Preview: Maryland men's lacrosse travels to Syracuse for #1 vs. #2 matchup

John Gugs
2 hours ago
5 min read

#1 Maryland 1-0 at #2 Syracuse 2-0

Where: JMA Wireless Dome

When: Friday February 13th, 6PM

TV: ACC Network, Play-by-Play: Anish Shroff, Analysts: Paul Carcaterra, Quint Kessenich, Sideline: Dana Boyle

Betting: Maryland -1.5 +114, -130 moneyline, O/U 24 (DraftKings)

After coming off of their dominant 19-10 win over their in-state rivals, the Loyola Greyhounds, the Terps will head north to the Salt City to take on the second ranked Syracuse Orange in their first true road test of the season.

Syracuse is off to a hot start with wins over Boston and St. Joe’s by a combined score of 33-8. Syracuse is led by Gary Gait who is in his fifth season as the Orange’s head coach with a record of 39-29. Tillman and the Terps are 5-0 against Gait since he took over and have won eight games straight against the Orange going back to 2011 when Tillman first took over.

Like Loyola, Syracuse on offense return a lot of their scoring from 2025. Guys like Joey Spallina, Luke Rhoa, Michael Leo, Finn Thomson, and Payton Anderson are all returning from last season for the Orange. Spallina leads the Orange in both goals and assists with seven each, helping him lead the team in total points with 14. The Syracuse offense is very much a pick your poison offense. If you shut down Spallina, the rest of the offense can very much hold their own and pull out a win. Rhoa and Leo are two of the best offensive midfielders in the country and lead the #1 offensive midfield room in the country according to Inside Lacrosse.

On defense, the Orange bring back a lot of production as well. Goalie Jimmy MCCool, close defenders Billy Dwan III and Riley Figueiras, and short stick defensive midfielder Jake Spallina all return. Syracuse also brought in SSDM Dante Bowen out of Ohio State who has been very impressive and has solidified the Syracuse SSDM room for the 2026 season. Syracuse is a defense with a lot of size and strength to them. All three close defenders that start are at least 6 foot including their leader in Dwan who is 6-foot-4. The Syracuse defense will look to be physical and bully the Terps offense away from their spots to try and confuse and wear them down all game long.

The two key matchups this weekend will be Dwan III on the Terps’ Eric Spanos and the Terps’ Will Schaller on Spallina. Last season, these were the biggest matchups in both games last season, which the Terps won by four and six in both games. Spanos scored a total of nine points in the two games against Syracuse last season with six goals and three assists between the two. On the other end of the field, while Spallina did get four points off of two goals and assists each in the first matchup, Schaller held Spallina to just one assist in the matchup in the national semifinal. If the Terps are able to win both these matchups on Friday night, I like their chances to pull off the win.

Three things to look out for

How does Syracuse attack the Terps defense?

In both games, Syracuse attacked the Terps defense by getting the ball to Spallina at X, and trying to create switches on the defense by using picks and winning dodges. While this works for them on most defenses, it did not last season. While Syracuse could be stubborn and keep doing the same thing on Friday, one thing we might also see is Syracuse use Spallina in more of an off ball role to try and confuse the Terps defense and keep the ball away from Schaller. Syracuse did this last season against Notre Dame who also has a close defender the same caliber as Schaller in Shawn Lyght and it worked to perfection for Syracuse with them winning both games and scoring 14 goals in each game. No matter how Syracuse attacks Schaller on Friday, he will have to win his matchup against Spallina if the Terps want to pull off the win.

How do the Terps attack the Syracuse defense?

Last season against Syracuse, the gameplan for the Terps offense seemed simple: attack the Syracuse defensive midfielders and draw slides to open up the attack or get open looks close to the net. However, to start the season, the Syracuse defensive midfield units look improved. The Syracuse defense seems more balanced this year so there is not a glaring weakness like there was in the past. The Terps offense has plenty of its own firepower this season thanks to the additions of Leo Johnson and Chris Lyons, but against a defense that is regarded as one of the best this season, the Terps will have their hands full Friday night and the gameplan may be different than in the past.

How do the face-off matchups go?

Henry Dodge was the only face-off man to not lose his matchup to Syracuse’s Johnny Mullen last season other than the Terps’ own Shea Keethler who has graduated. Carrier went 5/11 against Mullen last season in the semifinal game after not playing in the first matchup. In a game that is expected to be as tight as this one is, every possession will matter. Winning the face-off battle will be insanely important on Friday night for both teams if they want to pull off the win. It is games like this that the Terps brought in Dodge. If Dodge and Carrier are able to win the face-off battle, I like the Terps chances to win the game.

IBG Prediction: I think this game will be a lot like the 2024 matchup, which was the last time these two teams played each other up in the dome. The Terps came out on top 13-12 in overtime after a controversial call on a Syracuse goal in overtime that got overturned. This to me feels like a game that both defenses are coming in with something to prove and they will manage to do so. It will be another grind it out game that every possession will get more and more important as the game goes on. However, I think the Terps defense will hold things down, while the Terps offense will do just enough to pull out an 11-9 win as the Terps will score an empty net goal in the last minute to seal the win. This will be a physical and hard fought game that every lacrosse fan will want to tune in for on Friday night and will live up to the hype.

The Terps will look to make it nine wins in a row over the Orange on Friday night, including going to 5-1 all time over the Orange inside the JMA Wireless Dome. The game is set to face-off at 6PM on the ACC Network.

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