Syracuse men’s lacrosse: Orange and Big Red ready for historic meeting on Long Island

‘Cuse-Cornell defines a region in the lacrosse world, but they’re hitting the road for some downstate action this weekend.

The 108th meeting between the Syracuse Orange and Cornell Big Red rivalry is set to make a little series history this weekend.

The Orange and Big Red will meet this Saturday at 4 PM at Mitchel Field in Uniondale on Long Island, marking the first time a regular season meeting between the two NYS foes will be played at a neutral site.

It’s actually only going to be the third meeting to take place outside of Syracuse or Ithaca for a series that dates all the way back to 1920. The first was back in the 1987 NCAA Semifinals, a game in which Cornell prevailed. And, of course, the second was the all-time classic 2009 NCAA Championship game, won by Syracuse, 10-9 in overtime.

Unfortunately, breaking new ground in the series comes at the expense of a home game in the JMA Dome that surely would have been a raucous sight to behold on the back of last weekend’s massive win over Notre Dame. It probably doesn’t help matters that the game, part of an event being put on by Corrigan Sports, is exclusively being streamed behind a paywall on their network.

While that is disappointing news for the CNY community, it is offering a glimpse of elite-level Division I college lacrosse to local youth players on Long Island. And Gary Gait will be hoping that those kids getting an up-close look at his squad will have them dreaming off following their local heroes like Joey Spallina and Michael Leo up to the Dome one day.

This Long Island showcase is not just historic for the rivalry, it’s more importantly a huge showdown for the 2025 season.

‘Cuse’s ND win provided a ton of momentum and excitement for the Orange as they ride into this game against the No. 1 team in the country, now a Top 5 matchup with SU at No. 4. In addition, the postseason implications are huge as both teams try to build and solidify their resumes for seeding in May.

In a season where no team has truly separated themselves and there’s upwards of double-digit teams that could lay a claim to making a Final Four run, there’s still so much unsettled and this game represents a huge domino in figuring all of that out.

It’s also a game with all the star power you could ever want, headlined by Spallina in a homecoming and Tewaaraton favorite CJ Kirst as he tries to chase down the all-time NCAA goals record.

And let’s not forget about the way last year’s game went, with ‘Cuse blowing an early 7-0 lead and giving up two Cornell goals in the final 20 seconds before a Sammy English goal with one second left send the game to overtime.

But that man Kirst got the last word in double overtime to give the Big Red the win in what was arguably the game of the year, a heartbreaking one for the Orange.

Let’s just hope that the players haven’t forgotten that as they look to keep the revenge train going for a second straight weekend.