Syracuse men’s lacrosse season preview: Specialists

The face-off, man-up and man-down units aren’t typically on the field very long, but their impacts are huge for any team hoping to make a deep May run.

Well, we’ve made it lacrosse fans!

For the first time in just over eight months, it’s officially game week for the Syracuse Orange as they open up their 2025 campaign this Saturday against Jacksonville at noon in the JMA Dome.

Which also means we’re closing out our positional group previews after taking a look at the attack and offensive midfield and the defense and goalie last week. Today, we’re finishing up with the team’s specialists who play critical roles in critical moments and make up the face-off, man-up and man-down units.

Face-off

• Key Returners: John Mullen, Sam English, Jake Spallina, Carter Rice
• Key Departures: Mason Kohn, Saam Olexo, Matt Wright, Jake Stevens
• Key Additions: Michael Grace, Ryder Ochoa

Face-offs are an interesting proposition for ‘Cuse this year, coming off a hugely successful season when they finished seventh in the country at the dot with a .580 winning percentage.

But last year, the Orange had a vicious two-headed monster in Mason Kohn (.583) and John Mullen (.578) who took turns helping SU control pace the majority of the time. They were the story on restarts, combining to take 521 of 524 face-offs on the year (Kohn 336, Mullen 185).

Mullen absolutely proved himself as a strong FOGO as a true freshman, but he was carrying a much lighter load as the backup taking 35 percent of the draws while Kohn handled 64 percent.

With Kohn gone, Mullen’s workload is about to jump up significantly from his rookie campaign. I’m not too concerned about it overall, especially because we know he has all the physical tools to succeed and even potentially improve on last year. But it’ll be a different kind of look without Kohn this year, and it’s definitely worth noting.

There were also some key departures on the wings in Jake Stevens, Saam Olexo and Matt Wright, so that’s a big contingent of veteran GB pursuers out the door for ‘Cuse. The good news is there’s a number of players who also have experience as wings ready to step in, most particularly Sam English and Jake Spallina as they possibly lean even further into their all-around midfielder roles. RIT transfer Michael Grace could play a huge role here, too, assuming he’s part of the defensive midfield rather than close.

One final thing about Kohn’s departure is not just replacing his 64 percent of face-offs taken and his 58 percent win percentage, but also his 15 points on eight goals and seven assists. He had a huge year winning draws to himself and initiating instant offense for the team. He actually finished with one more point for the season than Jackson Birtwistle on the second-line midfield. Once again, Mullen has proven an ability to imitate his elder former teammate (3G, 1A last year), but Kohn’s 15 points is going to be a lot to replace in the quick-attack department.

Man-up

• Key Returners: Joey Spallina, Owen Hiltz, Michael Leo, Finn Thomson, Sam English, Jackson Birtwistle, Tucker Kellogg, Trey Deere
• Key Departures: Jake Stevens
• Key Additions: TBD

Last season was a big downgrade for the EMO unit. After dominating the country in 2023 to the tune of 39 man-up goals and a ridiculous .565 success rate, 2024 saw the EMO fall to a .418 success rate (28-of-67). They actually led the country in total goals with 28 because of how many flags they drew, but they finished 22nd nationally in percentage.

It’s not too bad, overall, but given what we know that group is capable of, it was a big disappointment after the year before.

Basically the entire unit is back together again, and, in theory, they should be one of the nation’s very best given the elite level of their movement and passing. Joey Spallina and Owen Hiltz led the way with six EMO goals apiece last season, but we know that anyone on the man-up is capable of doing that given their unselfishness.

Man-down

• Key Returners: Dylan Sageder, Jordan Beck
• Key Departures: Tommy Drago, Nick Fraterrigo, Jake Titus
• Key Additions: TBD

One of the most interesting and unique storylines of last season was that of the “Junkyard Dogs”, the Orange’s man-down unit that was comprised entirely of five players who played exclusively on man-down.

When ‘Cuse committed a penalty, first-year defensive coordinator John Odierna took all of his All-American caliber defenders off the field and replaced them with a group specifically designed to operate in man-down situations.

It was an extremely bold tactic by Odierna to take guys like Billy Dwan and Riley Figueiras off the field in favor of their backups, but those players became experts and specialists in the truest sense of the word. The results were decent overall, landing SU just inside the top half of the country (35th nationally) at a .644 stop-rate.

So, the question is, will the “Junkyard Dogs” be coming back for part two this spring? It’ll be a tough task given that three of the five members are gone due to graduation and transfer, with only Dylan Sageder and Jordan Beck returning.

If Odierna goes for a repeat, there are plenty of young defenders on the squad looking for their chance to make an impact for this team.