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COLLEGE PARK, Md. — It was a familiar sight. Gary Gait strolls to the podium. He sits down with a smirk on his face, masquerading the pain of defeat. He complements the opponent but stresses his unwavering belief in his team.

Call it coach speak, though this postgame scene was supposed to be different. For the first time under Gait, Syracuse entered a matchup against Maryland as the higher-ranked team. Yet the Orange left SECU Stadium after posting their fewest goals in a game since Feb. 4, 2023. SU’s first three victories of 2025 all came from controlling possessions, crisp ball movement and sucking the life from opponents via highlight goals and bruising long pole play.

None of those elements were present against the Terrapins, who served as the Orange’s first true test of the year. But this performance wasn’t out of the ordinary.

“A team of this caliber that year in and year out makes the playoffs, goes to the Final Four, they’re going to be good,” Gait said of Maryland. “They’re going to reload every year. And that’s what they’ve done. And we’ll have to continue to improve to get ourselves to that point.”

No. 2 Syracuse (3-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) suffered an 11-7 loss to No. 6 Maryland (3-0, 0-0 Big Ten) Saturday in College Park, coming up short to the Terrapins for the seventh straight time. A diverse scoring attack and staunch goalie play from Logan McNaney carried UMD, while the Orange’s ball movement was nonexistent versus the Terrapins’ long poles and short sticks. After leading 5-4 at halftime, Syracuse was held to two second-half goals.

SU didn’t play its game. It let Maryland dictate the pace from start to finish.

“I thought (Maryland’s) game plan went almost to perfection,” Gait said. “Didn’t make many mistakes and capitalized when they needed to. Unfortunately, we did not.”

Dealing with expectations was the main topic for Gait’s group heading into an early-season top-10 matchup. He led a conversation about it with the team before Saturday’s game. Gait knows the Orange played like a bonafide national champion through their first three games. Everything changes, though, when a team like UMD lines up on the opposite side.

“How do you do that when the pressure’s on?” Gait asked his team Thursday, imploring SU to play loose and treat the Terrapins as if it’s steamrolling another mid-major program.

But that hasn’t come easy. The Orange were inexperienced each of the last three years. Under Gait, they entered Saturday 9-22 against ranked competition and 0-3 against head coach John Tillman’s Terrapins. Gait felt Syracuse often crumbled against elite teams in the past and emphasized his players kept clear minds heading into battle versus Maryland.

Considering the Orange’s lethal junior class of Joey Spallina, Finn Thomson, Michael Leo, Billy Dwan and Luke Rhoa, among others, has played their best brand of lacrosse in 2025, Saturday was a chance to make a statement. SU was the favorite, too. A lacking veteran presence? Not enough big-game experience? Those are no longer excuses.

Still, the Orange left SECU Stadium with more questions than answers. Tillman’s squad cracked the code to thwart SU’s high-flying offense. Gait fell to 0-4 coaching against Maryland.

“They executed a slow-down game. They used the shot clock almost every single possession,” Gait said of the Terrapins. “It wasn’t an up-and-down game … they were able to play their game and it worked out for them.”

Syracuse attack Owen Hiltz (pictured, No. 77) was limited to two goals against Maryland despite attempting a game-high eight shots. Aaron Hammer | Staff Photographer

The brisk sub-40-degree and rainy conditions in College Park contributed to neither side scoring through the first 9:03. Spallina was face-guarded by UMD long pole Will Schaller, while Owen Hiltz and Thomson uncharacteristically misfired open looks.

On the other side, Maryland’s Braden Erksa-led attack generated nothing. SU goalie Jimmy McCool started 4-of-4 on saves as short-stick midfielder Carter Rice flew around to quell any open opportunities.

The Orange hooked up for a couple of highlight goals in the first quarter; Trey Deere went around the world off a feed from Spallina at X, and Rhoa slashed downhill for an unassisted score. But through 15 minutes, Syracuse was playing Maryland’s game: methodical and defensive-focused, with a reliance on goalie play.

Midway through the second, McCool could only look up at the sky in frustration after Erksa converted an easy chance in front of the cage. The Orange trailed 4-3, their attack quiet and inconsistent on the opposite end with McNaney, who finished with 12 saves, dominating. McNaney’s job, however, was easy.

Tillman and UMD defensive coordinator Jesse Bernhardt had their short sticks clog the middle of SU’s attacking zone, and always stuck a long pole, typically Schaller, on Spallina. At times, the Terrapins had two long poles and five defensive midfielders on the field.

It worked to near-perfection. Syracuse’s attacks were blanketed by poles in Schaller and Jackson Canfield, as well as short-stick midfielder Jack McDonald. And SU’s midfielders scored a singular goal.

Postgame, UMD attack/midfielder Eric Spanos said Saturday’s outcome was simply the standard. McDonald echoed Spanos, praising the way Maryland prepared to face Syracuse.

“We watch a ton of film,” McDonald said. “Will Schaller did a great job today, all the short sticks did a great job today, everyone just pulled their weight. When that happens and when you have six guys able to play off each other, that’s where the magic happens.”

“If you screw anything up, they’re going to make you pay,” Tillman said of Syracuse, clarifying the Terrapins didn’t suffer many back-end lapses.

Even a brief spurt of dominance from Spallina didn’t lead to sustained success. The star attack tallied two unassisted goals across a two-minute span late in the second quarter, curling around screens from Sam English to break free from Schaller on both shots.

Spallina’s personal run put Syracuse ahead at halftime. But Maryland quickly reverted to its previous defensive form. The Orange were called for two straight shot-clock violations before the halfway point of the third quarter. Just before that timeframe, the Terrapins’ Eliot Dubick scored on a man-up chance after Leo was whistled for tripping.

All while McNaney was stopping everything the Orange threw at him, the Terrapins capped off a 4-0 run with a man-up goal from Spanos at the 0:43 mark of the third. McCool had allowed three goals on three consecutive shots by that point.

It’s not that McCool played badly, that John Mullen was poor at the faceoff X (he finished 11-of-21) or that their long poles were struggling — the Orange just never performed to their playstyle. Passing lanes were slim. Spallina couldn’t find breathing room. Syracuse’s flare of spectacular goals that was so prevalent in its first three games was seldom there against Maryland.

Gait knows SU’s pool of talent can’t be drained. But it got its teeth kicked in at a concerning level throughout the second half. The Orange are a menace on paper. Yet, they were again left flinging desperation shots at a superior opponent with the result all but decided late in the fourth quarter.

“We just have to learn how to win,” Gait repeated twice before leaving the podium.

Published on February 15, 2025 at 4:13 pm

Contact Cooper at: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews