Despite an early lead, the No. 13 Georgetown men’s lacrosse team failed to hold off the No. 8 Syracuse University Orange’s explosive offense in an 18-12 loss on the road March 22.
The matchup was the first time since 2021 the Hoyas (3-4) squared off against the Orange (8-2), and marked only their second meeting since 2013. Before Syracuse left the Big East in 2013, the two teams met every year, but matchups between the rivals have been sparse since.
The Hoyas started the game strong, jumping out to an early 2-0 and then 3-1 lead. First-year midfielder Jake Bickel opened the scoring at 13:14 off a feed from junior attacker Liam Connor in front of the net. Senior midfielder Joe Cesare put Georgetown up 2-0 at 11:50 with his second goal of the year, again assisted by Connor.
Syracuse midfielder Matt McIntee put the Orange on the board at 9:14, but first-year Georgetown midfielder Natty Mason responded with his second goal of the season less than a minute later to put the Hoyas back up by 2.
After graduate attacker Rory Connor was denied by the post on back-to-back shots, the Orange began to take control of the game. Syracuse midfielder Wyatt Hottle made it a 1-score game at 2:38 before Syracuse converted on their extra-man opportunity to tie the game up at 3-3 after first-year faceoff specialist Hayden Cody was called for a pushing penalty late in the period. Capitalizing on a turnover from junior midfielder James Carroll, Syracuse attacker Finn Thomson scored with just 27 seconds left in the period to give the Orange their first lead of the game.
Syracuse extended their lead early in the second period before Mason brought the Hoyas back within 1 at 9:14. Just 14 seconds later, Syracuse attacker Joey Spallina took the ball down the field and scored to retake his team’s 2-goal lead.
Spallina’s goal kickstarted a nightmare six minutes for the Hoyas. The Orange capitalized on weak defensive play and goaltending over the next 5:23 to score 6 more goals, giving themselves a 12-4 lead with 3:37 left in the half.
Rory Connor scored his first goal of the day to snap Syracuse’s scoring streak with 2:21 remaining until halftime. Just 8 seconds later, Cody won the faceoff and carried the ball down the field, scoring his first career goal and giving the Hoyas a much-needed boost to keep the game within striking distance at 12-6 going into the break.
The Orange continued to showcase their talented offense in the second half, scoring 3 straight goals in the first eight minutes of the third period to go up 15-6 on the Hoyas. After Syracuse was called for an illegal cross-check, sophomore attacker Jack Ransom caught defenders out of position to put Georgetown back on the board at 6:24. Ransom scored again just 50 seconds later, followed by a Liam Connor goal at 3:23.
Rory Connor scored with just over two minutes remaining to make it a 5-goal game, but his younger brother Liam was handed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in a scrum after the goal. Syracuse midfielder Luke Rhoa capitalized on the extra-man opportunity just 20 seconds later, putting the Orange up 16-10. With 25 seconds remaining in the third period, Hottle scored to increase Syracuse’s lead to 7.
Georgetown junior midfielder Jack Schubert scored midway through the fourth period, injecting some life back into the Hoya squad. At 7:11, Liam Connor scored Georgetown’s third man-up goal of the year to bring the score to 17-12. Syracuse was called for more penalties as the game drew to a close, but the Hoyas were unable to convert. The final goal of the game came when Orange midfielder Michael Leo, while Syracuse was down a man, caught junior goalkeeper Anderson Moore out of position to put the Orange up 18-12.
Despite the loss, Liam Connor continued his strong campaign, recording 2 goals and 5 assists. Additionally, first-years Cody and Bickel each scored, while first-year Mason found the back of the net twice. Georgetown’s leading scorer and NCAA goals-per-game leader Rory Connor was held to only 2 goals.
An athletics spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Georgetown Head Coach Kevin Warne.
The Hoyas remain on the road, traveling to Colorado next Saturday, March 28, to open up Big East play against the No. 14 University of Denver, a tough squad that has played recent top-ranked teams down to the wire.
