Syracuse lacrosse: Virginia previews and game thread

A huge Saturday as both the women and men face-off with UVA in ACC clashes.

The month of March is coming to a close with a weekend of great importance for the Syracuse Orange, as both the women and men will meet the Virginia Cavaliers in ACC showdowns.

The women’s game is huge in the ACC standings, as ‘Cuse and UVA are part of a five-way tie for third place at 3-2 in conference. The result of this game will go a long way in determining tournament seeding as well as being a resume booster for the winner.

In addition to the usual insanity for a SU-UVA men’s game, this is the ACC opener for a ‘Cuse team needing to keep building their resume and a Virginia team in need of a spectacular April run in order to keep things going in May.

The games are unfortunately overlapping as the women start at 12 PM on ACC Network Extra, while the men follow at 1 PM also on ACC Network Extra.

• All-time series: 32nd meeting; Syracuse leads, 18-13
• Last meeting: Syracuse W, 19-4, on April 26, 2024 in ACC Tournament Semifinals
• Syracuse this season: 7-4 overall, 3-2 ACC
• Virginia this season: 7-3 overall, 3-2 ACC

UVA is on a three-game winning streak which includes a pair of ranked wins over Duke and James Madison. They beat Pittsburgh in their most recent game last weekend.

They have a ranked win over Princeton from back in February, and all three losses are to ranked teams in Stanford, Navy and North Carolina.

Women vs. Virginia

The Cavaliers have a very well-balanced, dangerous and youthful offense. Their top four scorers are all sophomores.

Madison Alaimo (14G, 31A) leads the team with 45 points and 31 assists. She’s one of the best assisters in the sport, tying for 10th in the country at 3.1 assists per game. She likes to spread it around to her classmates, as the other three sophomores are their next three leading scorers and all with 20-plus goals.

Jenna DiNardo (28G, 12A) is the leading goal scorer and second 40-point scorer, while Addi Foster (20G, 11A) and Kate Galica (20G, 4A) are the two 20-goal scorers. It’s going to be very interesting to see what the ever-changing Orange defense does in this game against possibly the most well-balanced offense they’ve faced this side of UNC and Northwestern.

Kate Galica is possibly the best weapon on the team as their all-around force. She’s tied for second on the team in goals (20), fourth in points (24), and leads them in draw controls (99) and caused turnovers (11).

She will provide a big challenge for the SU draw unit as the sophomore is sixth in the country in draw controls per game (9.9) and leads a Virginia unit that is 11th nationally in draws per game (16.5) and 20th in win percentage (57.5). She’s got good size at 5’8” so this could be another game where we see Meghan Rode factor in at some point.

On the defensive end, the UVA goalies have only been having an okay season. Junior Mel Josephson (63SV) has played the bulk of the minutes and has a 12.22 GAA and a 39.4 save percentage. Senior Abby Jansen (13SV) has appeared in more than half the games and has an 8.79 GAA with a 43.3 save percentage.

• All-time series: 43rd meeting; Tied, 21-21; last 10 games, tied 5-5; at Virginia, tied 9-9; all-time goals in series, Syracuse leads 555-554
• Last meeting: Syracuse W, 18-17, on April 20, 2024
• Syracuse this season: 7-2 overall, 0-0 ACC
• Virginia this season: 5-4 overall, 0-0 ACC

At 5-4, the Cavs don’t really have many wins of note this year. They’ve beaten Colgate, Towson and Utah to match SU’s wins, as well as High Point and Albany.

They’ve lost to Richmond, Ohio State, Hopkins and Maryland. They played twice last week and beat the Great Danes and the Utes, both at Klockner.

Men vs. Virginia

UVA has been underwhelming this season as they’ve struggled in the aftermath of losing two of their best players in program history in Connor Shellenberger and Payton Cormier, among other key contributors. Losing three incoming five-star freshmen to season-ending injuries before the season even began made things worse.

As a result, the Cavaliers are in a precarious position resume-wise as they enter ACC play.

There’s obviously still tons of talent on their roster, but they’ve been having trouble producing. On offense, they’ve really lacked for midfield scoring as the starting attack of Truitt Sunderland (23G, 18A), Ryan Colsey (23G, 8A) and McCabe Millon (14G, 17A) have done the bulk of the scoring.

At midfield, Griffin Schutz (13G, 3A) remains a big, bruising presence, but there’s been a significant dearth of midfield scoring behind him. Continuing that trend will be crucial for the Orange rope unit as they try to force Virginia to lean heavily on their attack.

LSM Ben Wayer (50GB) is one of the best poles in the country. He’s a ground ball machine, a tenacious defender and a dangerous threat in transition with four goals and five points this season. SU can’t allow him to cause havoc too much in this game, because he’s a potential game-wrecker.

As in previous years, the UVA defense is populated by a bunch of big dudes who range from 6’2” up to 6’6”, which is always something to keep an eye on for the diminutive Orange attack. It can lead to advantages either way, so we’ll see who can gain the upper hand in that series of matchups.

Senior goalie Matthew Nunes (9.40 GAA, 52.9 SV%) continues to have a tremendous name but he’s always been inconsistent between the pipes. This year, he’s split time with junior Kyle Morris (11.85 GAA, 49.4 SV%).