The No. 6 seed Syracuse Orange men’s lacrosse saw its season come to an end Saturday with a 15-7 loss to the No. 2 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse in the NCAA Semifinals. Syracuse finished the year 13-6 after reaching Championship Weekend for a second straight season, while Notre Dame improved to 13-2 at Gillette Stadium.
Despite falling behind 4-0 in the opening quarter, Syracuse battled back behind a dominant effort from Finn Thomson. The junior attacker tied a career high with four goals, including three in the first half, helping the Orange pull within 4-3 by the end of the opening quarter.
The Orange continued to fight in the third. Goals from Thomson, Luke Rhoa and Payton Anderson fueled a late surge that cut Notre Dame’s lead to 9-7 entering the fourth quarter and gave Syracuse life heading into the final 15 minutes.
But a costly penalty early in the fourth shifted momentum for good.
Mets blank Blue Jays to even series Notre Dame capitalized with three extra-man goals during a decisive run that quickly pushed the lead back to five. Syracuse never recovered as the Fighting Irish closed the game with six unanswered goals to secure a spot in the national championship game.
Rhoa finished with three points on two goals and an assist, while Anderson added a goal and two assists. Joey Spallina recorded two assists, John Mullen won 14 of 24 faceoffs and Jimmy McCool made 11 saves in the loss.
Syracuse finished with 13 wins, tied for its highest total in a season since 2013.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to kyle@fingerlakes1.com.