Syracuse men’s lacrosse: Jacksonville preview and game thread

Syracuse lacrosse is back, baby!

Spring has arrived back in Central New York, weather be damned!

With the calendar flipping to February today, Syracuse Orange lacrosse is back in town for another run at ending their drought and making it back to Memorial Day weekend.

That quest begins this afternoon as Gary Gait and the Orange welcome former ‘Cuse two-time National Champion and two-time First Team All-American goalie John Galloway back to his alma mater for the first time as the head coach of the Jacksonville Dolphins.

The Orange and Dolphins will kick off the 2025 season inside the JMA Dome at 12 PM on ACC Network Extra.

• Series history: First meeting
• SU last season: 12-6 overall, 3-1 ACC; lost in NCAA Quarterfinals to Denver, 10-8
• JU last season: 13-5 overall, 8-1 ASUN; lost in ASUN Championship to Utah, 16-13

The John Galloway impact

This is a good season-opening test for ‘Cuse, as Jacksonville has been a solid program for years now under the tutelage of the Orange legend.

If you can believe it, John Galloway is, in fact, entering his ninth season as the head coach at Jacksonville. That’s pretty difficult to believe given his age, which hasn’t stopped him from taking his program to new and improved heights over the course of the last decade.

Jacksonville’s first season as a program was 2010. In their first seven years of existence before Galloway arrived, the Dolphins had only one winning season and an overall record of 35-57 (.380).

In Galloway’s first eight years, they’ve had four winning seasons and an overall record of 49-42 (.538). The last three years have been especially strong, as they’ve gone 39-12 (.765), including beating Duke in back-to-back seasons, as well as Denver. They’re getting closer and closer to their first NCAA Tournament bid.

They’ve picked up wins over major programs before, and they can do it again if the Orange aren’t careful. And you know how badly he and his players would love to get him a win over his alma mater.

Scouting Jacksonville

The ASUN head coaches picked the Dolphins to finish third in their conference this season. Utah, another SU opponent, received all six first-place votes and the top spot, with Air Force narrowly edging out Jacksonville for second place.

They had three players selected to the preseason All-ASUN team, headlined by goalie Ryan Della Rocco, who was also named the preseason Defensive POTY. Attacker Jackson Intrieri and midfielder Jack Taylor were also selected to the all-conference team.

JU did lose last season’s leading scorer, who led them in all three major offensive categories, but they do return three of their top four and four of their top six scorers from last year.

Jackson Intrieri leads the way, coming off an impressive junior campaign in which he finished second on the team with 39 goals, 29 assists and 68 points. He also shot a phenomenal 41 percent for the year, so he’s definitely the top dog to watch for the ‘Cuse defense. Nicky Brown (35G, 25G, 60P), Jack Taylor (22G, 18A, 40P) and Ethan LaMond (21G, 3A, 24P) round out their top returning scorers.

Face-offs will be an interesting one in this game, as JU’s FO ace from last season is gone after taking 82 percent of their restarts last season. Their top returning FOGO is sophomore Drew Rippeon, who went 32-of-73 (.438) as a freshman.

In goal, Ryan Della Rocco is coming off a tremendous junior season in which he finished with 215 saves, a .558 save percentage and a 10.01 goals-against average. Those numbers earned him conference defensive player of the year.