It’s a big day in the Dome for Syracuse lacrosse, as both the women’s and men’s teams are playing at home on the same day/weekend for the first time since all the way back on February 13.
It’s an all-ACC day for the Orange with a pair of important matchups. The women get the day started early with a 10 AM opening draw against the Pitt Panthers on ACC Network Extra.
Then, the men will occupy the back half of an ESPN U doubleheader when they face-off with the Duke Blue Devils at 2 PM.
Pitt’s season so far
Pitt is having themselves an improved year in 2026. After finishing with a .500 record for the first time last year at 8-8, the Panthers are looking to continue their momentum this season.
They’re currently 5-6 (2-5 ACC), but have themselves ranked at No. 24 in the current Inside Lacrosse media poll. The reason is because they’ve played a handful of good teams very closely, even coming away with a couple of notable wins.
They opened their season with a bang, beating Ohio State on the road and No. 14 Duke by seven goals at home. They followed that up with an overtime loss to a ranked Penn State on the road before a solid win over Virginia Tech for their second straight ACC win to begin the season.
After that, they lost three straight in-conference to Notre Dame, Virginia and North Carolina. They lost to the Irish and Cavaliers by only three goals each. They bounced back with a win over American, before losing to Boston College by four and Clemson by just one. They won their last game over Youngstown State on Tuesday.
All the close losses plus the wins over Ohio State and Duke paint a picture of an improved and much more competitive Pitt team than we’ve seen in years past. Of their five ACC losses, only UNC beat them by more than four goals. So, the Orange need to be on their guard in their return to the Dome, especially with the borderline-breakfast start time for this one.
Scouting Pitt
Pitt is a middle-of-the-road offensive team, ranking eighth in the ACC in scoring offense at 11.0 goals per game. They’re a decently-efficient shooting team at .462, fifth-best in the league.
Pitt’s problem offensively is that they turn it over a lot and therefore don’t get a ton of shots off. They rank last in the ACC at 16.91 turnovers per game and second-to-last at 23.82 shots per game. That’s a potentially rough combination against a Syracuse defense that specializes in creating turnovers and limiting scoring chances.
They’re a solid draw team, ranking seventh in the ACC with a .547 draw control win percentage.
Defensively, they’re also solid. They rank sixth in-conference in scoring defense at 10.36 goals-against per game, and seventh in caused turnovers at 10.18 per game.
Names to Know
Pitt’s offense is led by attacker Avery Moon and midfielder Kaitlyn Giandonato. Moon leads the team with 40 points and 18 assists, and is second with 22 goals. Moon ranks sixth in the ACC at 1.64 assists per game and 10th with 3.64 points per game. Giandonato is the team’s leading goal scorer with 30, and is second with 38 points. She’s tied for seventh in the league with 2.73 goals per game.
Midfielder Paige Telatovich has 21 goals, and attacker Gigi Leonzi has 16 assists, ranking 10th in the league with 1.45 assists per game. Freshman attacker Emily Clemens has 14 goals and 22 points.
The Pitt offense combines sharpshooters with top-ranked passers. Of the five names listed above, all but Leonzi have a shooting percentage of .500 or better this season. Can Moon and Leonzi pick out the passes through the Orange zone to find their shooters?
Pitt employs a true draw specialist in defender Aidan Carr, who has 86 draws to lead the Panthers. She’s third in the ACC with 7.82 draws per game. Defensively, Lainey McGonagle leads the team with 24 caused turnovers, fourth-best in the ACC at 2.18 CTs per game.
In net, senior goalie Molly Cain is having a very good season. She’s started all 11 games and has 89 saves, a 10.88 goals-against average with a .447 save percentage. She ranks third in the ACC in both saves per game (8.09) and save percentage.
Duke’s season so far
Duke is undefeated this season at 8-0 entering this matchup.
If you know anything about Duke this season, then you know that they’ve played a relatively easy schedule and are therefore a difficult team to try and figure out in terms of exactly how good they are. They’re a young team that has relied on a lot of freshmen and other young players, which is exactly why John Danowski scheduled the way he did this year. It’s basically the opposite of Syracuse’s experience leading to Gary Gait scheduling so tough for his veteran Orange team.
But however you feel about their schedule and the reliability of their record and all their statistics, what’s undeniable is they’re a team with lots of talent whose young players have been given time to gain experience in lower-level situations in an attempt to prepare them for moments like big ACC games.
The Blue Devils have played and beaten Bellarmine, Utah, Vermont, Jacksonville, St. Joseph’s, Air Force, Providence and Denver. Their only opponents who currently have an above .500 record are Utah and St. Joe’s. Their best win is probably either the Hawks or Denver, who’s 4-4 at the moment. Duke eked out an 8-7 win over the Pioneers last weekend despite scoring only a single goal in the second half.
Scouting Duke
Duke has largely dominated their competition this season by an average of more than 10 goals per game. The Blue Devils possess the No. 1 scoring offense in the country at 17.12 goals per game and the No. 2 scoring defense at 6.88 goals-against per game.
They’re near the top of the country in the majority of statistical categories. They’re No. 1 in points per game (26.88), No. 2 in assists per game (9.75), T-No. 1 in EMO (.600), No. 12 in shooting percentage (.329), No. 11 in FO percentage (.595), No. 4 in ground balls per game (37.88) and No. 9 in caused turnovers (10.25).
Names to Know
Junior Benn Johnston has made a move to attack this year as one of their most veteran presences and leads the offense with 27 goals and 32 points. He’s averaging over 10 shots per game and leads the ACC with 3.38 goals per game.
Virginia transfer Kyle Colsey is a redshirt freshman who’s second on the team with 20 goals and 27 points, ranking fourth in the league with 2.50 goals per game. True freshman Michael Ortlieb rounds out their starting attack with 13 goals and eight assists.
Senior midfielder Max Sloat leads their midfield with 19 goals and 22 points, ranking seventh in the league at 2.38 goals per game. True freshman Brady Scioletti joins him on first-line as a big bruiser at 6’3”, 200 and has 15 goals and six assists to start his career. Sophomore Liam Kershis rounds out the starters with 10 goals and 16 points.
Duke’s face-off unit has had a tremendous start to the season, ranking No. 11 nationally at just under 60 percent success. Starter Cal Girard is a force, winning .636 percent of the 143 FOs he’s taken this season. He ranks eighth in the country in win percentage and seventh in ground balls per game (8.13). His backup is very solid, too. Ben McCarthy has won .545 percent of the 44 restarts he’s taken.
The Blue Devils’ defense is formidable, something ‘Cuse knows after combining for only 16 goals in two games against them last season. They’re littered with playmakers at both close and the defensive midfield.
Charlie Johnson, Henry Bard and Nikolas Menendez make up an imposing close defense, while true freshman Will Pedicano, Mac Christmas and Aidan Maguire lead a formidable rope unit.
Johnson, Pedicano and Bard all rank in the top seven in the ACC in caused turnovers per game. Johnson ranks second at 1.63, Pedicano is fifth at 1.57 and Bard is seventh at 1.38.
Maguire is coming off winning national midfielder of the year, and makes a huge impact on the game with three goals, four assists, 20 ground balls and eight caused turnovers on the season. His presence will make life difficult for SU’s offensive midfield in this game as dodging the shorties is a more difficult strategy to pull off against Duke than most teams.
Maguire and LSM Christmas pose a big threat in transition that the Orange will have to be wary of, as the pair have combined for six goals and 11 points.
Junior Patrick Jameison is one of the best goalies in the ACC and the country. He’s made 54 saves this season with a 6.27 goals-against average and a .557 save percentage. His GAA currently leads the country, and he’s had a ton of success in his first two seasons against ‘Cuse with a career .630 save percentage against the Orange.
