Syracuse men’s lacrosse hung on to defeat in-state foe #20/18 Colgate 16 -12.

Syracuse’s route to their fourth straight win was circuitous, as they led by as much as seven in the third period before the lead narrowed to two in the fourth quarter.

Timely goals from Joey Spallina and Trey Deere kept the Orange in front as they moved to 7-2 on the year.

Here are three takeaways from the Orange’s win.

Gary Gait had previously said John Mullen would often try to do too much after winning the ball from the X. Today Mullen had an up and down performance with high highs and brutal lows. Mullen was about 5% below his season average today going 18-29 on faceoffs but it's what he did after the 18 wins that was much more notable.

The good: After the opening faceoff Mullen won the ball, sprinted down the field and found Owen Hiltz wide open for an assist five seconds into the game. Mullen also made an audacious behind-the-back pass after a faceoff win to Joey Spallina that led to an assist and then a wide open goal for Trey Deere. Mullen also won a key faceoff win with 75 seconds remaining to seal the win for the Orange.

The bad: Mullen had a season high three turnovers on the game (tied for most on the team) including a dumbfounding pass in the to open the third period that directly led to a Colgate goal kicking off an eventful third period for the Raiders. Mullen was replaced on two instances by Drew Angelo who went 0-2 on faceoffs. Mullen also committed a couple infractions from the X giving up possessions.

The game exemplified Mullen’s ability to win at a high level from the X but also his tendency to try to create chaos with the ball. Today that chaos often did not help the Orange.

When Syracuse was trying to clear the ball, Colgate would dial up the pressure, sending an extra man towards the ball and having the goalkeeper leave the net and man-mark one of the attackers. As a result, Syracuse went 22-26 on clears taking a couple shots from beyond midfield as Billy Dwan III scored from long range in the third period.

“You got to be able to put in a 50 to 60 yard shot, and that's really hard to do,” Colgate head coach Matt Karweck said. “They made a couple of those, so that's not super exciting, but on the other hand, that's the risk that we take.”

In one instance while a man down, Spallina received the ball about 19 yards from the goal and was able to easily shoot the ball into the back of the net to give Syracuse a six goal lead in the second period. Spallina scored five times including the dagger as he gave the Orange a three goal lead with 75 seconds left by himself. Spallina also assisted six times. His first dish of the day put both him and Owen Hiltz at 200 career points. Spallina’s 11 points are a career-high as he saved his best performance for a crucial game.

Syracuse was able to jump out to a big lead in the first period and they didn’t concede a goal in the second period and led 8-2 at the break. Jimmy McCool had eight saves in the second period and recorded 18 on the day, six more than his previous career high. Syracuse served eight penalties in the game but held the Raiders to only 2-8 on extra-man opportunities. The Raiders fired 49 shots toward McCool but the junior from Boston didn’t flinch.

“We have a lot of confidence in Jimmy, I think he's a top goalie in the country,” Spallina said. “So when he's playing the way that he was today, I think we're able to take a little bit more chances knowing that Jimmy's going to have our back.”

The game felt similar to the Harvard game exactly one month ago where Syracuse built a big lead and slowly saw it shrink until they lost 14-15. In that game McCool conceded ten times with only five saves and got pulled as he didn’t earn a decision. Gait backed McCool after the game and his confidence in McCool has paid off as McCool has a save percentage of 61.33% since and Syracuse have not lost a game.

“[The Harvard game] It’s just a learning experience,” McCool said. “I watched the tape to see what I had to work on, focused on the next play, next shot. I don’t really worry too much about what happened in the past."

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