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It’s a Syracuse Orange lacrosse Sunday in the Carrier Dome!
Both teams are looking to right the ship after tough mid-week losses, as the women lost a 16-15 overtime decision on the road to Northwestern, and the men look to bounce back from a sloppy 17-13 loss to Army.
The women will be up first with an ACC contest against No. 7 Duke at 12 PM on ACC Network Extra. The Blue Devils are off to a hot start this year, with a record of 6-0 and an offense averaging a sizzling 21.8 goals per game. Yes, they have done it against a relatively weak schedule, but when one team has two of the top four point scorers in the country, that’s something to watch out for.
There are a number of things for the ladies to clean up, but none will be more important than stopping the recent trend of bad fourth quarter performances that nearly cost them two games and did cost them Tuesday’s game to Northwestern. The women have been outscored 14-4 in the last three fourth quarters, which is not only bad because it’s a -10 goal differential, but also because they’ve only scored four times in the last three fourths. That trend must be corrected if they are to get back in the win column.
The men take the back-half of the doubleheader when Hobart comes to the Dome at 4 PM on ACC Network Extra. After taking last year off due to COVID scheduling, the battle for the Kraus-Simmons trophy resumes. The Statesmen are off to a pretty good start this season, sitting at 2-1 with a strong win over Lehigh and a close loss to Cornell. With SU at 1-3, they’re going to smell blood in the water and feel that this is one of their best chances to take back the trophy for only the fourth time.
The men have a ton of sloppiness to clean up from the Army game, where turnovers cost them the chance to take down the Black Knights, particularly in the clearing game. This Syracuse team that is lower-than-usual on top talent is going to have to play as cleanly as possibly in order to win games this year, and that will definitely be something to keep an eye on against Hobart.
Discuss both games here and let’s hope we’re closing out the weekend with two wins.