Man-down defense boosts No. 9 Syracuse to 8-goal win over Colgate
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Syracuse had a nearly flawless performance to open up the 2024 season, blowing out Vermont 20-7. But if there was one blemish when looking at the box score from Saturday, it was SU’s man-down defense. Three of the Catamounts’ seven goals came on five man-up chances.
Just two days later the script was flipped. Facing a Colgate team who shocked the college lacrosse world with its 13-12 upset of No. 4 Penn State, the Orange shut down the Raiders’ man-up offense. Despite committing more penalties than it did against Vermont, Syracuse allowed fewer goals in man-down situations.
“They went out there and did what they were supposed to do and played Syracuse lacrosse defensively,” Syracuse attack Joey Spallina said postgame of his team’s defensive effort.
Less than 72 hours after Vermont scored on 60% of its man-up chances, No. 9 Syracuse (2-0, Atlantic Coast Conference) tightened the screws defensively. The Orange held Colgate (1-1, Patriot League) to just 2-for-8 with a man advantage, boosting them to an 18-10 win. Syracuse was anchored in net by Will Mark, whose 11 saves kept Colgate from being within striking distance for much of the second half.
Syracuse head coach Gary Gait said postgame that new defensive coordinator John Odierna wasn’t happy with the way his team defended in man-down situations against Vermont. Gait explained the two discussed SU’s struggles Monday, SU’s only day off with two games in three days.
“We talked about it. He wasn’t happy with the first game and he’s challenged these guys to get better and they did,” Gait said postgame.
Odierna replaced Dave Pietramala in the offseason and has revamped Syracuse’s defense after it ranked at the bottom of the ACC in goals per game. Despite the poor defensive record in 2023, Syracuse led the conference in penalty kill percentage (67.7%). After a poor man-down defensive performance against Vermont, the Orange returned to their man-down success from last season.
Matt Wright committed Syracuse’s first penalty two and a half minutes into the game after getting called for a push, giving Colgate its first man-up chance. The ball was swung to Jack Turner who ripped a step-down shot from 10 yards out right into the chest of Mark, who saved the ball on the line to keep Syracuse up 1-0.
By the time Michael Leo got called for holding less than five minutes later, Syracuse blitzed the Raiders for four more goals. Rory Connor cut at the top of Syracuse’s defensive zone, creating a shooting window. A low bouncer was thwarted by Mark once again who got down low for the stop.
Syracuse committed four penalties in the first quarter, equaling Colgate’s man-up chances from its loss to Penn State. The Raiders went just 1-for-4 in their season opener.
Instead of trying to work the ball inside on its man advantages, Colgate resorted to firing from distance, which failed constantly due to Marks’ play in net. Colgate’s head coach Matt Karweck didn’t feel his team did anything wrong with the advantage, but it came down to Mark’s shot-stopping ability.
“He had a couple of good saves. I think we had shots on all of them, but one or two. Nothing more, nothing less, that’s what you do,” Karweck said.
Although the Orange committed four penalties in the first 15 minutes, they cut down their penalties over the final three quarters. But even at full strength, Colgate started to gain a rhythm offensively. A once 7-2 Syracuse lead was now 8-5 with four and a half minutes left in the second quarter.
Then on Colgate’s fifth man-up chance of the game, the Raiders finally cashed in. Connor worked a give-and-go with Turner before a left rip finally beat Mark in net, making it a two-goal game.
“We got caught up a little bit trying to puff our chest a little bit and say, Hey, we’re not going to take your whatever. Then we got back to playing in the third quarter,” Gait said postgame about the physical nature of the game.
But similar to the Vermont game, as things progressed Syracuse’s defense got tighter. Through the first half of the game Saturday, Vermont scored on three of its first four man-up chances. But in the final two quarters, Syracuse committed just one penalty.
After Finn Thomson committed an interference penalty with 11:13 left in the third quarter, Syracuse didn’t have another infraction for another 15 minutes. The Orange took full advantage of playing at full strength with an eight-goal third quarter to create a nine-goal cushion after Colgate had caused SU to worry for a small portion of the first half.
John Mullen committed one final Syracuse penalty with less than two minutes remaining which Colgate converted on. But at that point, the game was already way out of reach for the Raiders. Before the consolation goal, Colgate had been 1-for-7 on man-up chances, as the Orange cruised to victory for the second straight game.
