Syracuse men’s lacrosse: Spallina, Hiltz reach 200 career points as Orange hold off Colgate, 16-12

It was a career-high, milestone kind of day amidst the usual chaos of a Colgate-’Cuse matchup.

It was a wild, frantic afternoon of lacrosse in the JMA Dome as the No. 10 Syracuse Orange held off a second-half charge from the No. 18 Colgate Raiders to take a 16-12 victory and improve to 7-2 on the season.

The day belonged to Joey Spallina (5G, 6A), who finished with a career-high 11 points in leading ‘Cuse to the win. Joey and Owen Hiltz (3G, 2A) both reached 200 career points in this game, on the same play no less, becoming the 18th and 19th players in program history to do so.

In net, Jimmy McCool (18SV) had his best game in a ‘Cuse uniform with a career-high 18 saves, a large number of which were high-difficulty where he bailed out his defense and helped keep Colgate at a safe-enough distance. If Jimmy doesn’t have his best performance today, this game looks different.

The day started fast for the Orange, like as fast as possible, as Johnny Mullen took the opening face-off and found Hiltz for a laser-beam opening goal five seconds into the game.

The offense really didn’t let up from there. After Colgate tied the game, Spallina and Hiltz connected for a goal that simultaneously gave them both 200 points for their careers. Before today, only 17 players in over 100 years of SU lacrosse had reach that milestone, and it happened twice on the same play this afternoon.

That goal also kicked off a 4-0 run for the Orange that pushed them to a 5-1 advantage on the back of an offense that was moving the ball with spectacular quickness and efficiency. SU assisted on all of their first five goals in the first quarter as they played their favorite brand of team-oriented offense.

Holding a 5-2 lead after one frame, the second quarter continued ‘Cuse’s dominance as they won the quarter 3-0 to take an 8-2 lead into the half. Spallina was involved in all three tallies. He scored himself after getting his defender hung up, found Sammy English for a pretty BTB goal and scored an open-net goal from over near the sideline while being defended by Colgate’s goalie Matt Lacombe as part of their 10-man ride.

The first half was a phenomenal team performance from ‘Cuse as they dominated face-offs, executed offensively and held Colgate’s third-ranked offense to two goals.

The second half was a different story as the Raiders came out with a renewed energy, scoring two goals in two minutes to immediately make it an 8-4 score. SU quickly punched back, however, with three quick goals in the same two-minute time frame, including a Billy Dwan open net goal from midfield and a nice connection between Spallina and Trey Deere (4G), who had four goals for the second straight game.

From there, Colgate started breaking down the ‘Cuse defense and catching them off guard in this back-and-forth game multiple times, going on a 4-2 run to close the third and make it a 13-8 game heading to the fourth.

They kept the pressure up big and made a true game of it by scoring three goals in a minute in the fourth to grab all the momentum and make it a 13-11 score with 8:48 to go. But on the third goal of that stretch, they committed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that the Orange ended up capitalizing on thanks to another Spallina-to-Deere connection.

Colgate would get that goal back with 2:32 to play to make it 14-12 to keep the outcome in question. The Orange won the ensuing face-off and Joey ended up scoring his fifth goal and career-high-setting 11th point to put the game to bed for good with 1:15 remaining. SU tacked on one final goal to make it a 16-12 final.

Multiple times on the broadcast, Anish Shroff categorized the game and the way Colgate likes to play as “helter skelter”, which was perfectly appropriate. The game was an up-and-down, back-and-forth affair. Thanks to the 10-man ride, every ‘Cuse clear was an adventure, with many of them ending in over-half field shots with a subsequent back-up as a method of clearing. The Orange also scored multiple open-net goals as a result, as well.

In addition, every single ground ball or loose ball opportunity in this game was an extended battle where it was never over until it was over, as they say. It was a scrappy, chaotic game as it has become with these two teams.

The Orange won the FO fight, 18-13, and edged out a 37-32 advantage on ground balls. Both teams took 49 shots and both teams turned it over 15 times. Colgate never stopped fighting despite SU holding a comfortable lead almost the entire game, but the brought it down to two multiple times in an increasingly-tense fourth quarter.

Amidst the chaos, the Orange had an undisciplined day with eight penalties to Colgate’s three. Thankfully, the man-down unit put in a great days work holding the Raiders to 2-of-8 on the EMO.

The attack had a massive day, combining for 20 of the team’s 27 points. Sammy English had another strong, workman-like effort with a goal, an assist, a caused turnover and four ground balls. That young man has unlimited energy.

Perhaps the biggest difference in this wild game was in net, where McCool’s career day of 18 saves significantly out-paced Lacombe’s 10 for the Raiders. The teams tied with 49 shots each, but it was Colgate who actually held the advantage in shots on goal, 30-26. Jimmy McCool made sure that edge didn’t equate to a victory.

The Orange will be back in action next weekend when they begin ACC play by traveling south to face the Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday, March 29 at 1 PM on ACC Network Extra.