Syracuse dominated Jacksonville in its season debut, winning 24-5. Both Joey Spallina and Michael Leo provided five points.

The Orange’s early dominance allowed younger players to earn valuable playing time in the third and fourth periods.

Here are three takeaways from the opening day statement made by the Orange.

Syracuse completely dominated almost every significant statistic except for faceoffs and man-up situations. Syracuse had 58 shots, double the amount Jacksonville had, and more than double the amount of shots on target (39-13). Syracuse found goals from all over the attacking area including a couple from more than 10 yards out.

“That's what championship teams do, they expect to play the way [Syracuse] did today,” Jacksonville head coach John Galloway said. “[Syracuse is] a championship level team for sure.”

The defense played well with 21-23 clears and caused several shot clock violations. Jacksonville wasn't the cleanest offensively as 12 of their 21 turnovers were self-inflicted as they lost the ball in key areas and missed passes a couple different times. This allowed Syracuse to collect 42 ground balls, 21 more than the Dolphins.

Defensively Syracuse stopped 3-4 of the Jacksonville extra-man opportunities including consecutive chances in the third which the Orange converted to goals.

The Orange went 20/33 on faceoffs which is just slightly above their percentage last season but the mark was underwhelming considering the inferior competition. Sophomore John Mullen was the primary faceoff man after he battled with fifth year player Mason Kohn for chances last season.

Mullen went 14-22, which was better than his mark from last season, recorded 11 ground balls and recorded an assist. Syracuse went 7-11 on faceoffs in the third period.

“He wants to make things happen,” Orange head coach Gary Gait said. “I think he settled down in the third quarter and focused on what he really needs to do, just give us possessions… I think it was a valuable lesson for him.”

The other disappointing stat for the Orange was extra-man opportunities as they were 0-4, though the Orange still found the back of the net 24 times without scoring while a man up.

But this could become an issue later in the season when the big names come to town. This will be a key stat to track for the next two games before the Orange play #6/5 Maryland in College Park on Feb. 15.

Redshirt sophomore goalie Jimmy McCool made his first collegiate start after backing up All-ACC goalie Will Mark last year. McCool made four appearances last year totaling about 80 minutes including 47 against Duke. McCool saved 11 shots and allowed 11 goals last season and red-shirted in 2023.

The starting role was not announced until late but McCool beat out sophomore Michael Ippoliti to start between the posts. Against Jacksonville McCool wasn’t too busy as he only played the first three periods.

He saw 22 shots but only eight were on target. McCool conceded two goals (1 while a man down) and made six saves in a stress-free afternoon.

“I think he just had a little bit more experience… We felt comfortable giving him the shot, and he delivered” Gait said. “I was very happy that we waited as long as we did to make that decision, because we know Michael Ippoliti is right there with him, and if we ever need him, we can go to him and get a completely different look… I feel really good about both of them and comfortable with what we have in the net.”

McCool only had one shaky moment where he couldn’t find a man downfield resulting in a violation and turnover in the first period. Other than that he played well collecting two ground balls and showing good skill progressing the ball upfield.

“I think Jimmy McCoolgot comfortable in there, made some great saves, and overall, it was just a really good start,” Gait said.

Seven of the Syracuse starters are all members of the touted 2022 recruiting class and are now all juniors with significant college lacrosse experience. The junior class combined for 13 of Syracuse’s 24 points goals and a key factor in how far this team will go.

“Being an upperclassman, you're in a different situation, [the juniors are] all leaders on this team, and they all can change the flow of the game by how they are as leaders,” Gait said.

Gait cited a third period as a sign of maturity of his team as they could’ve taken their foot off the gas up big but instead made it their best quarter of the game.

Juniors Billy Dwan and Sam English were named two of the four captains ahead of the season. English had two goals and Dwan captained the dominant defense.

“I think it's a big honor to be a captain but I think as Coach Odierna says it and coach Gait says, 'there's only four captains, and we're not going to go to the places that we want to go if we only have four captains,'” Dwan said. “I think that we have so many great leaders on this team, and so many guys that step up to the plate when you do so, kind of makes my job easy.”

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