Syracuse men's lacrosse: Joey Spallina named National Player of the Year

Syracuse Orange fans didn’t need any more reasons to be excited about top-ranked signee Joey Spallina’s arrival on campus next fall, but this week brought one anyway.

On Monday, Spallina was named the USA Lacrosse Magazine National High School Boys’ Player of the Year.

The publication also named five regional players of the year; Spallina was, of course, named the Northeast Region’s top dog.

Spallina recently wrapped up his high school career for Mount Sinai as the all-time leading scorer in Long Island history, finishing with 507 career points despite missing most of his 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, he contributed 226 goals and 281 assists for the Mustangs.

His points total makes him one of the most prolific scorers at the high school level ever, and he is believed to be in the top-25 in career points in high school lacrosse history according to known records.

He now heads up to Syracuse to don the famed No. 22 and be the crown jewel of a loaded recruiting class that is ranked among the best in the nation.

The nation’s No. 1 overall recruit according to Inside Lacrosse, Spallina and his future teammates will be all over the rosters at both the National Senior All-Star Game and Under Armour All-America Game. Syracuse has seven signed players in the National Senior game and nine signees in the Under Armour All-America Game, both of which are nation-leading totals by a lot.