It’s a long way until May, but Friday night in the JMA Wireless Dome certainly had the feel of championship weekend. No. 2 Syracuse (3-0) will move up to the top spot in the rankings after taking down No. 1 Maryland, 11-9, its first victory over the Terps since 2009.
Syracuse attackman Joey Spallina, the USA Lacrosse Magazine Preseason Player of the Year, led the way with four goals, including back-to-back goals in the first quarter that ignited a five-goal run that gave the Orange a 6-2 lead before a crowd of over 10,000 fans. Maryland (1-1) played catch-up the rest of the way, twice pulling to within a goal, the last with 13:01 remaining in the game to cut Syracuse’s lead to 10-9 on Elijah Stobaugh’s third goal of the game.
The weight of a one-goal game between the two heavyweights became apparent as the teams combined to turn the ball over on five of the next six possessions before Syracuse freshman Bogue Hahn gave the Orange a big insurance goal with 7:26 to play.
Syracuse goalie Jimmy McCool made two saves down the stretch to help wrap up the victory.
Syracuse dominated possession early with John Mullen winning 9 of 13 faceoffs in the first half, but Maryland’s Henry Dodge, a transfer from Vermont, flipped the script in the second half and the teams finished dead even on 24 faceoff attempts.
Spallina now has 11 goals through three games in 2026 and Friday’s big showing had extra importance after he was limited to just one assist against Maryland in last year’s NCAA semifinal loss. Wyatt Hottle and Michael Leo each added two goals for Syracuse and McCool finished with nine saves.
Stobaugh led Maryland with the three goals and added an assist. The Terps got two goals each from Braden Erksa, Leo Johnson and Eric Spanos while Brian Ruppel made 10 saves, five of them coming in the first quarter when Maryland struggled to gain possession.
Syracuse heads to Harvard next Saturday for its first road trip of the season while Maryland hosts No. 3 Princeton in its next game.
