Syracuse men’s lacrosse: Have this year’s lineup changes taken the Orange offense to the next level?

A few tweaks to a veteran offense have helped ‘Cuse get off to a hot start in the new season.

As the face of a Syracuse Orange team on the rise last year, the Orange offense had a really good season.

They were talented, creative and a powder keg ready to go off at any given moment. But the fuse isn’t always going to get lit early and often, and when it didn’t, they sometimes struggled to find the spark.

It helped end their season, as the offense couldn’t solve the Denver defense in their 10-8 NCAA quarterfinal loss to the Pioneers.

In the offseason, questions abounded about how the offense could add a dimension to make themselves even more dangerous and help ‘Cuse finally make a return trip to Championship Weekend.

They were coming from a good starting point, returning seven of their top nine from last year’s sixth-ranked scoring offense, with the assignment of replacing attacker Christian Mulé and midfielder Jake Stevens in the rotation.

It started with replacing Mulé at attack. There were a handful of potential candidates to move down or enter the starting lineup to replace the graduate transfer, and the staff settled on Finn Thomson, one of multiple attackers by trade who had previously made the move up top because of a logjam down low.

With Finn vacating the first-line midfield, Luke Rhoa was promoted from backup to starter while Trey Deere replaced him on the second line.

Yes, it’s early, but through three games, the moves appear to be serving the skill sets and impact of the individuals on the offense well. With so much talent on this team, it’s important to put everyone in a position where they can best help the offense produce that powder keg effect.

It starts with Finn, who as we all know is a bonafide wizard with the stick. Whether it’s throwing effortless BTB passes, scoring between his legs or on backhanded shovel shots, there’s nothing Finn can’t do in any amount of space on a lacrosse field. Moving him down to attack, where he can operate in complementary fashion alongside Joey Spallina and Owen Hiltz, seems natural and truly gives SU one of the most feared attack lines in the country.

Simultaneously, it alters the complexion of the midfield, with Finn being replaced by Rhoa. For all of his talents, Finn isn’t the biggest dodging threat you’ll find, which is another reason to move him off midfield and move Luke into his space.

As Luke put on full display during the Towson game, he is simply one of the best shooters on-the-run in the entire country and can do it expertly with either hand. And now, as a starter, he gets the chance to strut his stuff much more than he did as a backup in his first two years.

Inserting Finn on attack and Luke at midfield looks like a net positive for both lines.

The starting midfield is now populated by English, Rhoa and Leo, all of whom are solidly capable of beating their man off the dodge. Sammy brings the pure speed and elusiveness, Michael the strength and toughness to muscle past, and Luke the elite shooting ability. Choosing how to defend this ‘Cuse midfield will be an adventure.

After the Denver loss, we lamented the dearth of dodging options, but is it possible that a little reorganizing of the lineup has helped make a difference?

Of course, it’s important to keep in mind that we’re only three games in and the schedule will be getting a lot tougher as we move forward, although SU did put up 18 goals on a Towson defense that held Johns Hopkins to 11 the week before.

Regardless, I do think this is a lineup that’s better set up to be successful in more varied ways this season, but only time will tell.

We won’t have to wait long for more research on the subject, as the Orange take their first road trip of the season down to College Park to face an always-difficult Maryland defense on Saturday at 2 PM on B1G+.