Syracuse Tops Vermont in Impressive Season Opening Victory
The Syracuse lacrosse season got off to somewhat of a tepid start on a frigid February afternoon, as the men’s lacrosse kicked things off facing the Vermont Catamounts. Lucky number seven seemed to be rather prevalent in this matchup; SU won a scrappy 7-5 contest in last year’s season opener against these same Catamounts, who went undefeated in America East play last year after a narrow loss to the Orange before losing to powerhouse UAlbany in the conference semifinals. Also, this was the first of seven consecutive home games to start the season for the men, their longest season-opening home stand since the Dome’s opening in 1981.
Lots of eyes were on the highly touted transfer portal additions that Gerry Gait made in the off-season, but only one of the Princeton transfers, Sam English, cracked the opening-day starting lineup. Early on, Syracuse’s offense looked like a team that was trying to find a rhythm and putting together a bunch of different pieces; the Orange didn’t get their first shot on goal until midway through the first period, and they suffered two shot clock violations in that first period. Vermont came out with a lot of energy, and through the first period, Syracuse held a narrow 3-2 lead, and it looked like this contest was headed towards a similar style of game as last year’s.
However, a minute stretch in the 2nd period where the Orange had three goals made it 8-2, and the Catamounts never truly challenged SU the rest of the way. Tufts transfer Mason Kohn made an immediate difference in faceoffs, converting 16 of his 24 tries, with freshman John Mullen coming in at a smooth 5-of-7 in relief duty of Kohn. Vermont head coach Chris Feifs commented in post-game about what the strength and experience of a guy like Kohn brings to this SU program, and with Kohn facing off against a sophomore and freshman for most of the night, what type of experience his faceoff squad can get from playing against Kohn.
After a bit of a stinker against the Catamounts last season in his first-ever collegiate game, Joey Spallina started his sophomore campaign off with a bang, finishing with a team-high 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists), and he spoke with reporters after the game about his increased comfortability level coming into this season opener, understanding the meaning and significance of playing in the Dome, and learning how to play better off his teammates and allowing the game to come to him. Christian Mule was the main teammate to step up with Spallina, ending with 5 points (3 goals, 2 assists), and having played with Joey since the 1st grade, the comfort level, the amount of non-verbal communication and the ability to feel where each other will be on the field worked wonders today.
This win puts head man Gerry Gait at a sparking 17-0 in season openers, and Syracuse secures their 74th straight victory when holding opponents to under 10 goals. This men’s squad has a quick turnaround, facing off against a Colgate team Monday night at 6 PM that started their season by securing a huge road win against 4th-ranked Penn State.
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