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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Arlotta Stadium has been a house of horrors for Syracuse in recent memory. Notre Dame hasn’t just beaten SU in the last few meetings, it’s completely bludgeoned the Orange.

A 13-10 loss in March 2019 was respectable. A 22-8 defeat in May 2021 wasn’t. Neither was a 22-6 pummeling on April 2, 2022 — a game where Syracuse conceded the first 12 goals and Jake Taylor scored eight. A complete embarrassment was the only way to describe the Orange’s last trip to South Bend.

The loss in 2022 sent SU spiraling. It was the first of six straight losses to end the season as the Orange had their worst year in program history. Since then, it’s been a steady climb for Syracuse back to where it once was in the realm of college lacrosse.

But everything came to a head Saturday. The Orange had a shot at their first win in South Bend since 2017 when they beat then-No. 1 Notre Dame. Ironically standing in SU’s way of a sixth straight win was a top-ranked ND squad.

As much growth as the Orange have shown in 2024, they couldn’t get over the line Saturday. Trailing by six heading into the fourth quarter, No. 3 Syracuse (9-3, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) got within two with three minutes left, but was unable to capitalize on its chances as it fell to No. 1 Notre Dame (6-1, 1-0 ACC) 14-12. A 9-for-29 effort at the faceoff X from Mason Kohn and John Mullen hurt SU’s chances while Joey Spallina and Owen Hiltz had more turnovers (9) than points (3). On top of that, Syracuse turned the ball over 20 times as it fell to Notre Dame for the seventh straight time.

With Syracuse hanging on by a thread in the third quarter, Jordan Faison isolated his defender at X and scored easily past Will Mark to put Notre Dame up 13-7 — the Fighting Irish’s largest lead of the game.

Though six minutes later, Syracuse halved the deficit. Finn Thomson scored his third goal of the game, Spallina registered his first point of the day and Rhoa ripped one past Liam Entenmann with 12:04 left. For the first time since the second quarter, Syracuse has a chance to get within two.

“This team’s got a lot of character and they don’t give up even when things aren’t going our way,” Syracuse head coach Gary Gait said postgame.

A penalty on Will Angrick two minutes later gave SU a man-up advantage. Thomson initiated the offense from the point as Michael Leo flashed open on the crease. With Entenmann closing down the angle, Leo fed Jake Stevens on the other post with a seemingly wide open net. Stevens flicked his stick in what looked to be a sure-fire goal, but Entenmann flung himself across the goal and somehow kept the ball out.

Gait quelled his praise of Entenmann, describing it as “just one of those spectacular lucky diving saves.” But it was more than that as Syracuse’s momentum was halted. Jackson Birtwistle turned the ball over and Saam Olexo was penalized for tripping to compile Syracuse’s misery. Even when the Orange killed off the penalty, they shot themselves in the foot.

Olexo fed Jake Titus who was caught between Pat Kavanagh and Devon McLane. Titus was hounded by Pat who eventually forced a ground ball — one of 20 turnovers from Syracuse. Less than a minute later, Eric Dobson punished the Orange with a lefty rip to make it 14-10 with less than seven minutes left.

“They hunt for opportunities and they work really hard and they’ve been doing it together for a couple of years and it shows,” Gait said of Pat and his brother Chris’s defensive pressure on the ride.

Dobson provided what could’ve been a killer blow to Syracuse, but the Orange hung around. Stevens answered with 4:27 remaining and a defensive stand gave SU possession. Following a timeout, Leo curled around and received the ball on the run. Beating his man with speed, Leo scored his second of the game to get Syracuse within two.

“We battled back harder to give ourselves an opportunity to get it close and have chances to make plays,” Gait said.

The momentum continued with Stevens picking up the ensuing ground ball on the faceoff — a rarity as Notre Dame picked up 40 ground balls compared to Syracuse’s 22. But the possession was wasted when Hiltz misfired a pass to an open Thomson on the doorstep with less than two minutes left. Instead of killing clock, Taylor whipped a behind-the-back shot which Mark kicked away, giving SU another opportunity.

Spallina fired a skip pass to Hiltz on the wing who ripped one off target and with no backup, Notre Dame gained possession.

If the Orange had more time they could’ve been more patient, but they needed goals and fast. Syracuse dug itself too big of a hole in the first half which it couldn’t get out of. Notre Dame drew a few flags as Syracuse provided defensive pressure and the Fighting Irish killed clock and shut the door on another run.

“They put pressure on you to know whether it’s trying to clear the ball or whether you’re on offense,” Gait said. “I don’t think I’ve seen a few short stick middies and a defense that plays as physical as they do.”

For every question Syracuse asked, Notre Dame seemed to have an answer. Christian Mulé opened up the scoring less than two minutes in. But Mulé’s goal was followed by three straight from Notre Dame. Birtwistle and Thomson’s goals leveled the game at three, but an ambush from the Fighting Irish gave them full control of the game.

First Dobson, then two unassisted goals from Pat made three goals in a minute and 45 seconds made it 6-3 at the end of the first quarter. Syracuse’s deficit remained three late into the second quarter and the shot clock wound down on a Notre Dame possession. Dobson picked up a ground ball dishing to Chris, who beat Mark high as the shot clock expired.

Gait clamored on the sideline for a review with the red challenge flag in his hand, but nothing came of it. Four seconds later Will Lynch scored directly on the faceoff to compile Syracuse’s misery as Notre Dame led 10-5 at halftime.

Sequences like those are what ultimately cost Syracuse. Beating the defending national champions was always going to be a tall task, but Syracuse’s play in 2024 warranted thoughts about a possible upset. For portions of the game, the Orange looked capable of playing with Notre Dame, but their good spells of play were too far apart from each other and Syracuse couldn’t exercise its Arlotta Stadium demons.

“You’re playing against a veteran team that’s won a national championship, they’re gonna make plays… that’s experience and we’re working towards gaining some of that today and today helped,” Gait said.

Published on March 30, 2024 at 4:29 pm

Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22