SU lacrosse breaks Vermont tie to take home season-opener win

SU lacrosse breaks Vermont tie to take home season-opener win

The Orange starts 2023 season undefeated with 7-5 victory.
Published: February 4, 2023
The Syracuse men's lacrosse team celebrates after a season-opening win against Vermont Saturday at JMA Wireless Dome.
The Syracuse men's lacrosse team celebrates after a season-opening win against Vermont Saturday at JMA Wireless Dome.

Syracuse lacrosse surpassed Vermont in the fourth quarter, breaking a 5-5 tie and taking home the 7-5 victory on Saturday. The Orange made a statement, opening their season undefeated after a 4-10 losing record last year under first year head coach Gary Gait.

Vermont are back-to-back America East champions with wins in 2021 and 2022.

SU led 4-1 going into halftime with goals from Saam Olexo, Jackson Birtwistle, Alex Simmons and Finn Thomson (first career goal). But the Catamounts quickly bounced back in the third quarter with four consecutive goals to grasp the 5-4 lead.

As the clock winded down in the third quarter, SU attackman Joey Spallina, the No. 1 recruit from the class of 2022, made his first career goal to make it even 5.

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Syracuse's Finn Thomson (23) pushes down the field.

Birtwistle scored his second goal of the game, assisted by Thomson, with 13:41 left in the fourth quarter to take back the Syracuse lead. About six minutes later, SU’s Owen Hiltz added another goal to the board to solidify Syracuse’s 7-5 win.

The Orange defense limited Vermont to just seven shots in the final quarter compared to SU’s 12. Vermont totaled 35 shots to Syracuse’s 44.

“The defense played very well,” Gait said. “Our offense has some work to do…If we can put it all together, I think we’ll be able to compete this year and have a much better season. Looking forward to moving forward.”

Next up, the Syracuse Orange host UAlbany on Friday at 6 p.m. It’ll be UAlbany’s first game of their season.