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The Gary Gait era officially kicks off on Saturday afternoon when Holy Cross visits the Carrier Dome. After a first-round exit in last year’s NCAA Tournament, the Orange were ranked 12th in Inside Lacrosse’s preseason rankings amid an offseason that featured one of the biggest personnel changes in program history.

Multiple starters did not return after last season due to graduation, and Syracuse will also be without Owen Hiltz to start the season due to a lower body injury. Still, the Orange are the favorites to win their season opener against a Holy Cross (0-1) program that has historically struggled to put together winning seasons.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Crusaders:

All-time series

Syracuse leads 1-0.

Last time they played

The two sides met for the first and only time in March of last season, with Syracuse cruising to a 15-6 win. The Orange jumped out to a 6-0 lead at the half led by four Chase Scanlan goals. SU scored three more unanswered goals early in the third quarter before Holy Cross got on the board. That lead increased to 13-1 until the Crusaders went on a 5-2 run to close the game out.

Alongside Scanlan’s seven-point game, Hiltz recorded six, and Stephen Rehfuss tacked on four in an offensive thrashing that saw the Orange take 34 shots on goal, more shots than Holy Cross took the entire game. The win cemented a four-game win streak that began after Syracuse lost the season opener against Army, and it was also Syracuse’s second-largest victory of the season, with the largest being a 10-goal victory over UVA.

The Crusaders report

Holy Cross dropped its season opener to Providence, falling 16-9. Junior attack Jayce Lambert scored four points off the bench, which included a hat trick. Despite outshooting Providence, the Crusaders conceded 20 turnovers and couldn’t generate a comeback after being down 10-4 at halftime.

Holy Cross only played a combined 13 games over the last two seasons, both being shortened due to COVID-19. The Crusaders have only won a combined six games during that span, and aside from finishing 4-3 in 2020, they haven’t finished over .500 since 1988.

Head coach J.L. Reppert looks to get a young Holy Cross team over the hump, as it has never finished in the Patriot League’s top three. Reppert has brought in 15 members from the class of 2021, a midfield-heavy recruiting class.

How Syracuse beats Holy Cross

Just as it did last year, Syracuse needs to come out of the gates running, scoring early and outshooting the Crusaders. Holy Cross committed 20 turnovers against Providence last Saturday and conceded at least 17 in all but one game last season. The chances will come. It’s just a matter of not forcing anything too quickly for the Orange.

But whether those chances come will depend on Syracuse’s draw controls. A season ago, the Orange won the majority of their faceoffs in seven games. Now with the addition of TD Ierlan — the NCAA’s best-ever faceoff man — as a volunteer assistant coach, SU will look to continue that.

Syracuse will be also without some of its biggest attacks this season either due to graduation or injury. It has forced Gait into some early positional reshuffling ahead of his first game in charge. But the biggest question surrounds its defense. How much the Orange have improved defensively from last season, after allowing an average of over 14 goals per game, remains to be seen.

Player to watch: Will Spangenberg, attack, No. 11

Against Syracuse last March, Will Spangenberg led the Crusaders with two goals, scoring both during their four-goal final-quarter run. Spangenberg led Holy Cross with seven assists and finished second with 12 points in its six-game shortened season a year ago. He was also the team’s leader in assists with 15 during his rookie season in 2019.

Despite being held to just one assist in the season opener, the senior attack is Holy Cross’ best returning player from last season. Spangenberg is one of two attack-specific returners, along with Dean DiNanno, who led the team in points. The Crusaders’ attack duo combined for 26 of the team’s 74 points in 2021.

Stat to know: 18.8

Holy Cross outshot Providence, but only nine of its 48 shots found the back of the net. The Crusaders’ shot percentage in their season opener would rank as the team’s third-worst of 2021, and only 26 of those shots against the Friars ended up going on frame.

Syracuse, on the other hand, shot below 20% overall just once last season, which came in its biggest loss of the season against Notre Dame. The Orange’s second-worst shot total came against Holy Cross where it shot just over 23% percent despite the nine-goal victory.

Despite the team’s top four shooters from last season either being injured or having graduated, Syracuse should be the better offensive team in its season opener against a Crusaders side that struggles to consistently hit the net.

Published on February 9, 2022 at 9:34 pm

Contact Alex: ahcirino@syr.edu