. We had ten one-goal games last year.”
Desko said the strategy this year is simple – work on face-offs. “[We’ve] done more face-offs this year already, then we’ve probably did all of last year.”
Old players out/ new ones in
With players including Brian Megill, JoJo Marasco, and Luke Cometti gone, the team has big gaps to fill. Lamolinara said Megill was like another coach on the field, and with Megill gone he will have to step up, “and pick up the slack.”
Coach Desko said he is tackling the challenge of bringing in a bunch of younger players.
“Younger players don’t know the system yet,” he said and most of fall practice will be an opportunity for them to get familiar with it, possibly solidifying a spot for them in the spring.