The Syracuse Orange came ready to party on Saturday evening in the JMA Dome.
It was their final regular season Dome game, Senior Day and Joey Spallina’s pursuit of history, and they were ready to celebrate all of it.
And while they did exactly that in their 14-7 win over the Colgate Raiders, it wasn’t without a fair share of party crashing from the evening’s guests.
Colgate brought their trademark frenetic style to the party and used it to play the role of aggressor for a good chunk of the night, especially
in a first half when their 10-man ride caused four failed clears and 10 turnovers from the Orange.
It was a bit of a messy performance from ‘Cuse, who were perhaps having a little too much fun at their own party. There were the turnovers and clears, another wildly inconsistent night on face-offs, and a defensive performance that gave up a lot of open looks and was fortunate to not give up more given how many pipes the Raiders pinged.
To be honest, though, none of that matters all that much. Because, in the end, the night belonged to Joey Spallina and his senior classmates, who celebrated their big night in the most Syracuse lacrosse way possible: by flying high and electrifying the Dome with highlight-reel play after highlight-reel play.
The seniors made more of their day that any year in recent memory. Joey led the way with a big, seven-point performance on two goals and five assists as he ended up picking the perfect night to surpass Mike Powell’s program-record of 307 career points.
Michael Leo and Finn Thomson teamed up for a huge night of their own, with both scoring four goals and adding an assist for five points each. They balanced it perfectly, with Michael scoring all four of his goals in the first half and Finn tallying all of his in the second half. Luke Rhoa had a strong game, as well, finishing with three points on a goal and two key assists in the third quarter when the outcome of the game was still very much in doubt.
The defensive seniors were no slouches themselves, led by Jimmy McCool’s 10 saves and .588 save percentage. In front of him, Riley Figueiras had three caused turnovers and three ground balls, while Billy Dwan had two CTs and two GBs. (also, it’s probably important to keep in mind that Jimmy and Riley have a year of eligibility left even though they’re members of this senior class).
With ‘Cuse already possessing a 1-0 lead just a couple minutes in, Joey tied Mike Powell’s record with his first point of the day on an excellent bit of hustle on the ride. With the goalie out of the cage and the defenders trying to clear the ball, Joey got up in the grill of one of their poles, who tried to pass backwards out of it. But Joey’s effort was too much, as he picked off the pass and immediately deposited the ball in the empty net for the goal and his program-tying 307th career point. It was a very appropriate way to tie Mike, given that Joey’s spent his career giving as much hustle as possible to create turnovers on the ride. His latest CT helped him touch the points record.
A few minutes later, Leo made what was the first of a handful of highlight-reel plays when he caught a transition pass from Jayden Kittelberger right in front of the crease. With his back initially facing the goal and his body still moving across the front of the crease, Michael pump faked a backwards-facing shot between his legs before spinning around on the run and finishing high for a 3-0 lead that had some dirty flare to it.
Colgate would answer with back-to-back goals to bring it within one, but with three minutes remaining in the first quarter, Joey and Michael decided they’d had enough of waiting and connected on an appropriately spectacular goal that officially broke the record as Joey’s 308th point of his career.
After Bogue Hahn underhand flipped him the ball, Joey ran up from GLE on the right side and threw a bold BTB pass to Michael, who was running diagonally across the right side in the opposite direction. Michael received the pass and instantly threw an opposite-handed BTB shot in to beat the goalie and finish off the historic moment.
The goal was perfect in so many ways, acting as a literal manifestation of what makes Orange lacrosse unique. All in one, the goal showed off skill, precision, intelligence, feel, touch and an audacious cockiness to believe that you could pull off such an amazing sequence. That belief is what turned Syracuse lacrosse into the legendary program its been for decades, and it was the perfect program record-setter for the Gary Gait-coached, modern-day No. 22.
It was also pretty sweet that Joey got to execute the moment with roommate Michael Leo as his family watched on; a very cool moment that will live long in the memory and be replayed for years to come.
Actually, they enjoyed the moment so much, they thought they’d try something similar just a few minutes later. With just seconds left in the first quarter, a little role-reversal saw Michael operating from X and hitting Joey with a pass out in front of goal that he finished off with a beautiful BTB goal of his own.
Through one quarter, the Orange had a 5-2 lead and were flying on the back of three vintage ‘Cuse goals.
The early second quarter saw SU take a four-goal lead when Luke Rhoa finished off a dish from Finn Thomson with an absolute hammer from about 16-17 yards deep. Speaking of appropriate, it wouldn’t have been a proper Senior Day without Rhoa connecting on a deep blast.
After all that excitement, the Orange offense went quiet for much of the rest of the half while Colgate got a couple back to make it a 6-4 game with a little over five minutes left in the second. But a little over a minute later, Michael Leo scored his fourth goal of the game when he got his defender hung up, and then threw in a little pump fake to gain an advantage as he came up from X to give SU a 7-4 lead at the break.
After the Raiders made it 7-5 early in the third, the Orange started to take control with goals from Finn and fifth-year senior Greg Elijah-Brown on the man-up. Both goals were finish nicely on the back end of beautifully placed skip passes from Luke Rhoa, not usually a player known for his passing skills. But he put them on display in a crucial spot to help ‘Cuse regain a four-goal advantage midway through the third.
It became a five-goal advantage thanks to yet another special moment for Joey and the entire Spallina family. In a moment of transition, Jake Spallina ran the field and settled in the crease area for a potential attack. The moment became a reality when Joey hit Jake with a skip pass and Jake finished it off to give the Orange their biggest lead of the night at 10-5. It was an incredible moment between brothers on a night of celebrating not only the student-athletes, but also the families that helped get them to where they are today.
Even down by five late in the third, Colgate refused to give in to all the positive ‘Cuse vibes filling the JMA Dome on Senior Night. The Raiders scored two goals in 50 seconds to make it 10-7 and send the game to the fourth quarter with an air of doubt still lingering despite all the exciting moments for the home team.
The first five minutes of the fourth were very back-and-forth, but the final 10 minutes of the game left absolutely no doubt as to who would celebrate last on this night. The Orange scored all four goals in the final frame, which included Finn scoring a natural hat trick as well as Joey assisting three in a row after the first goal.
Joey did not assist the first goal of the quarter because that goal belonged to Finn Thomson. If Joey’s record-setting goal earlier in the night was the perfect distillation of the flare that he and the senior class have revived in the program during their time, then Finn’s first fourth quarter tally perfectly exemplified who he is as a player and the kind of impact he can make.
Finn, who clearly decided that nobody could tell him ‘no’ on his senior night, took a ridiculous 16 shots during this game, and none of them were more positively-ridiculous than this goal. It started with Finn scrapping for a loose ball and dragging it on the ground into his possession, something that he’s done so well over the years to help gain extra possessions. Finn’s known for his gorgeous and slick stick skills, but he is as active in the ground ball and hustle departments as any ‘Cuse offensive player, and this goal reflected that.
As soon as Finn scooped up the GB into his stick, he immediately unleashed an absurd, whip-like BTB shot from way over on the football hash-mark, a crazy finish that he slotted just inside the far pipe in an absolutely perfect display of Finn’s precision finishing.
The goal was so audaciously good, that Colgate goalie Andrew Lehrman dropped to his knees and brought his head down to the turf he was in such disbelief at what Finn had just slipped past him.
Finn also scored the next two, both of which were assisted by Joey, before Payton Anderson tallied the final goal of the night with Joey picking up his fifth and final helper in the process.
All in all, and for so many reasons, it was a special night in the Dome filled with lots of emotional and flashy plays that made for a thrilling atmosphere if not a beautifully played and executed game of lacrosse on ’Cuse’s part.
The bottom line is that SU is going to have to play a much tighter game next Saturday if they’re going to have any chance of beating the fortress that is the No. 1 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. They rarely make mistakes, and they punish those that do.
But that’s next week’s problem. On this night in the Dome, the Syracuse Orange came to party, and they put on one heck of a blowout bash for their seniors.
