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Syracuse upset Virginia last weekend for the second time this season behind a career-best performance from the Orange’s faceoff specialist Jakob Phaup.

SU enters Saturday’s matchup against Notre Dame without attack Chase Scanlan, who was suspended from the team last week after he was involved in what the Department of Public Safety classified as a domestic incident. Scanlan was reinstated by head coach John Desko on Monday, but he will not travel with the team to Notre Dame.

Here’s what to expect from SU’s (6-4, 2-3 Atlantic Coast) second matchup against the Fighting Irish (6-3, 2-3) after the Orange lost the first, 18-11, in the Carrier Dome:

Roshan Fernandez (6-4)
Kavanagh’s back
Notre Dame 15, Syracuse 14

With Nick DiPietro, the Orange gave up nine points to Pat Kavanagh during Syracuse and Notre Dame’s first matchup. Now without one of its defensive mainstays, Syracuse has the even taller task of stopping Kavanagh again. SU put on an impressive show against Virginia last Saturday — and during its second week of the season — but the two Virginia games seem more like outliers than the norm in the grand scheme of the Orange’s season.

Phaup is coming off a career-best 24-of-27 performance against Virginia, but now he’ll have to face Kyle Gallagher and Charles Leonard, two players who were just selected in the Premier Lacrosse League College Draft this week. Phaup should have some confidence, and he’ll be eager to flip the narrative after going 1-of-8 against Notre Dame in the last game. SU will need more possessions than the last time these teams met for its offense to get going.

I think Phaup’s performance keeps this game closer than anticipated. But with Notre Dame coming off two narrow losses to Duke and North Carolina, the Fighting Irish will bounce back and pull away late against Syracuse.

Allie Kaylor (6-4)
Worth a shot
Notre Dame 15, Syracuse 13

Syracuse has had a habit all season of not being able to string well-played games together. It’s tough to imagine now — 10 games in — that the Orange will break the trend and follow their win against Virginia with a strong game against a team that blew them out by seven goals less than a month ago. Combine that with key injuries on defense and the top scorer missing, Syracuse is not in a great position heading into a game against the No. 4 team in the nation.

The Orange won’t have as tough of a time as they had against the Fighting Irish last time out. Just like SU narrowly beat Virginia after blowing it out earlier in the season, it’s unlikely that UND will repeat its 18-goal performance. Kavanagh, Notre Dame’s best player, has slowed down as of late. Since recording nine points against Syracuse, he’s recorded three points or fewer in every game but had a seven-point outing against Duke. The game will be closer than it was last time, but the Fighting Irish will prove again that they’re the better team.

Arabdho Majumder (5-5)
Once bitten, twice shy
Notre Dame 16, Syracuse 13

Even in two losses last week, Kavanagh picked up 10 points against the top two teams in the ACC, Duke and North Carolina. Against Syracuse the first time, he picked up nine points. He’s a player who’s shown throughout this year that he’s a nightmare one-on-one matchup that even the best defender in the ACC, JT Giles-Harris, couldn’t figure out. He’ll be the difference again for Notre Dame as it hosts the Orange on Saturday, especially with DiPietro missing. He’ll open up space for the others on his team, such as Griffin Westlin and Will Yorke, to finish chances off-ball, where SU has struggled this season defensively.

And if Syracuse struggles at the faceoff X once more, the score could be even more lopsided than 16-13. Phaup dominated Virginia’s Petey LaSalla twice but has struggled against every other faceoff man in the ACC. That’s a tough trend to break against Gallagher, who has won 61.6% of his draws this season. Given Owen Seebold’s play this year, the SU offense may not take too much of a hit even without Scanlan. But without the ball, they won’t be able to do enough.

Published on April 30, 2021 at 10:52 am