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Syracuse lacrosse – Unranked and stunned!

As expected, Syracuse fell out of the national polls this week, a rarity for the lacrosse power. The Orange is unranked for just the second time in the last ten seasons, dropping out after Sunday’s 10-7 loss at Johns Hopkins. The last time SU was unranked came early in the 2019 season, after the Orange, ranked No. 11 in the preseason, was stunned by Colgate in the opener. 

Before that, the Orange was unranked late in the 2012 season before it won the Big East tournament to earn an automatic bid to the NCAAs.

The final score against Johns Hopkins was: Johns Hopkins 10, Syracuse 7

The Orange will drop a key non-conference game in Baltimore in a game defined by inches. SU hit eight pipes, and an incredible defensive stab set up the dagger for Hopkins in the waning moments. 

Quint Kessenich at the horn, describing where this one falls in the history of the rivalry: “Maybe this will be the pipe game.”

The Orange squandered a chance to win its first road game on a day Hopkins committed 21 turnovers and was 17-of-25 on clears. Syracuse outshot Hopkins 54-29, but those eight near-misses loomed largely. SU falls to 2-4 on the season and returns to action next weekend at Stony Brook before hosting Duke.

In the game against Virginia, Syracuse drops its second-straight match to a highly ranked opponent. The final score was: Virginia 20, Syracuse 11

The Orange trimmed an eight-goal deficit down to three with a chance to further cut into the lead in the third quarter. But a costly turnover by Griffin Cook resulted in a transition goal by Virginia, which quickly created separation to remain unbeaten.

Cook, a Jamesville-DeWitt graduate, finished with a team-high three goals. Virginia’s freshman goalie Matthew Nunes was outstanding, recording 15 saves, and a .577 save percentage. And Petey LaSalla won 19-of-28 faceoffs, flipping the script at the X after SU’s Jakob Phaup dominated him in both matchups a year ago.

The loss against Virginia affected their ranks too. The SU men’s lacrosse team dropped to No. 14 in both the Inside Lacrosse media poll and USILA coaches’ poll after a 20-11 loss at No. 2 Virginia. The Black Knights (3-1) were ranked No. 12 by the media and No. 13 by the coaches this week.

It’ll be the first of two games in five days for Syracuse. The Orange hosts Hobart on Sunday afternoon in the dome. The Statesmen, led by Jamesville-DeWitt grad Ryan Archer, are among the teams just outside the Top 20 that are receiving votes in the poll.