Men’s lacrosse continues win streak, beats long-time rival

His eyes were focused on one man: Coach Roy Simmons Jr., his grandfather. The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame member took off his white Syracuse hat, waving it in approval toward the team down on the field. The Kraus-Simmons Trophy was staying at SU.

No. 8 seed Syracuse men’s lacrosse (6-3) defeated its oldest rival Hobart and William Smith Colleges 11-4 in what was a very special moment for the Simmons family. Ryan’s father, Coach Roy Simmons III, director of operations for Syracuse men’s lacrosse, got to watch his son’s victory from the sidelines.

Although Ryan Simmons knows the significance of this rivalry game, he attempted to stay composed.

“I try to not kind of treat it any differently from any other game, but we usually have my dad talk earlier before the game and kind of explain a little bit of the tradition behind the trophy and kind of what it means,” Ryan Simmons said.

It was the 104th meeting between these two teams and the 76th program win for SU over Hobart. The Orange has won 30 of the 33 meetings since the trophy started being awarded at each game between the schools. It has become a part of the third-longest running series in college lacrosse history.

Syracuse had only one day since its last game to prepare for this matchup, but sophomore attacker Stephen Rehfuss did not think the short rest time was a big deal.

“I think everyone was just excited to play. It was a quick turnaround, but everyone loves playing in games, so it was easy to get up for the game, especially one like this with a storied tradition,” he said.

Rehfuss led the way for the Orange with three goals and two assists. Coach John Desko said he thinks he runs the offense very well and believes awareness to be one of the player’s biggest strengths.

“I think that why he gets some of his prod, is he knows where to be and when to be there, and I thought that he shot with some precision today,” Desko said.

Nate Solomon and Jamie Trimboli finished with two goals each. The duo also had a combined three assists in the win.

Syracuse goalie Dom Madonna was dominant once again, finishing with 9 saves in the game. The senior was coming off a 13-save performance against Notre Dame on Saturday that earned him NCAA Player of The Week honors.

Hobart got on the board first with a goal from Bryan Hancock early in the first quarter, but the Orange eradicated any chance of Hobart getting to raise the trophy by responding with an 8-0 run.

SU led 7-1 at the half thanks to a balanced offensive attack featuring goals from Solomon, Trimboli, David Lipka, Bradley Voigt, Brendan Curry and Matt Lane. Hobart scored three goals in the third quarter to make the score 8-4 entering the final 15 minutes of play.

Syracuse takes on Cornell April 10.