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TOWSON, MD. — The last time Syracuse visited Johnny Unitas Stadium, it was a day to forget. Facing Towson in the 2017 NCAA quarterfinals, the No. 2 seeded Orange were embarrassed. Six unanswered goals from the jump put SU behind the ball early, leading to a 10-7 defeat.

Since that loss, Syracuse hasn’t reached those same heights. Three straight first-round exits and two straight mediocre seasons without a tournament appearance left SU’s program floundering. But all of that has changed in year three under head coach Gary Gait.

In a resurgent season with their most regular-season wins since 2017, the Orange have returned to the elite tier of college lacrosse, avoiding a third straight missed tournament for the first time in program history. A 20-15 win over Towson in the first round gave the Orange a chance to return to the site of their last quarterfinal failure with a chance at redemption.

Standing in Syracuse’s way was another resurgent program in Denver, which returned to prominence under first-year head coach Matt Brown.

Despite the progress made under Gait in 2024, everything came to a screeching halt Sunday as SU failed to put its previous demons at Johnny Unitas Stadium behind it. A lackluster offensive display in which No. 4 seed Syracuse (12-6, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) scored its lowest number of goals all season led to a 10-8 loss to No. 5 seed Denver (13-3, 5-0 Big East) in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals. A late flurry in the fourth quarter provided some hope, but a pair of video reviews on crucial goals didn’t go SU’s way, combined with several shots off the posts and missed attempts from point-blank range proved it was too much to overcome.

“You win as a team and lose as a team and Denver just outplayed us today,” Gait said postgame.

A back-and-forth opening half between the Orange and Pioneers saw three ties and three lead changes. SU opened up in a zone defense — something it has used sparingly throughout 2024. Yet it worked, holding Denver to just one goal in the first 10 minutes. Michael Leo and Sam English had SU in front 2-1 before Michael Lampert equalized and Joshua Carlson made it 3-2 in the final minute of the first half.

Early on, it was evident that a couple of plays could be the deciding factor between who advances. Syracuse later found out it would be on the wrong end of those plays.

The first sign came in the first quarter when Billy Dwan came streaking down the middle of the field in transition with SU down 2-1, but fired the ball right at goalie Malcolm Kleban for one of 10 saves on the afternoon. Dwan has become known for his highlight-reel goals in transition with eight on the year, but this one was thwarted, an unusual occurrence with Gait mentioning postgame that if he hits the target, it usually goes in.

An air-tight defensive second quarter had Denver in front 4-3 at halftime. Then came the first review of the day after Cody Malawsky curled around from X and squeezed a shot off the post and in. Will Mark quickly raked his stick to save the ball, but after a lengthy replay, the officials upheld the call on the field.

Malawsky’s goal kickstarted a 5-0 run to start the second half, putting Denver in complete control with an 8-3 lead 10 minutes into the third quarter. Jake Stevens and English scored back-to-back goals to bring Syracuse within three, but JJ Sillstrop and Lampert responded, with the latter being more controversial.

Lampert worked from a tight angle with the shot clock winding down. As the clock struck zero, the attack just let go of the ball and squeezed through Mark’s legs to put Denver up 10-5 with 44 seconds left in the third quarter.

Once again after a lengthy video review to determine whether Lampert got the shot off in time, the call on the field was upheld.

“Either way if the refs had called them differently, they couldn’t have been overturned,” Gait said of the reviews. “I think both of them were so close that whenever the ref’s initial call was gonna be what it was.”

Despite facing their biggest deficit to a nonconference opponent all season, the Orange didn’t go away, a trait Gait felt his team could hang their hat on throughout the season.

Leo scored his third of the game two and a half minutes into the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to four. Then, Finn Thomson got in on the action to make it 10-7 with 8:29 left. Following a John Mullen faceoff win, Syracuse set up a hidden ball trick.

The plan seemed to work to perfection with English faking a handoff to Thomson coming out of the box. Kleban looked toward Thomson while English fired a shot from 20 yards, but it flashed wide and with no backup, Denver gained possession.

“It was tough luck for us today,” Gait said.

The miss still didn’t spell doom for Syracuse, which kept battling. Owen Hiltz registered his first goal of the day to break a five-minute SU drought and get it the closest it’d been all half. But then came more miscues.

Mullen — who finished 7-for-13 at the faceoff X — committed his third violation of the second half, drawing a 30-second penalty. Although Syracuse forced a turnover from Lampert, allowing English to go the other way. As the defense came to English, Spallina was the extra man, but rattled his attempt off the crossbar and Denver picked up the ensuing ground ball.

Despite Syracuse’s best efforts, Spallina’s attempt — just one of two shots on the day — seemed to be the final nail in the coffin. Yet a fifth straight turnover from Denver afforded the Orange another shot.

English initiated the offense as Stevens found a pocket of wide-open space from point-blank range, but sailed his effort over the bar. To make matters worse, Syracuse had no backup and Denver once again gained possession. From there, the Pioneers ran out the clock and ended the Orange’s hopes of their first Final Four in more than a decade.

If anything encapsulated Syracuse’s afternoon, it was Stevens’ effort. He seemingly had all the time in the world to pick his spot, but rushed. Any momentous play Sunday, whether it was reviews, mental blunders or hitting posts, swung in Denver’s favor. That proved the difference between the Orange potentially climbing back to the summit of college lacrosse or not.

“Opportunities that we normally make just didn’t go our way,” Gait said.

Published on May 19, 2024 at 2:40 pm

Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22