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Syracuse men’s lacrosse appeared to be back to business as usual a week after its first loss of the season. The first two minutes and five seconds of its contest against Harvard featured three goals by the Orange and not a single second of the Crimson possessing the ball. That sequence didn’t set a precedent for the rest of the game, though.

Goals from Harvard midfielder Logan Ip and attack Teddy Malone evened the score at 10-10 just over five minutes into the third quarter. An uncharacteristically bad day for SU’s defense — which came into Saturday as the seventh-most efficient group in the country, per Lacrosse Reference — led to a tight contest as time winded down.

The Crimson outplayed the Orange in the fourth quarter, taking a 15-13 advantage with nine minutes left. Syracuse received a two-minute man-up chance after Harvard’s Andrew Glinski was called for illegal contact to the head. Yet the Orange couldn’t muster more than one more goal. Finn Thomson led SU with five goals, while Owen Hiltz added four and Joey Spallina registered four points. But it wasn’t enough.

Here are some observations from No. 6 Syracuse’s (3-2, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) 15-14 upset loss to No. 15 Harvard (2-1, 0-0 Ivy League) Saturday in the JMA Wireless Dome:

McCool’s day to forget

Syracuse goalie Jimmy McCool began his first season as a starter in the best way he could. Through four games, his save percentage never dipped under .500, and he had only allowed double-digit goals once. Against Harvard, however, he was a shell of himself.

McCool’s afternoon ended when he was pulled from the game at the 9:34 mark of the third quarter. He failed to stop 10 of the 15 on-target shots the Crimson fired at him, accumulating a lowly .333 save percentage. Sophomore backup Michael Ippoliti was substituted in for McCool. It was SU’s first goalie change of the season due to performance issues.

While Syracuse long poles like Billy Dwan, Riley Figueiras and Nick Caccamo allowed Harvard’s attackers — namely Malone and John Aurandt — to pick them apart near the cage, McCool didn’t hold up his end of the bargain. He often reacted late to the Crimson’s ball movement, struggling to fend off cross-cage passes that turned into easy Harvard goals.

It was by far McCool’s worst showing in an SU uniform. As for Ippoliti, he fared a little better. He let in a goal by Malone at the 13:36 mark of the fourth quarter to hand Harvard its first lead of the game. Ippoliti then couldn’t fend off a shot from midfielder Miles Botkiss after some nifty ball movement from the Crimson, as a Botkiss goal put Syracuse down 14-12 early in the fourth.

Ippoliti couldn’t be the difference in Saturday’s loss. He ended the afternoon with a .444 save clip, allowing five goals after taking over for McCool.

Hottle in, Rhoa out

Typical starting midfielder Luke Rhoa, who ranked second on the Orange with nine goals entering Saturday, did not start against Harvard. An SU spokesperson confirmed that Rhoa was inactive. Sophomore midfielder Wyatt Hottle replaced Rhoa in Syracuse’s starting lineup.

While Rhoa’s absence didn’t impact Saturday’s result too much, the Orange still missed his ability to create offense for himself. The 5-foot-7 Hottle doesn’t have the same brute force that Rhoa uses to separate from defenders, and doesn’t have the deep shooting range that Rhoa has, either. Syracuse’s offensive lull in the latter half of the first quarter — when cutters failed to get open for lengthy stretches — was when the loss of Rhoa was most prevalent.

However, Hottle showcased his speed and aggressiveness on the ride throughout his starting appearance against Harvard. He got on the scoresheet midway through the third quarter, assisting Thomson in front of the cage to put SU ahead 11-10 at the time.

Mullen controls the X

Matching up against Harvard’s faceoff tandem of Jackson Henehan and Owen Umansky, Syracuse’s John Mullen seemed poised for a big day. The freshman Henehan and sophomore Umansky combined to go 24-of-60 at the faceoff X in their first two games. Mullen, meanwhile, boasted a winning percentage just below .600 through four contests.

The disparity was as clear in person as it was on paper.

Mullen won 28-of-31 faceoffs against the Crimson — the second-most single-game faceoff victories by a player in SU history. Umansky (1-of-12) and Henehan (3-of-18) struggled all afternoon. Mullen was extremely quick to the initial clamp, often waving his stick in the air for an outlet pass before Umansky or Henehan finally flipped their head up.

By the 7:41 mark of the second quarter, Mullen had won 11-of-12 faceoffs. Him winning each of the game’s opening three faceoffs — one over Henehan, two over Umansky — allowed Syracuse to unleash three quick first-quarter goals and embark on a 5-0 run.

A combination of Harvard goalie Graham Stevens going on a heater and SU’s long poles struggling to protect close to the cage let the Crimson back in the game in the first half. But the Orange still controlled the pace of play courtesy of Mullen. The sophomore’s 90.3% faceoff win percentage marked his best game of the season thus far.

Getting their swagger back

One of the nation’s best offenses, Syracuse, was out of sorts last Saturday in an 11-7 loss to Maryland. The Terrapins, who are now ranked No. 2 in the country, forced the Orange into a slow-paced game and SU couldn’t recover — posting its lowest-scoring game in two years.

The Orange got their swagger back early against Harvard, though. They took a 5-0 lead in the blink of an eye, beginning with a rocket from Hiltz and capped off by two straight goals on the left flank by midfielder Sam English.

Mullen’s feral day at the faceoff X helped Syracuse dictate the pace versus Harvard. But SU simply also capitalized better than it did against Maryland. Its ball movement was rapid and unabating. Its star attackman in Spallina got back to captaining the offense with a team-high three assists. And its supplementary scorers were much more accurate than when Syracuse mustered a .171 shot percentage in College Park.

SU totaled a .280 shot percentage against the Crimson. Its offense hardly had a hiccup all afternoon. The Orange were also back to scoring game-shifting goals; short-stick midfielder Carter Rice forced a turnover on the ride en route to a Thomson goal with three seconds left in the first quarter, giving SU a 6-3 advantage.

While it didn’t end in a win, Syracuse overall regained its offensive rhythm — something head coach Gary Gait wished for during his press conference Thursday.

Crunch time blues

For the first time all season, the Orange truly found themselves in a crunch-time scenario. Syracuse and Harvard entered the fourth quarter tied 12-12. The Crimson’s best lacrosse came in the third quarter, while the Orange were reeling a bit after their impromptu goalie switch.

It was a chance for SU to show its stripes in the face of adversity. Instead, the Orange wilted away when the lights got bright.

Syracuse scored just two goals in the final 15 minutes. Its attack was stagnant. Possessions often ended in blocked shots or attempts that didn’t even hit the target. Down 15-13, a pristine SU chance in transition ended with midfielder Tyler McCarthy missing the cage on a behind-the-back shot.

At the same time, the Orange couldn’t swing the ball to their stars like Spallina, Hiltz and Thomson. Harvard’s defense packed the middle of SU’s attacking zone, forcing Syracuse’s attackers away from the cage while the Crimson gave them little lanes to pass the ball through.

The game’s flow in the fourth quarter rang similar to Syracuse’s defeat at Maryland last week. Yet this time, it was at home against an underdog. SU’s final possession featured a desperate scramble to get one attempt off before the game ended to no avail.

Published on February 22, 2025 at 3:37 pm

Contact Cooper at: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews