Syracuse men’s lacrosse: Orange release 2020 schedule

A little bit earlier than expected, the Syracuse Orange released their 2020 men’s lacrosse schedule earlier on Wednesday.

As has been the norm, most of the opponents are the same as last season with one exception. The Binghamton Bearcats return to the slate in early February, replacing the Navy Midshipmen game in mid-April.

But that’s not the only change. With the ongoing renovations to the Carrier Dome, the Orange will play their first four games inside the Dome before leaving it for Cicero-North Syracuse High School. They’ll play the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the North Carolina Tar Heels in their final two regular season meetings. Syracuse could also host the ACC Tournament, which returns to the old four-team tournament over one weekend, and a potential first round NCAA Tournament game at the venue.

The Orange take on five teams that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago, three of them coming from the ACC.

The full schedule is below (dates and times are tentative).

Some more notes on the schedule:

• There’s a lot of small changes to the schedule compared to recent years. In nonconference play, the Orange will visit Albany instead of vice-versa. The previous 18 matchups have seen Albany visit the Carrier Dome. Casey Stadium should have a really good atmosphere for a Friday night game, especially with Syracuse coming to town. And if the Great Danes stay competitive throughout the game, the crowd will play a factor.
• With that, the gap between the Notre Dame game and the next game goes from two days (previously Hobart) to five days. But then the gap between that game and the Cornell game shrinks in half from six days to three days. In the end, the total of days off is still eight, but it’s a little more balanced this year.
• Duke will kick off Syracuse’s ACC schedule instead of Virginia. The matchup with the Cavaliers is now the last game of the regular season, something Virginia wanted to do. When their schedule comes out, expect all of their conference games to be after all of their nonconference games. There’s a good chance we might see those teams play multiple times this year.
• We should know more about the TV schedule in January. The Orange look like they’ll be on some kind of ESPN network for all but one of their games this season (Rutgers, which could be on the Big Ten Network or BTN+). ESPNU, ESPN+, ACC Network Extra, or the brand new linear ACC Network could be airing Syracuse men’s and women’s lacrosse games this season.