Fall may be in full swing in Central New York, but Syracuse lacrosse fans always have their hearts and minds on spring.
To that end, on Tuesday, SU revealed their un-dated slate of home opponents for the 2026
season to give fans a taste of coming attractions.
According to this announcement, the home schedule (as of now, technically subject to change) will feature seven games, including two ACC clashes and five non-conference tilts. Here they are again, listed in alphabetical order:
- Boston University, 1st meeting
- Colgate, 65th meeting
- Duke, 28th meeting
- Georgetown, 24th meeting
- Maryland, 23rd meeting
- St. Joseph’s, 1st meeting
- Virginia, 44th meeting
As we can see, this group is a solid mixture of perennial opponents, new opponents and old foes re-emerging on the schedule.
Duke and Virginia are this year’s ACC home games, while Colgate will be coming to the Dome for the third straight season.
Maryland returns to the Dome as the Orange and Terps continue to trade home games for the fifth straight year, dating back to Gary Gait’s first as head coach in 2022. SU is looking to end an eight-game losing streak in the series.
Georgetown will be making a return trip to CNY after a somewhat extended absence. This is the first regular season meeting between the programs since 2013, and the first time the Hoyas have visited the Dome since the 2012 regular season home finale.
Finally, the Orange will welcome two brand new opponents to the 315 for the first time in Boston University from the Patriot League and St. Joseph’s from the Atlantic 10.
If the final schedule is going to feature seven home games, it would be the fewest since SU played seven Dome contests back in the 2017 season. Technically, ‘Cuse was set to play only six home games in 2020, but of course that season never played all the way out.
During Gait’s tenure, ‘Cuse has played at home eight times in 2022 and nine times each of the last three years.
There’s more information to come out as we move closer to 2026, of course, but the Syracuse schedule already appears to be shaping up to be quite a difficult one, even by SU’s standards.
Beyond the perpetually difficult four ACC games, we now have confirmation of Maryland and Georgetown’s inclusion on the schedule. We also know the Orange have a road game at Johns Hopkins on March 7 as the Blue Jays announced their full schedule a couple weeks ago. And don’t forget about Colgate, who made last year’s NCAA Tournament, or BU and St. Joseph’s, who both finished last season in the RPI Top 25.
Additionally, Inside Lacrosse reported earlier this week that sources tell them that ‘Cuse and Princeton are working on scheduling a game this year.
If that comes to fruition, you’re looking at Maryland, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and Princeton on top of the ACC gauntlet, as well as maybe Cornell? The Terps, Tigers, Hoyas and Big Red were all in the Top 5 of Inside Lacrosse’s recent Way-Too-Early Top 20 for next season, with the other top-ranked team being ‘Cuse.
Let the fireworks begin.
