Syracuse men's lacrosse falls hard in 10-7 loss to Johns Hopkins

The Syracuse Orange men’s lacrosse team dove deeper into the depths on Sunday in a brutal 10-7 loss to rival Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field.

In a game that featured bad performances from both teams, the Orange came up on the short end thanks in large part to a ton of miscues all over the field and an impotent offense that was unable to capitalize on countless opportunities.

‘Cuse only mustered seven goals as the offense showcased a total lack of punch. The dodging was ineffective, which apparently left them completely out of ideas. They struggled to create chances, and then even when they did get moderately good looks they ended up ringing the pipe more than catching twine. Eight times Orange shooters hit pipe, to be exact. Combine that with 14 saves from Hopkins goalie Josh Kirson, and a whole bunch of turnovers from a basic inability to catch the ball, and you’ve got yourself seven goals after 60 minutes are up.

What makes this all so extra frustrating is that SU really controlled areas of the game that Hopkins struggled in, and yet they were completely unable to take advantage of the Blue Jays’ miscues.

In addition to winning the FO battle 14-7 and the GB battle 37-28, SU forced 21 Hopkins turnovers, including eight on failed clears. The miscues were so plentiful for JHU that the Orange finished the game with an astonishing 54-29 advantage in the shot department. That’s 25 more shots that ‘Cuse got off in this game, and yet even with all those extra opportunities, the offense could do nothing. Tucker Dordevic (3G) was the only Orange player to record multiple points in the game. Just pathetic execution all the way around.

The low-scoring first half was opened on a bad slide by the Orange defense that left Hopkins’ star attackman Joey Epstein wide open at the crease for a slam dunk finish. The Orange tied it up on a nice outside shot from Mikey Berkman, and then took the lead when Josh Kirson accidentally knocked a Tucker Dordevic pass down and into his own net.

After Hopkins tied it a 2-2 going into the second, Tucker Dordevic made one of the only nice offensive plays of the half for SU when he came around the crease from X, stopped on a dime, turned toward goal and threw it in. After a goal from Lucas Quinn that put the Orange up 4-3, a bad job of subbing off a face-off violation allowed Hopkins to tie it up six seconds later. That Orange mistake sent the game into halftime at 4-4.

‘Cuse got outscored 4-2 in a bad third quarter, and both goals came on EMOs from Owen Seebold and Brendan Curry as SU.

After the game went scoreless for almost exactly 15 minutes, Tucker Dordevic got his hat trick on a bouncer down the right alley, but that would be the seventh and final goal of the game for the Orange as Hopkins added two late to finish the game off.

Syracuse will be back in action this coming Saturday, March 19 when they travel to Long Island to play Stony Brook at 3 PM on ESPN+. Keep your eyes peeled for Joey Spallina in the stands is all I can about that.