Syracuse men’s lacrosse has new opponent for this weekend

The No. 5 Syracuse Orange men’s lacrosse team will host the Holy Cross Crusaders this coming weekend, Saturday, March 20 at 12 PM on ACC Network.

The game is a replacement for the originally scheduled contest against the Hofstra Pride, who paused team activities last week due to COVID-19.

The game against Holy Cross is taking place at the same time, day, and location that the Hofstra game would have, so the only change is the Orange will be playing a purple-clad team instead of a blue one.

The other change appears to be the quality of opponent. While Hofstra is ranked No. 20 in this week’s Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, Holy Cross is unranked and not receiving any votes.

Hofstra is also home to one of the best attackman in the country in senior Ryan Tierney, who is off to a phenomenal start scoring 30 points in just four games this season (7.5 per game). He would have been a serious test for the SU defense that is about to take on some of the best attackers in the country in coming weeks like Chris Gray, Michael Sowers, Brennan O’Neill, and on down the list. Holy Cross does not have anyone approaching that level of dangerous, so it’s a disappointing downgrade that won’t do as much to prepare us for the tilt with Duke on March 25.

It’s also extra disappointing because we knew that No. 10 ranked Lehigh also had a bye this weekend, and was openly looking to recruit a game on Twitter.

It’s a shame that we won’t be able to see a Top-10 matchup this weekend that would have better helped prepare us for the resumption of ACC play and would have been a much more significant resume-building win if we were able to get it. Alas, none of that is happening and we simply move on.

The Crusaders are currently 1-2 (0-2 in Patriot League play) with a season-opening win over Sacred Heart and subsequent losses to Colgate and Boston University.

Students will be permitted at the game this weekend after not being in attendance for last week’s 17-9 victory over Stony Brook.

Be sure to turn on ACC Network this Saturday at Noon to see the boys in their final tune-up before the all-important Durham showdown with the Duke Blue Devils.

And, as always, Let’s Go Orange!!