After losing two straight one-goal heartbreakers against No. 2 Maryland and No. 3 Ohio State, the Notre Dame men's lacrosse team vaulted back into the nation's top five after their home win over No. 12 Duke to open ACC play last Saturday. The win marked their second straight wire-to-wire display of dominance after taking down Michigan 19-7 a weekend prior. Also holding the Blue Devils to seven goals, the Irish have allowed more than 10 in only one of their seven contests, when they conceded 11 against the Terrapins. Now entering the heart of the regular season, they will continue conference play in New York as they prepare to take on No. 7 Syracuse this Saturday.
The attacking duo of senior Chris Kavanagh and graduate Jake Taylor has been running rampant in 2025. They were brilliant against Duke, combining for a whopping six goals and six assists. They were aided by several midfield scorers as well, as Notre Dame spread the love with nine different scorers in the contest. They will face a stingy Syracuse defensive unit, the fifth-best in the nation allowing 8.20 goals per game. On the other side of the ball, junior netminder Thomas Ricciardelli has anchored the ninth-best scoring defense in the country, allowing 8.34 goals per game while posting a .594 save percentage. The elite Irish defensive unit will face one of their toughest tests of the season coming up against an Orange offense scoring 15 goals per game, the sixth-best mark in the nation.
Since taking over in 2021, head coach Gary Gait has transformed the program and returned it to the upper echelon of college lacrosse. After a 4-10 record in his first season, the Orange gradually built under Gait. Bolstered by the arrival of his top-level recruiting classes, the Orange improved to 8-7 in 2023 and 12-6 in 2024, culminating in an NCAA Quarterfinal appearance.
Key returners from that tournament team include junior attacker Joey Spallina and senior attacker Owen Hiltz, a duo that recorded a combined 75 goals and 78 assists in 2024. They were the first pairing since 2015 to register 65 points in the same season. Both have hit the ground running in this year's campaign — Spallina leads the team in assists and points with 33 and 55, respectively, while Hiltz leads in the goal category with 25, adding 16 assists of his own for a 41-point output. John Mullen has been the X factor for the Orange, the sophomore emerging as one of the best draw specialists in the country, winning 145-226 face-offs for a .642 percentage at the dot. His matchup with senior Will Lynch, who is also among the nation's best, in the battle for extra possessions could prove to be a defining one.
With the departure of long stick leader Saam Olexo, Gait has relied on returning junior Billy Dwan to anchor the defense, and anchor it he has. Along with the addition of Division III transfer Michael Grace leading the rope unit, Dwan and co. have shut down opposing attacks all season long. Despite his limited experience, sophomore Jimmy McCool has made a smooth transition to starter in the cage, where he's conceded only 8.22 goals per game with a .596 save percentage in his 10 starts.
Sitting at 8-2 overall, Syracuse's best result came in a 13-10 victory over No. 17 Johns Hopkins on March 9, which is part of a five-game winning run they carry into Saturday's matchup. They most recently opened up ACC play with a 12-10 road win against Virginia in Charlottesville this past Saturday. Notre Dame has a slight edge in the all-time series, which currently sits at 11-10 after the Irish rattled off their sixth straight victory in South Bend last season. The Orange have their best chance in a while to break that streak, getting the game at home while playing some of the best lacrosse in a long time.
Face-off in the JMA Dome is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday with ACC Network providing the broadcast.
