Observations from No. 3 SU’s loss to No. 1 Notre Dame: Silent Spallina, 4th-quarter surge

Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — No. 3 Syracuse’s last trip to South Bend, Indiana, started rough before it even got there. The Orange were forced to get on a second plane after maintenance issues canceled their first flight, and they arrived 12 hours before gametime. The byproduct of the late arrival was a sluggish start, where Notre Dame scored 12 straight goals to open the afternoon and won 22-6.

“They totally dominated; they couldn’t make mistakes,” Syracuse head coach Gary Gait said about the Fighting Irish. “It looked like we were on a plane somewhere else trying to get there.”

This year’s contest wasn’t as ugly with the Orange pulling within three in the fourth quarter. But Notre Dame continued its dominance over SU, winning its seventh straight matchup against Syracuse. Syracuse won 9-of-29 at the faceoff X while Joey Spallina and Owen Hiltz combined for just three points.

Here are some observations from No. 3 Syracuse’s (9-3, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) 14-12 loss to No. 1 Notre Dame (6-1, 1-0 ACC):

Missing persons: Joey Spallina, Owen Hiltz

Versus top defenses this year, Spallina has been held mostly silent. He finished with a combined five points in the Orange’s two losses of the year, struggling to get any separation on Maryland’s Ajax Zappitello or Army’s AJ Pilate.

Saturday was no different. Against Shawn Lyght or even short-stick matchups throughout the afternoon, Spallina couldn’t get anything going. He tried backing down his defender or working from X but to no avail. He scored at the beginning of the fourth quarter but by the end of the third quarter, he had as many shots as turnovers (four).

Usually when Spallina’s been stopped, Hiltz has picked up on some of the slack. The Orange’s second-leading scorer notched a career-high in points against Delaware on March 16, but he missed the game against Hobart after being “day-to-day” with a lower-body injury.

Hiltz couldn’t get the rust off early with three turnovers in the second quarter alone. But unlike Spallina, he got on the board in the second half. Stationed on the right wing, Hiltz ended a string of passes with a lefty rip to the top left corner on a man-up opportunity. Still, it only cut down Notre Dame’s lead to five, which it extended a minute later. Hiltz then missed two key attempts with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter.

4th-quarter surge

The Fighting Irish stole back any momentum from the Orange at the end of the third quarter with a goal from Jordan Faison, but SU refused to go away. Syracuse scored three straight to open the period, coming within two of Notre Dame’s lead.

The first score came from Finn Thomson, who scored from the crease off a feed from Christian Mulé. Then, Spallina got on the board for the first time on the left side, connecting on his most wide open attempt of the game. Luke Rhoa finished the run on his own, sprinting forward before quickly backing up to get a step on his defender for some separation on his attempt.

Then, Liam Entenmann happened. SU had a wide open attempt with timely passes making their way to Jake Stevens on the left side of the crease. Entenmann was turned the other way but he threw his body at the attempt, stopping it with the middle of his stick. The Orange scored twice more, but Entenmann made another key save on Jackson Birtwistle to preserve Notre Dame’s lead.

Notre Dame’s tertiary scoring, again

Outside of the botched travel schedule, Syracuse’s last trip to South Bend can be remembered as Jake Taylor’s coming out game. Taylor finished with a program-record eight goals versus the Orange. The total was more than he’d scored combined in his three-year career until that point.

On Saturday, SU seemed to have the same issues. It kept the Kavanagh brothers quiet early, holding them to a combined three points in the first half. That opened the door for other players to dominate on short-stick matchups, some of whom hadn’t been in the spotlight before.

Reilly Gray entered the contest with three goals this season but he scored twice before the midway point of the first quarter. For his first goal, Gray made one move to get past Vinnie Trujillo on the left side, ripping it past Will Mark once he reached the crease. Four minutes later, he did the same thing with pressure from an extra defender, keeping his stick high before slotting it low.

Two minutes later, Spallina turned the ball over. Following a successful clear, the Fighting Irish got the ball to Ben Ramsey on the right side. Ramsey stumbled as he cut past Sam English, belting the ball off one foot into the back of the net. It was his first score of the year.

After turning in its best performance of the year against Duke 10 days ago, John Odierna’s defense recorded its worst first quarter of the year, giving up six goals.

X problems

Last year, Syracuse forfeited a one-goal fourth-quarter lead to the Fighting Irish by losing six straight faceoffs. The struggles were emblematic of the year-long struggles at the X in which SU had the ninth-worst faceoff percentage in the country.

This year has been a complete turnaround. Syracuse entered Saturday with the fifth-best faceoff win percentage nationally and Mason Kohn is also ranked third in expected goals added, according to Lacrosse Reference.

But the dominance at the X didn’t immediately translate in South Bend. Kohn and John Mullen lost the opening three faceoffs, each committing a faceoff violation against Notre Dame’s Will Lynch.

Kohn’s first win came with four minutes left in the first period but Spallina immediately turned the ball over. The Orange didn’t win another one for the rest of the first quarter.

In the final minute of the second half, Lynch even got on the board. Similar to other faceoff wins throughout the afternoon, Lynch swiped the ball away from the X as fast as possible, allowing him to pick up the ground ball with full momentum toward the offensive zone.

Lynch fired it into the back of the net, doubling SU’s five goals. Syracuse only won 25% of faceoffs in the first half, its worst since winning zero in the opening two periods against Duke.

Kavanagh Kryptonite no more

Over his last five contests against Syracuse, Pat Kavanagh averaged 8.6 points per game, including two 10-point performances. His younger brother, Chris, averaged four points per game in three matchups.

“They never take a break and put pressure on the defense,” Gait said about the brothers. “They bustle on the ride, they make opportunities out of nothing and create turnovers.”

Riley Figueiras was tasked with Pat while Billy Dwan took over Chris. For most of the first quarter, Figueiras and Dwan didn’t give the Kavanagh brothers any separation, forcing the Fighting Irish to go to tertiary options like Gray and Ramsey. But with a minute left in the opening quarter, Pat got going.

For his first score, Pat curled to the front of the cage from X, firing past Mark to give Notre Dame a 5-3 lead. Then, Pat scored from the middle of the field, making one move to his left to get a step on Figueiras before ripping it into the bottom right corner of the net.

Chris scored with a minute left in the first half, getting off his attempt right before the shot clock expired. But for the most part, SU’s defense lived up to the challenge against the brothers, holding them to a combined six points.