Syracuse men’s lacrosse: Orange bullied in 10-8 NCAA Quarterfinals loss to Denver

The Orange’s season came to a screeching halt as they crashed into Denver’s brick wall and fell one step short of returning to the Final Four.

The Syracuse Orange’s season came to an abrupt ending on Sunday afternoon in Towson, as they fell to the Denver Pioneers, 10-8, in the NCAA Quarterfinals.

This was a game in which almost everything went wrong and almost every opportunity was not capitalized on for SU, and a 3-0 run in the fourth quarter was too little, too late to save their season.

Ultimately, the Orange were pushed around in this game by a Denver team, and particularly their defense, that stopped ‘Cuse from doing what they do best.

Denver played an extremely packed-in man-to-man that defended straight up and very rarely slid to a ball carrier. ‘Cuse spent the majority of the game trying to face dodge from the wings or up top, and got completely shut down by the Pioneers.

Not only is trying to attack off the dodge SU’s relative weakness in this offense, but it was extra difficult in this game because of how much Denver clogged up the middle of the field. Even when someone did beat their primary defender, there was a secondary defender right there to take his place.

The Orange were unable to adjust their attacking strategy and were completely shut down to the point that they scored only one goal in a 32-minute span through the middle of this game.

They never figured out how to spread Denver out a little more, how to get their attack more touches, or simply how to move the ball with any consistency. The free-flowing nature that is the trademark of this offense was completely absent on this day as the Orange allowed Denver to dictate the pace and flow of what was happening when SU had the ball.

The Pioneers deserve credit for forcing ‘Cuse into a game that exposed their biggest flaw as an offense: a lack of dynamic, athletic dodgers who can take over a game when the team needs a goal (or two) to keep their season going.

This game could have gone so much differently than it did, and there are so many chances that ‘Cuse could have taken advantage of that they didn’t, even with Denver’s defensive game plan working as they planned. But they couldn’t do it, and they were held to their season low in scoring as a result.

Michael Leo (3G) and Sammy English (2G, 2A) were the only ones who were really able to find much of anything in this game, leading the team in goals and points, respectively. Owen Hiltz (1G, 1A) had a pair of points, and Jake Stevens (1G) and Finn Thomson (1G) each found the net once.

And that was it; only five players recorded a point in this game for SU. Joey Spallina was held point-less as Denver learned from Towson’s mistakes in defending him. It was yet another game in which the offense couldn’t get him all that many touches, and he was pushed around and never got close to anything even when he did. He finished with two shots total.

But he was far from the only one who was ineffective in this game. It was the third quarter before the starting ‘Cuse attack even attempted a shot. Leo and English shot 5-of-13, while the rest of the team went 3-of-23.

The offensive end wasn’t the only part of the game in which ‘Cuse was pushed around by Denver. Alec Stathakis helped the Pios win the FO battle, 12-10, but it was worse than that for SU as they turned the ball over at least three times directly after wins. Stathakis was the main reason for that as he bodied up and got physical even when he lost a restart.

The defense threw a little bit of zone in with their man and mostly had a decent day, although the shorties got beaten a handful of times. They were far from the problem on the day, as two of Denver’s goals went to replay and were unable to be overturned even though both looked questionable, at best.

Will Mark made nine saves and Saam Olexo had a big day with five caused turnovers in their final games for SU.

In the end, this season was another step in the right direction as the program continues the ascent back up the ladder. It’s just a very frustrating end on a day where Denver controlled the game and ‘Cuse couldn’t make enough plays to overcome them.