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Heading into 2025, Syracuse’s attack returned most of its production from the year prior. Joey Spallina and Owen Hiltz, SU’s top goalscorers from 2024, still lead the attack. Christian Mulé was the lone player to graduate, which prompted Finn Thomson to move from the midfield line to replace him.

Midfielders like Michael Leo and Luke Rhoa also pack a goal-scoring punch. The combination of Syracuse’s talent creates one of the most potent offenses in the country, which was on full display Saturday in its 24-5 season-opening win over Jacksonville. The Orange scored their most goals since scoring 28 against Holy Cross in 2022.

Syracuse jumped out to a 10-0 lead through a quarter-and-a-half and didn’t look back. Leo led the way with a career-high four goals. Spallina added a game-high five points (three goals, two assists) and Rhoa had a hat trick. Eight different players scored multiple goals as the Orange cruised to a win.

Here’s a breakdown of four key goals in No. 2 Syracuse’s (1-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) 10-0 run to start its game against Jacksonville (0-1, Atlantic Sun):

1st Quarter, 10:26 — Leo scores Syracuse’s third unassisted goal in a row

In the first quarter, Syracuse made a concerted effort to get downhill instead of letting Spallina operate from X and carefully dissect JU’s defense. The Orange’s first three goals were unassisted, including this one from Leo.

The move started with Rhoa 20 yards from the goal along the near sideline. He moved from left to right as Leo drifted into his place along the right side. Rhoa made his way across the field before tossing the ball to Spallina and setting a pick for him. The move wasn’t very effective, so Spallina dished back to Leo. Spallina faked as if he’s going to set a pick as Leo tried to get upfield, guarded by long pole Bryce Wojnovich.

The junior midfielder is SU’s best downhill dodger, so Wojnovich initiated contact trying to cut off his angle. He also tried to make sure Leo couldn’t get a shot off with his dominant left hand, which he’s successful at, but Leo adjusted on the fly.

He stopped on a dime after the hit from Wojnovich. The defender’s momentum took him to the far side of the field, but Leo pulled off a slick face dodge to evade Wojnovich. With Rhoa and Spallina’s defenders occupied on the wing, it gave Leo a wide-open lane. A slide from Chris Darminio came too late and Leo unleashed a righty shot past JU goalie Ryan Della Rocco.

1st Quarter, 2:48 — Hiltz makes Jacksonville pay for leaving him open

At this point, Syracuse was comfortably leading 5-0 and Jacksonville had put up little resistance. Second-line midfielder Jackson Birtwistle initiated the offense, casually making his way behind the net before curling back upfield. He quickly pivoted in an attempt to free himself of Wojnovich, which he did for a split second, but Darminio came over to help.

Trey Deere flashed wide open on the crease, which caused Aaron Toguri — who was guarding Thomson up top — to panic and cover the sophomore attack. As Toguri sprinted toward Deere, Birtwistle kicked it back out to Thomson, who was wide open. Despite being 27 yards out, Thomson had pinpoint accuracy with his shot, which forced a closeout.

Instead of just Toguri stepping toward Thomson, George Cecil also flew over, leaving Hiltz wide open on the right wing. Thomson caught the ball, cradled once with his eyes looking straight ahead. Instead of shooting, he fed Hiltz, leaving him all the time in the world.

Jacksonville’s next slide wasn’t even close, as Hiltz went low to beat Della Rocco for Syracuse’s sixth goal of the quarter.

2nd Quarter, 12:10 — Spallina and Deere show off connection

Anyone who pays attention to box lacrosse knows Spallina and Deere lit up the Ontario Junior Lacrosse League the past two summers playing with the Orangeville Northmen, where they combined for 662 points. Though last season at Syracuse, the two didn’t get that many chances to show off their chemistry since Deere got limited playing time as a freshman. In the second quarter, they connected.

Here, Thomson tossed a pass to Birtwistle coming out of the box on the near sideline. They were about 30 yards away from the goal, so nobody was guarding them closely. Birtwistle flipped the ball to Spallina as he hugged the sideline and Birtwistle continued running as if he was going toward X. Although when Spallina set his feet to make his run toward the goal, Birtwistle curls back to give him a screen.

As that happened, Deere made a darting off-ball run to get in front of Wojnovich. Spallina had his head up coming off the pick and immediately recognized Deere’s movements and fired off a pass. The feed was slightly behind Deere, but it was on target enough that he could still catch it on the run.

Breyden Harrison could’ve slid to Deere to provide some resistance in front of the net, but his eyes were occupied on Spallina and the screen action with his initial man Birtwistle. Once Harrison turned his head, Deere had already caught the ball before finishing underhand to make it 7-0.

2nd Quarter, 9:23 — Leo cashes in on the man-up chance

Syracuse’s man-up unit is one of the most effective in the country and also one of the most creative. It leads to fun ambitious skip passes and crazy behind-the-back shots, among other excitement-inducing moves.

This play began with Spallina throwing a skip pass to Hiltz on the wing. Without hesitation, he fired a behind-the-back feed to Deere at the goal line extended. With no window to shoot, he dished back to Spallina at the apex of the attack.

Spallina stepped in and back out, feeding Rhoa on his left, who kept the ball moving to Thomson at X. During this sequence of passes, Owen Hiltz sat in the middle of Jacksonville’s zone defense waiting for a possible shooting opportunity. Thomson, without even bringing his stick, flung a pass to Hiltz. Two defenders stepped toward Hiltz’s left side, so he whipped a quick behind-the-back shot that whizzed inches wide.

Deere stopped the shot from going out of bounds and continued the attack. He passed the ball to Thomson before carelessly getting decked by Lucas Fraser. The long-stick midfielder’s attention was completely taken away from the action. Fraser could’ve been close to Leo, but instead, he left him in plenty of space. Thomson found Leo, who shot low to beat Della Rocco for his second goal of the game.

Published on February 4, 2025 at 9:17 pm

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