The full schedule hasn’t been released just yet, but we already know about a few notable dates for the program this season.
We’re still a few weeks away from turning the calendar and the Syracuse Orange haven’t even officially released their schedule yet, but we already know that 2025 will feature a handful of firsts for Gary Gait and the Orange.
Through the piecing together of other team’s schedule releases, we currently know six of ‘Cuse’s games for the upcoming season, and there’s a few eye-catching inclusions right off the bat:
- Saturday, February 1 — HOME vs. Jacksonville
- Friday, February 7 — HOME vs. Vermont
- Saturday, March 1 — Away at Utah
- Saturday, March 8 — HOME vs. Johns Hopkins
- Saturday, April 12 — Neutral vs. Cornell on Long Island
- Saturday, April 26 — HOME vs. North Carolina
Perhaps the biggest one is the news that Syracuse and Cornell will take their longtime CNY rivalry downstate for a neutral site meeting on Long Island.
For the first time in their 107-game history that dates back to 1920, the Orange and Big Red will meet at a neutral site in the regular season. And the travel for both teams means that the traditional Tuesday night time slot is out in favor of weekend real estate.
Since last year’s game was in Ithaca, it’s the Orange giving up the home game for this one. Something we’ve learned about Gait in his brief tenure with the men is that he likes to take his team on the road to neutral sites for a showcase game, and he’s not afraid to do it against big-time opponents (UNC in 2023, Hopkins and Delaware in 2024).
Further up the list, we can see that the season will kick off with another first: the first ever game against Jacksonville University and the overdue return to the Dome of two-time national champion John Galloway to his alma mater as Jacksonville’s head coach. That should be a fun way to kick off the season.
Returning to the road trip theme, on March 1, the Orange will be venturing out west to play the Utah Utes for the second-straight season, but the first time on the road.
This one is significant because, unless I’m missing something, this will mark the furthest out west SU has ever gone for a lacrosse game. They’ve been to Colorado a couple times for games against Denver and Air Force, but never as far as Salt Lake City, Utah.
‘Cuse’s own schedule release shouldn’t be too far off, but we’ve already got a good sense of some things with the six games we already have. We know five non-conference opponents, four home dates and two interesting road trips. Now, we wait for the SU release to get all our Spring 2025 plans laid out.
Stay tuned for that and more as we start to ramp up coverage of lacrosse season as we inch closer to February.