SYRACUSE, N.Y. (SU ATHLETICS)– Syracuse men’s lacrosse defended home turf against the Crusaders of Holy Cross, picking up a 15-6 win to round out a 2-0 weekend.

Playing its second game in three days, Syracuse (3-0) got 25 points from its starting lineup as the Orange improved to 3-0 for the first time since 2021. Joey Spallina continued a strong scoring weekend, finishing with seven points on five goals and two assists. Finn Thomson collected his first collegiate hat trick with a four-goal outing. Owen Hiltz and Alex Simmons handled distribution for the Orange, finishing with four and three assists, respectively.

Defensively, Will Mark made nine saves in 48 minutes of action while Harrison Thompson stopped a pair. Nick Caccamo caused three turnovers while Saam Olexo added a pair.

Holy Cross (0-3) had a hat trick from Thomas McIntire. Dean DiNanno, Will Messineo, and Brendan Lane contributed goals. All six Holy Cross tallies were unassisted. Starting netminder Dawson Friers made 19 saves in his 53 minutes of action.

The Orange jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game as Thomson completed a first-quarter hat trick, with Spallina and Hiltz scoring in the middle. Five different Orange players had assists in the run.
Holy Cross scored back-to-back goals at 3:04 of the first and 13:04 of the second from Thomas McIntire and Dean DiNanno. That would be the final goals of the half for the visiting Crusaders.
Syracuse potted another four goals in the second quarter to take a 9-2 halftime lead. Jackson Birtwistle continued his scoring streak to open the run while Spallina scored twice followed by Michael Leo to end the half.
The Orange ripped off five unanswered goals in the third quarter from five different sources: Kirst, Leo, Simmons, Spallina, and Thomson. Syracuse took a 14-2 lead into the final frame.
Holy Cross broke its long scoreless drought, the longest opponent scoreless run of the young season, with a goal at 14:13 of the fourth, McIntire’s second of the day.
Spallina put away his fifth goal of the day to keep the Orange perfect on the power play, tucking away a feed from Hiltz to go up 15-3 midway through the fourth quarter.
McIntire completed the hat trick at 4:13 of the fourth for the second Crusader goal of the half. The visitors continued a small scoring run to three straight as Will Messineo and Brendan Lane scored a minute apart, trimming the Orange advantage to a 15-6 final.
Behind the Numbers
Syracuse out-shot Holy Cross 51-33, putting 35 of those chances on cage. Fourteen of the 15 Orange goals came in the first 45 minutes.
The visiting side held a slight edge at the faceoff X, winning 14 of the 25 draws. Syracuse cleaned things up on the offensive side with just eight turnovers.
Syracuse was a clean 4-for-4 on the power play, getting strikes from Thomson, Leo, and Spallina twice on the man-up. The Orange defense held Holy Cross off the board on two extra-man chances.
All told in the two games this weekend, Syracuse racked a combined 35 goals in just two games.
The Orange improved to 3-0 for the first time since kicking off 2021 with a 5-0 record. It is the first time the men’s lacrosse team at Syracuse is 3-0 under second-year head coach Gary Gait.
Syracuse is on its first three-game winning streak since the middle of the 2021 season.
The Orange won their 70th-straight game when limiting opponents to fewer than 10 goals. It is the first time since 2016 the Orange have held at least three straight opponents below the 10-goal threshold. Syracuse won its 260th game all-time in the JMA Wireless Dome while the program collected its 931st all-time win.
Spallina scored five goals for a second-straight game, which ties for sixth-most in a single game by a freshman. His seven points against the Crusaders on Sunday are tied for the 10th-most points by a freshman in a single game.

The Orange take to the road for the first time in 2023, heading to College Park, Maryland for a clash with the defending national champion, University of Maryland (0-1) next weekend.
Game time is set for 1 p.m. at SECU Stadium. Saturday’s game will be carried on BTN+.