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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Joey Spallina stood next to Jake Stevens to debrief a manic, pressure-filled 60 minutes of lacrosse. Spallina cracked a smile when discussing Brett Martin’s errant pass with under 10 seconds left as the clock dwindled on Johns Hopkins’ final comeback attempt. Spallina recounted the final play and had one response.

“I was just like, let’s f*cking go,” Spallina blurted to Stevens as he leaned back and stared into the night sky to collect himself.

It was as if all the pressure had not just been lifted from Spallina’s shoulders, but the rest of the Orange as well. Repeatedly, SU fell short in marquee matchups. Not just this season, but throughout SU head coach Gary Gait’s tenure. It wasn’t just the two overtime losses to then-No. 4 Maryland and then-No. 5 Army this season. Since 2022, it’s been a collection of almosts that led to a 1-13 record against top 10 opponents. But when Billy Dwan chucked the ball as high as he could with the clock hitting zero, he seemingly threw away Syracuse’s nightmares with it.

For the first time under Gait, the Orange defeated a top-five opponent. No. 9 Syracuse (6-2, Atlantic Coast Conference) came alive in the second half with 11 goals and hung on for a 14-13 win over No. 2 Johns Hopkins (5-2, 0-0 Big Ten). SU went the final 9:46 scoreless but held on down the stretch. Spallina led the offensive charge with six points (two goals, four assists) while Stevens and Christian Mulé added hat tricks for its first win over a top 10 opponent since March 26, 2022, against No. 10 Duke.

“It’s definitely the monkey off the back a bit,” Spallina said postgame. “We’ve come so close my last two seasons here and to have finally beaten a top-five team you know is huge.”

On a man-up advantage with less than 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Owen Hiltz dished to Stevens who ripped a step down past Chayse Ierlan to put Syracuse up 14-11.

The goal was SU’s 11th in 18 minutes, a complete flip from the first half for its offense. The Orange had a litany of chances in the first quarter but connected on three of their 17 shots as they held a slim one-goal lead. In the second quarter, Syracuse was timid with just three attempts as the Blue Jays rattled off three straight goals.

As Gait discussed the second-quarter troubles, he explained players weren’t making the right plays and failed to shift to the right spots to deal with a high-pressure Johns Hopkins defense. At halftime, Gait’s team regrouped as associate head coach Pat March crafted an offensive game plan for the second half.

March’s plan worked as the Orange scored five of the first six goals of the third quarter. It was a scattered effort with five different scorers during the period, capped off by Spallina finding Mulé on the crease to put Syracuse up 8-5 with 8:19 left in the third.

“We hung in there and we came out in the second half really ready to play,” Gait said. “The offense settled down, I thought we dominated the third quarter and I thought that was huge.”

As soon as the Orange built a cushion, Johns Hopkins answered back with three straight as Jimmy Ayers tied the game 8-8. But Spallina set up three more Syracuse goals, highlighted by a dish to Michael Leo in the dying seconds of the third. The attack curled infield and dished it to Leo, who whipped a behind-the-back bouncing shot to put the Orange up 11-8 heading into the fourth quarter.

After Sam English went down the alley and finished at a tight angle to give Syracuse its largest advantage of the night, the Orange sat pretty, but it didn’t mean the game was over.

Just a week ago against then-No. 2 Virginia, Johns Hopkins trailed by one heading into the fourth quarter but outscored the Cavaliers 5-2 in the final 15 minutes to hang on for an upset win.

Although they weren’t sizable leads, Syracuse held leads in the fourth quarter in both of its losses. Lacking a killer instinct, the Orange failed to close out wins. A four-goal lead seemed comfortable, yet Johns Hopkins continued to fight.

Garrett Degnon and Dylan Bauer scored to cut SU’s lead to two, but Stevens answered each time to put the Orange back up three.

The Orange tried to kill the clock, but their offense grew stagnant. The crisp ball movement and urgency faded as the threat of another failed signature win loomed.

Gait emphasized to his team throughout the week to play better situational lacrosse so they could close games out. He said the Orange took their foot off the gas with 10 minutes left trying to kill time and nearly paid the price.

Each team then went scoreless for six minutes, but Degnon broke the tension with a lefty rip from the right wing. After a Dwan slashing penalty, Matt Collison scored near the crease as SU’s lead was trimmed to 14-13 with 2:31 remaining.

“We were just thinking about what we talked about all week. And that’s being calm, being focused and understanding the situation we were in,” Gait said.

Mason Kohn won the ensuing faceoff — part of an 18-for-25 effort from the X and a 71% total effort from SU as a whole — and the Orange controlled possession as Gait called timeout with 2:22 left.

The shot clock read 73 seconds and for the next minute, Syracuse did nothing but pass the ball around the perimeter. Then, Spallina drove infield before unleashing a low shot which ricocheted off the post. SU was first to the endline as the shot clock reset to 60 and the game clock read 1:16.

Syracuse opted to not attempt a shot and used the shot clock to set up its defense. Ierlan dished to Martin, who tried to launch a pass upfield but Mulé poked the ball loose. In a hurry, Martin recovered the ball with eight seconds left, though an errant pass to Hunter Jaronski along the sideline ended Johns Hopkins hopes.

The Orange needed to sweat for it, but the third time was the charm for them. SU learned from its prior mistakes against top 10 teams. This time, it did just enough to get over the line. No goal-mouth controversy or open goal miss could deny what was the signature win of the Gait era.

“This is just a stepping stone for us to just keep on going,” Spallina said.

Published on March 9, 2024 at 9:51 pm

Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22