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Syracuse men’s lacrosse plummeted from its previous No. 6 ranking to No. 11 in the latest Inside Lacrosse Top 20 Poll, which was released Monday. The Orange have now dropped nine spots since being ranked No. 2 to begin the 2025 season.

Head coach Gary Gait’s squad is on a two-game losing streak, most recently falling to then-No. 15 Harvard 15-14 Saturday in the JMA Wireless Dome. The result came a week after SU’s first loss of the year — an 11-7 road defeat to then-No. 6 Maryland.

Against the Terrapins, Syracuse’s offense couldn’t adjust to a slow pace of play, finishing with its fewest goals in a game since Feb. 4, 2023. It returned to its high-octane form versus the Crimson, unleashing five unanswered goals after the opening faceoff. But that offensive rhythm significantly waned in the second half, mustering just four goals in the last 30 minutes.

Even though SU faceoff man John Mullen won 28-of-31 battles at the X, the second-most single-game faceoff victories for any player in Syracuse history, nothing else went right.

Syracuse’s attack was static in crunch time. Its starting goalie, Jimmy McCool, was benched early in the third quarter after tallying a .333 save percentage. It turned the ball over 15 times. It even missed a wide-open net late in the fourth, when attack Greg Elijah-Brown lofted a shot above the crossbar with Harvard goalie Graham Stevens barely aware of the attempt.

The Orange’s second loss of the year puts them at 3-2 in the month of February, not a recommendable start for a team with National Championship expectations.

“The Maryland loss was kind of like, ‘OK, Maryland’s good, they’re a Final Four team … they’re one of the best teams in the country, year in, year out. Today is a little different,” Gait said following SU’s defeat to the Crimson.

Gait admitted Syracuse’s second consecutive loss places it in a high-pressure situation for the rest of the season. The Orange still have a litany of high-level matchups left; a March 9 home game against No. 6 Johns Hopkins, an April 5 home contest versus No. 1 Notre Dame and an April 12 neutral-site meeting with No. 3 Cornell all loom large to determine SU’s NCAA Tournament fate.

The Orange commence their month of March with a road trip to Salt Lake City, Utah, to face the Utes this Saturday. It’s the furthest west Syracuse men’s lacrosse has ever gone for a game. SU will try to avoid its first three-game losing streak since 2023, as it needs to take care of business against unranked competition to keep its postseason hopes alive.

Published on February 24, 2025 at 10:06 am

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