Syracuse men’s lacrosse: Orange looking to regain upper hand in rivalry with Cornell

The Orange haven’t beaten the Big Red since 2019. Where have I heard that recently?

The rivalry between the Syracuse Orange and Cornell Big Red is one of the most historic, longest-running in all of college lacrosse.

A century’s worth of games between two great programs means taking turns in the driver’s seat, a lot of times with one holding control longer than the other would have liked.

Back in a post-WWII 40’s and 50’s, Syracuse won 16 games in a row for a near decade and a half of total domination. From the mid-60’s to the early 80’s, Cornell was in complete control, winning 14 of 15 during their run of three national championships in the 70’s.

But when ‘Cuse won their first NCAA title in 1983, they started a run of winning 17 of 19 in the series to close out the 20th century.

The 21st century has been much more of a game of tug-of-war. The teams have played 24 times in 25 years, with the Orange holding a 13-11 edge. SU has a four-game and three-game winning streak during this time, and everything else has been two-games or fewer.

In 2009, ‘Cuse grabbed the single biggest victory in the series when they beat Cornell, 10-9, in overtime in one of the most epic national championship games in history. It was the ultimate gut punch for the Big Red, who led by three, four minutes away from a title.

As they say, the rest was history. And any ‘Cuse fan who was around at the time will never forget the mad loose-ball scramble, Kenny Nims’ goal with four seconds left, Sid Smith’s overtime poke check, or Cody Jamieson’s casual winner.

That moment, etched in NCAA lacrosse history, was the ultimate shot of adrenaline into the arm of an already-historic rivalry. Or, at least, it was meant to be.

The Orange and Big Red have played 13 times since that fateful Memorial Day, and the intensity of the series has been a little uneven as both programs have gone through various coaching changes and quality levels.

Cornell leads the series, 7-6, since the ‘09 title game, and it’s been about a 50-50 shot as to whether those games have been close or not. Six of the games have been decided by a single goal, three of which went to overtime. The other seven, however, have all been decided by somewhere between five and eight goals for an average of 5.9 per game.

To make things even choppier, the COVID pandemic and some mis-matched scheduling has led to the programs only playing twice in the last five years. They’ve made up for that by making those two meetings overtime thrillers, both of which were unfortunately dropped by SU in pretty brutal fashion.

Back in 2022, the Orange had a 6-1 first quarter lead and a 10-4 second quarter lead before giving the game away, 16-15, in overtime.

Last year, they somehow managed to make things worse. After jumping out to a 7-0 lead, ‘Cuse held a 16-10 advantage midway through the third before Cornell scored five straight to get within one and set up one of the craziest finishes you’ll ever see.

The Big Red tied the game with 20 seconds left, then took the lead off the ensuing face-off 10 seconds later. With 10 seconds on the clock, the Orange turned right around and scored off the next face-off with one second in regulation to send it to OT.

CJ Kirst scored in the second overtime to give the Big Red the 18-17 win in a game that set up an incredible rematch this Saturday. The last time a ‘Cuse-Cornell game ended like that (the ‘09 title game), it was followed up by a one-goal game the next year.

But this time, it’s Syracuse looking to regain the upper hand in the Upstate rivalry. SU has lost four of the last five in the series, and hasn’t tasted victory since back in 2019.

There’s a lot more at stake in this one in terms of postseason positioning, but the Orange might do well to remember the motivations that served them so beautifully last weekend as they look to top the Big Red for the first time in six years.