Lacrosse Guide 2026

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one last shot

the thorpe era

built to bear

finally seen

Syracuse attack Joey Spallina enters his senior season with one thing on his mind: silencing his detractors by winning the national championship.

As Regy Thorpe takes over as Syracuse women’s lacrosse’s head coach, he has the tools to win the Orange their firstever national title.

Payton “Bear” Anderson honed his lacrosse game through hours of training with his father and will now have an increased attacking role in 2026.

Coco Vandiver arrived at Syracuse overlooked but now is the centerpiece of the Orange’s defense in her senior season.

2 LACROSSE GUIDE 2026

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Syracuse lacrosse enters the 2026 season on the brink.

The men’s side tasted the Final Four for the first time in 12 years in 2025. Now, the Orange aim to advance further and claim their first national title since 2009. Why is this the year they might do it? The acclaimed 2022 recruiting class is now seniors. The face of that class was Joey Spallina. But he’s not alone. Fellow senior defender Riley Figueiras guides SU’s defense, while sophomore Payton Anderson is set to step into a bigger attacking role.

As for the women, this season begins a new era. The team is led by first-year head coach Regy Thorpe, who returns to his alma mater and where he served 10 years as an associate head coach for the men’s team. His squad is made up of key returners in defender Coco Vandiver and highly-touted newcomers in freshman Mackenzie Borbi. Thorpe now aims to lead the Orange to a first-ever national championship.

The Daily Orange's 2026 Lacrosse Guide has everything you need to know ahead of Syracuse men's and women's lacrosse's consequential seasons.

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boston university 1PM FEB. 7 saint joseph's 12PM FEB. 13 maryland 6PM FEB. 21 harvard 1PM FEB. 27 princeton TBD MARCH 1 penn 12PM MARCH 7 johns hopkins 1PM MARCH 12 air force 5PM MARCH 16 denver 8PM MARCH 22 georgetown 1PM MARCH 28 duke 2PM APRIL 4 north carolina 2PM APRIL 11 virginia 4PM APRIL 18 colgate 5PM APRIL 25 notre dame 12PM FEB. 1

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maryland 5PM FEB. 13 north carolina 2:30PM FEB. 27 stanford 8:30PM FEB. 24 loyola 5PM FEB. 28 louisville 12PM MARCH 3 cal 5PM MARCH 6 virginia tech 5PM MARCH 12 northwestern 8PM MARCH 21 virginia 2PM MARCH 24 ualbany 3PM MARCH 28 pittsburgh 10AM MARCH 31 cornell 7PM APRIL 4 duke 5PM APRIL 11 notre dame 12PM FEB. 16 boston college 5:30PM FEB. 6

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LEGACY DEFINING The only thing on Joey Spallina's mind is winning a national championship

By Zak Wolf senior staff writer

J

oey Spallina’s mind went blank as he raced around the James M. Shuart Stadium turf after sealing Syracuse’s first Final Four appearance in over a decade.

Then, he felt a tug of his jersey.

Who’s grabbing me?

It was ESPN sideline reporter Morgan Uber.

One pirouette and SU’s star attackman was staring straight into a camera. The words that followed? They’re hard to forget.

“But hey, I mean, I guess I can’t dodge anybody or beat anybody,” Spallina said emphatically, after pouring in eight points to push Syracuse past No. 3 seed Princeton.

It was his moment to call out all the naysayers.

The doubters. The Twitter fingers criticizing him behind burner accounts. The fans in stadiums who’ve jeered and preyed on his downfall since he was an eighth grader playing varsity for Mount Sinai High School.

Spallina let them have it. He had every right to. For the moment, he was on top of the world.

A week later, he hit rock bottom.

In the final minute of Syracuse’s 14-8 loss to Maryland at Gillette Stadium, Spallina stood alone while his team congregated during a timeout, pondering what could’ve been.

Spallina still can’t get the game out of his head.

Every waking moment, he’s reminded of his onepoint performance. There’s only one way to erase that memory: winning a national championship.

This season is Spallina’s last shot at glory. His final chance to etch his name among the greatest Syracuse players of all time. Fail, and Spallina might never forgive himself. He couldn’t care less about individual accolades. Being the Tewaaraton Award favorite? He shrugs his shoulders. Earning the USA Lacrosse Preseason Player of the Year? He smiles it off. Even setting the all-time points record at Syracuse? Nothing.

He’ll exchange everything he has if it means hoisting the NCAA Championship Trophy come Memorial Day in Charlottesville, Virginia.

“Putting a 2026 championship banner up in the Dome is the only thing I really give a s— about,” Spallina said.

501 The number of points Joey Spallina logged at Mount Sinai High School, a Long Island record

Spallina can say lacrosse is a team game all he wants, but whether he likes it or not, the weight falls on his shoulders. SU’s senior-laden core of Michael Leo, Billy Dwan III, Riley Figueiras and Luke Rhoa makes it a national title contender. But when a Syracuse player wears No. 22, they become the center of the lacrosse world.

If it all went to plan for Spallina, there’d already be three more championship banners hanging in the JMA Wireless Dome. It’s an unreasonable ask for any player, but that’s just how Spallina’s wired.

Losing was foreign to him before college. In his formative years, Spallina never dropped a game playing up for Team 91 Crush, alongside future Duke All-Americans Brennan O'Neill and Andrew McAdorey. He lost three games in five years at Mount Sinai. Spallina’s father Joe — the women’s lacrosse head coach at Stony Brook — joked his son lost more games (seven) in his freshman year at SU than he did his entire career.

While he hasn’t brought banners, what Spallina has ushered in is stability. The Orange were reeling in 2022 — Gary Gait’s first season as SU’s head coach — after a program-worst four wins. The previous decade under John Desko was uninspiring. SU went seven straight seasons without a Final Four.

The question of “When will Syracuse be back?” was constantly broached. As the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2022, Spallina was seen as the one to bring the Orange back into the upper echelon of college lacrosse.

Spallina helped SU improve to eight wins as a freshman, but missed the NCAA Tournament.

He brought eleven wins and an NCAA Tourna-

ment Quarterfinal appearance in 2024 before last year’s Final Four berth.

However, at Syracuse, players aren’t remembered for Championship Weekend appearances. They’re defined by trophies, especially No. 22s. Gary Gait won three straight titles in the 1990s, Michael Powell won two, while his brothers Casey and Ryan each got one. Spallina knows the track record.

“Looking back on my career so far, it's been great,” Spallina said. “But the one thing that I'm missing is obviously a championship. It's just our main goal.”

For Spa llina, 2026 is his best shot. SU lost key pieces such as attack Owen Hiltz, midfielder Sam English and defender Michael Grace, but outside of that, SU’s spine is strong. And when you have a player of Spallina’s caliber, you always have a shot.

The senior put up monster numbers in three seasons, leading SU in points each year. He finished with 90 in 2025, increasing his career total to 246. He’s only 61 points off Powell’s all-time Syracuse points record, and barring any injury, he’ll smash it.

Despite the numbers, narratives follow Spallina’s every move. Some say he racks up points against lesser opponents. Others deride him for “disappearing” in big games. Critics rag on his playstyle, saying he’s a lackluster dodger.

It’s all a myth to Spallina and those around him.

“He's got such a standard set for himself, expectation set for himself,” Joe told The Daily Orange. “There’s a lot of pressure from the outside, but I think he puts it more on himself than anywhere else.”

Spallina doesn’t get fazed by the criticism. Detractors have always shadowed him.

People thought he wasn’t good enough to play junior varsity as a seventh grader at Mount Sinai. Hecklers talked trash from the bleachers when he rose to varsity the next season. Spallina didn’t understand the hate. He wasn’t the one who labeled himself a “lacrosse phenom.”

All he did was produce. Spallina finished high school with 501 points, setting the all-time Long

Island points record. Mount Sinai head coach Harold Drumm said he was the best player he had ever seen.

“He never went into a shell and never got intimidated by it,” Drumm said. “He just went ahead and did what Joey does, and that's just be a better lacrosse player than the people he was playing against.”

Coming to Syracuse only exacerbated the pressure. SU’s 10 national titles are the most of any men’s lacrosse program. They’re the New York Yankees of lacrosse, as Joe put it. Like any historic sports franchise, opposing fans look at their perceived star player with contempt. One Syracuse misstep and the blame lands squarely on Spallina, setting social media ablaze.

“Where was Spallina?”

“I told you Spallina couldn’t dodge.”

“Spallina is overrated.”

Spallina laughs at the overused storylines. He thinks about former Navy SEAL David Goggins’ quote: “You’ll never see a hater doing better than you.”

His biggest gripe is with those who feel his dodging is subpar.

At 5-foot-11 and 192 pounds, Spallina isn’t the most physically gifted player, nor does he have blurring speed. Spallina gets by because he’s the smartest player on the field.

He understands Syracuse’s offense is ballmovement-centric. Spallina also knows he’s at the top of every opponent’s scouting report, so sometimes he acts as a decoy. If Spallina’s asked to dodge, he will.

Just look at the Princeton game, where he scampered past All-Ivy League defender Colin Mulshine three different times for scores.

Most games Spallina lights up the box score. When he doesn’t, his impact is still felt. Joe pointed to SU’s 18-17 win over Virginia in 2024, where Spallina had zero points.

It might’ve looked like a bad game on paper. But UVA never once slid off him, and he used that gravity to let teammates get favorable matchups.

“The thing that people don't understand is no two players are the same,” Spallina said. “I think my dodging is really good. It's just not the way our offense is. It's a player-driven offense.”

His longtime trainer Justin Kull said memes about Spallina get shared in their group chat, and the senior jokes about them.

“The worst thing you can do is talk trash about him, because now you just gave him even more

Joey Spallina is 61 points away from tying Mikey Powell’s program record of 307 points.

Mikey Powell’s program record

246 307 Joey Spallina's points entering the 2026 season

motivation,” Kull explained. “The best thing to do for anyone would just keep your mouth shut and don't say anything to him, because all you're doing is giving him fuel. And that fuel is not like regular fuel. It's like nitrous, it lights him up even more and he gets more excited.”

Until Spallina wins it all, the haters won’t go away. They’ll still say he folds when it matters most. Spallina’s zero-point performance against Denver in the 2024 NCAA Quarterfinals and his dud versus Maryland don’t do him any favors.

Though the confidence in Spallina to come up big is still there.

“We just want Joey to be Joey,” Syracuse head coach Gary Gait said. “We've been working hard with him to handle the pressure and to kind of put that out of his mind and not force things and just play the game.”

Throughout his career, Spallina has seldom addressed the scrutiny. It’s why his postgame callout versus Princeton was uncharacteristic.

“It was kind of just kind of a polite ‘F— you’ to everybody. ‘We're back, and we made it to the Final Four,’” Joe said. “He earned the right to speak up for himself and his teammates. He keeps quiet, deflects a lot of stuff. So once in a while, you can back people off the plate.”

Spallina has his regrets. He explained his answer after beating Princeton “was more of just a cultivation of just what our team has gone through,” but he wished he said something different.

The following week against Maryland was why. Spallina finished with just one assist — which came with three seconds left — and Syracuse’s season ended with a whimper. The doubters Spallina shut up seven days earlier crawled out of the woodwork. Now, he’s on a mission to silence them once again.

“That's the first thought. I don't think there's much other thoughts going through there,” Spallina said of returning to championship weekend.

Spallina’s offseason lasted less than a week.

He immediately started playing box lacrosse for the Snake Island Muskies in the Three Nations Senior Lacrosse League. Every weekend, Spallina traveled eight hours to the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation to test his skills against adults.

Even there, Spallina was the center of attention. He was nicknamed "Hollywood" by his teammates because of his 37,000 Instagram followers. There was a palpable buzz whenever Spallina played, and kids waited for autographs following games, Snake Island head coach Kariwate Mitchell said.

After recording 378 points for the Orangeville Northmen in the Ontario Junior Lacrosse league in the two previous summers, Spallina matched up against pro players with the Muskies. Like anywhere Spallina’s been, he put up numbers, notching 73 points in 17 games and leading Snake Island to a Presidents Cup Championship.

“There's only a handful of guys that can do the things that he can do with a lacrosse stick in his hand,” Snake Island teammate Ryan Lynchbury said. “ There's no real impossible for him. He can make things happen from nothing.”

During the week, he worked on his speed and agility training with Kull at Revolution Athletics. Spallina donned a gray sweatshirt and sweatpants with his hood up, imploring Kull to turn off the air conditioning.

Working to be the best is all Spallina knows.

Since high school, he’s gotten up every day at 4:45 a.m. He goes from weight training to speed sessions before shooting at Stony Brook’s facilities.

It’s what sets Spallina apart.

Every training session, every weight lifted, every ball shot has led to this moment, where Spallina has one more opportunity at cementing his legacy at Syracuse.

It makes him think of his younger self. The little kid who fell in love with lacrosse in the backyard of his Rocky Point, New York, home.

Spallina never imagined what would follow. The glory, the noise, all that came from being in the spotlight.

They’re all chapters of Spallina’s story. And he wants to write his own ending.

“When I first committed, that was my opening, ending line: I want to bring Syracuse back to the pedigree and the place that we should be. And that's being at Final Fours.

“Nothing’s really changed.”

@ZakWolf22 zakwolf784254@gmail.com

4 LACROSSE GUIDE 2026

Syracuse men’s lacrosse came two games away from restoring itself as the kings of college lacrosse in 2025. After a decade-plus Final Four drought, the Orange found themselves with a chance at their 11th national championship. Instead, SU faltered, getting drubbed 14-8 by John Tillman’s Maryland.

After nearly tasting glory last season, Syracuse is hungry for more in 2026. It’s championship or bust. Everything Gary Gait has done the past four years has led to this moment. Syracuse has improved every season Gait’s been in charge, and the program’s next step is winning it all.

The Orange will begin the season ranked No. 3 in the country, only behind national runners-up Maryland and Princeton. A challenging schedule awaits the Orange, but with the pressure on, they’ll have to perform.

Here’s our beat writers predictions for Syracuse's 2026 season:

ZAK WOLF back on top 12-3 (3-1 ACC)

MVP: JOHN MULLEN | X-FACTOR: PAYTON ANDERSON Let’s not beat around the bush. This is Syracuse’s best shot at winning a national championship in a long time. The pressure is always on for SU because of its pedigree. This season, it’s ramped to the max, and it should be. The Orange are as talented as any team in the country, led

by Joey Spallina — the Tewaaraton Award favorite — Michael Leo, Billy Dwan III and plenty of others. Syracuse’s senior-led squad has one more shot at reaching the pinnacle of college lacrosse.

Everything over the past three years has built to this moment, and I think Syracuse will be back on top of the college lacrosse world come Memorial Day weekend. Spallina is the best player in the country. Going off last year’s metrics, the team (Cornell) with the best player (CJ Kirst) won. Will Spallina hit Kirst’s level of dominance? Probably not, but he has enough to help the Orange win it all.

With John Mullen at the faceoff X, Syracuse will never be outmatched there. With Mullen supplementing the attack, SU’s offense will be potent, while Dwan and Riley Figueiras hold down the fort defensively.

The schedule is challenging, with SU facing nine NCAA Tournament teams from last season. But to be the best, you have to beat the best, and that’s why Gary Gait constructed this mammoth slate. It’s all to make Syracuse the best team possible come May. Gait’s challenge will pay off, and Syracuse will officially be “back.”

men's lacrosse past season results final four

where season ended

MEN'S PREDICTIONS

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quarterfinals

missed

missed

2022

2023

2024

56.1 Gary Gait’s winning percentage since taking over as head coach

NICHOLAS ALUMKAL new season, same result 12-3 (3-1 ACC)

MVP: JOEY SPALLINA | X-FACTOR: LUKE RHOA Gait has garnered acclaim for performing better each season he’s helmed his alma mater. He went from missing the NCAA Tournament in 2022 and 2023 to the quarterfinals in 2024 and, finally, the Final Four in 2025. That upward trajectory stalls out in 2026.

In SU’s best chance to win a national championship in years, it’ll fail to surpass the Final Four. Again. The Orange will be pulsating with wins over big programs like last year’s barnburners against Harvard and Princeton. Syracuse will be up to the test in its loaded schedule, including going 5-1 on its six-game road trip. Rhoa, Anderson and Mullen will all step up to have terrific seasons. But the final taste in their mouth will again be a sour one for the Orange and their vaunted 2022 recruiting class.

The difference will be beating SU’s bête noire, Maryland. The Orange have lost all eight meetings against the Terrapins since 2009, including getting comfortably beaten in both meetings last year. An early-season home win against UMD would change my outlook for Syracuse. But until SU shows it can crack the Terrapins’ shell, I have no reason to believe it can reach the promised land.

Sure, Spallina will be the best player in the sport. He’ll become SU’s program points leader and win the Tewaaraton. But he doesn’t care about any of that. His stated goal upon arriving at Syracuse was to win four national championships. His and the rest of the 2022 class’ collegiate careers will end with zero.

MAURICIO PALMAR terp troubles 13-2 (4-0 ACC)

MVP: JOEY SPALLINA | X-FACTOR: DANTE BOWEN This is it. Syracuse — for perhaps the umpteenth year in a row — is facing a “Now or Never” season. Except this time, it’s legitimately now or never for the Orange to win their first NCAA Tournament since 2009.

SU’s highly-touted 2022 recruiting class — with core pieces such as Jimmy McCool, Leo, Finn Thomson, Dwan and, most importantly, Spallina — is entering its final year of eligibility.

Spallina will be Spallina. He’ll break Mikey Powell’s alltime points record with ease, and without Kirst wreaking havoc in Ithaca, he’ll end the season with his first Tewaaraton Award in tow. Right now, the real X-factor here is Dante Bowen. If the Ohio State transfer can become SU’s primary shortstick defensive midfielder, Syracuse could run through ACC play.

But at the end of the day, it simply won’t be enough. The Orange have a proverbial wall blocking them from reaching the sport’s pinnacle. Its name is “John Tillman.” Maryland — led by Eric Spanos — has consistently given SU trouble offensively, and the defensive tandem of Will Schaller and Eric Kolar will continue to bother Syracuse’s offense, even without Logan McNaney in net. If the bracket works out well for them, the Orange could find themselves in a national championship game. But their road will end wherever they encounter the Terrapins.

63% John Mullen won 63% of his faceoffs in 2025, the sixth-best winning percentage in Division I

2025

LACROSSE GUIDE 2026 5

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WOMEN'S PREDICTIONS

women's lacrosse past season results

Emma Muchnick scored 34 goals in 2025, the most of any Syracuse player

where season ended

34

final four

final four

quarterfinals second round

2022

2023

2024

2025

After a 10-9 2025 campaign and a second-round exit in the NCAA Tournament last May, Syracuse women’s lacrosse underwent significant change.

The Orange lost head coach Kayla Treanor just 10 days after being eliminated, when she suddenly announced she was accepting the head coaching position at Penn State. Then, SU lost star attack Olivia Adamson and draw control specialist Meghan Rode to the transfer portal, while points leader Emma Ward graduated.

But, with the hiring of new head coach Regy Thorpe, Syracuse has made it abundantly clear that the expectation remains the same: playing on Championship Weekend. SU boasted one of the youngest rosters in Division I last season, and — aside from Ward — returns most of its production on both ends of the field. The Orange also added four players in the transfer portal to replenish their depth.

Here’s how our beat writers think Syracuse will fare in 2026:

JORDAN KIMBALL don’t sleep 11-5 (7-3 ACC)

MVP: EMMA MUCHNICK | X-FACTOR: MILEENA COTTER

30

Gracie Britton recorded 30 points in 2025, the third-most among returning players

9

The number of losses Syracuse had in 2025, the most in program history

The key for Syracuse’s new-look squad is taking one game at a time and catching fire when it’s least expected. With the departures of Ward and Adamson — who combined for 284 goals and 230 assists — the weight is heavier than ever on SU’s young core to pick up the pieces.

But there’s nothing to worry about. Some college lacrosse fans are probably sleeping on the Orange this upcoming season. This is your formal notice not to. Falling flat in the NCAA Tournament Second Round — as Syracuse did last year — is nothing to be ashamed of. Losing seven games in the regular season isn’t either.

But based on SU’s winning pedigree, it’s inevitable the program will return to its elite status.

With Caroline Trinkaus stepping into her sophomore season and Emma Muchnick returning for year No. 3 at SU, Ward and Adamson’s prior production will be replicated. Mileena Cotter, who showed up in the clutch, will play a key role on Syracuse’s thin attack in her second year.

Aside from those three, I see defenders Coco Vandiver and Kaci Benoit continuing to stifle opposing offenses, even on a tough slate that features nine USA Lacrosse top-20 squads. Last year was a down year. Syracuse knows what it takes to win, though, and after suffering its most losses since 2018, the Orange will reassert their national relevance in 2026.

HARRIS PEMBERTON growing pains 9-7 (6-4 ACC)

MVP: EMMA MUCHNICK | X-FACTOR: CAROLINE TRINKAUS There’s a lot to like about this Syracuse squad in Thorpe’s inaugural season. The Orange were one of the youngest teams in the country last season, and, while SU went just 10-9, there were key indications that SU’s young core has what it takes to uphold the high expectations placed upon this program.

One of those young stars is my selection for this year’s X-Factor — sophomore attack Trinkaus, who ranked second on SU with 43 points on 32 goals last season. With the departure of Adamson and Ward, she’s now Syracuse’s go-to player in the attack.

She’ll have some help from midfielder Muchnick, who provides some much-needed familiarity to this roster. The preseason secondteam All-American scored a team-high 34 goals last season and is likely one of just a handful of seniors that’ll be in the starting lineup in eight days’ time. The Orange will ride and die through her this season.

In my mind, the question isn’t whether this Syracuse team is talented enough to make a deep run — it certainly has the firepower to do so. And the addition of Thorpe is a home run hire. The only thing that prevents me from being as optimistic as Jordan and Jason is the strength of this schedule.

The Orange face nine teams in USA Lacrosse’s preseason top 20, including six teams in the top eight. That proved to be an issue last season, even when SU had a clear-cut offensive star in Ward. I can’t quite see a 10-win season for the Orange this year, but I expect it to be a step in the right direction to begin the Thorpe era.

JASON GLICK nothing new 10-6 (6-4 ACC)

MVP: EMMA MUCHNICK | X-FACTOR: LEXI REBER Per usual, Syracuse was dealt a gauntlet of a schedule, especially early on. Last year, the Orange won their first three games — two were against unranked teams — by at least six goals each. That gave SU room for error before it faced both of the NCAA Championship finalists.

Syracuse doesn’t have that luxury this year. It starts with three top-10 opponents in Inside Lacrosse’s preseason rankings. That’s not great for momentum, but I do expect the Orange to find a rhythm and in a loaded ACC. Thorpe was a hard-nosed, defensive-minded long pole for the Orange. That’s where my X-Factor pick, Lexi Reber, comes in. I think he can mold her into a premier defender in the conference. People may forget she was the No. 14 recruit in 2024 before a season-ending foot injury sidelined her.

On the other end, the most important tasks are replacing Ward and Adamson. I expect statistical progression all around, especially from Muchnick and Trinkaus, who are capable of scoring 40 goals each.

The Orange need to resolve their questions quickly. There probably won’t be a leash on Daniella Guyette, but she didn’t deliver steady play last year. SU also only suffered 11.36 goals against per game, which was just eighth-best in the ACC. Also, with doubt at the draw, top freshman Mackenzie Borbi could give SU its long-term answer.

6 LACROSSE GUIDE 2026

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BUILT FOR THIS Regy Thorpe helped build Syracuse’s standard. As head coach, he can fulfill it.

By Harris Pemberton asst.sports editor

R

egy Thorpe knows what comes with being a lacrosse coach at Syracuse University. It surrounds him every day.

In Thorpe’s Lally Athletics Complex corner office, several plaques rest on a large shelf against the back wall. Some read “Big East Champions.” Others honor one of the program’s 67 All-Americans.

In the center of the room, Thorpe sits at an L-shaped desk. When he looks forward and peers toward the window, his view is interrupted by several trophies sitting on the windowsill.

Atlantic Coast Conference Champions. NCAA Final Fours.

Thorpe’s daily view reflects where he wants to be. But it’s also a reminder of the expectation placed upon his program — and the piece of silverware missing from the collection.

Several coaches have been in his same spot.

Four, to be exact. Their teams won the trophies that surround Thorpe every day. But they all failed to bring Syracuse the big one — its first national title.

When Kayla Treanor, SU’s coach from 20212025, suddenly left for Penn State in May, Syracuse turned to Thorpe — who’d been Florida’s associate head coach since 2022 — to be the women’s lacrosse program’s fourth head coach.

“There is no better person for this job,” said SU assistant coach Nicole Levy, who played under Thorpe from 2016-19 and coached alongside him at Florida. “He's done great things in his career, and he's going to continue to do that and get this program back where it needs to be.”

Thorpe knows that desired destination well.

Between his playing career at SU in the 1990s and his decade as an assistant coach for the Orange in the 2010s, Thorpe helped craft what he described as “the Syracuse standard,” an expectation of program excellence. In his first year as the Orange’s head coach — what he described as his “dream job” — he wants to lead Syracuse back to Championship Weekend for the first time in two years.

“It's Syracuse lacrosse. Expectations are always gonna be high, but I think the kids know that,” Thorpe said. “That's why they're here.

You come to Syracuse to play on Memorial Day weekend.”

Under Treanor, the Orange made two Final Fours in her four-year tenure. Still, it ended on a sour note with a 10-9 campaign last year — the most single-season losses in program history.

Treanor left shortly after SU was eliminated by Yale in the NCAA Tournament Second Round.

On May 21, 2025, Thorpe’s dream position was suddenly vacant. Syracuse always felt like home for the Auburn, New York, native. After serving as an assistant for a decade and a half, Thorpe knew this was his chance to jump to head coach. Though he couldn’t quite pinpoint why, the timing just felt perfect, he said.

“An opportunity to come coach for a program that you helped build for 10 years, let alone play for on the men's side, being from the area, it was an opportunity my wife and I thought we couldn't turn down,” Thorpe said.

Several alumni admitted it was difficult to see Treanor — one of SU’s greatest players ever — leave the program for another northeast foe. But Thorpe’s hiring was an instant remedy.

Former Orange goaltender Liz Hogan, who played under Thorpe in his first few seasons as an assistant, said it takes a certain type of coach to understand the expectation at Syracuse.

Thorpe’s history at the university made him “the perfect fit.”

“You really have to be a part of the ‘Syracuse club’ to know what you need to bring to it,” Hogan said. “He knows the Syracuse way. He genuinely knows what this team is about and how to push them.”

It stems from the 1990s, when Thorpe first set foot on SU’s campus.

Thorpe transferred to Syracuse from Herkimer Community College in 1992. He played for the Orange for two seasons, earning AllAmerican honors as a defenseman while helping the Orange to two national title games. In 1993, he helped SU beat North Carolina, winning the men’s program’s fifth NCAA championship.

Thorpe spent the next decade and a half with two professional squads in Rochester: the National Lacrosse League’s Knighthawks and Major League Lacrosse’s Rattlers. But, in 2010, then-Syracuse head women’s lacrosse coach Gary Gait reached out with an offer.

As Hogan recalls it, then-Syracuse assistant coach John Battaglino — who Hogan described as “a cornerstone of the program” — had just left to be UAlbany’s head coach. Thorpe was his replacement.

When Hogan first saw Thorpe — who was listed at 6-foot-1, 203 pounds in his playing days with the Orange — her first thought was: “Yo, who is this guy?”

Hogan said she knew Thorpe was one of Gait’s good friends but questioned his knowledge of the women’s game. That changed when Thorpe knew every player’s name and number at the first practice.

“I think that really stood out to me as, like, this wasn't another job for him,” Hogan said. “He was already invested from day one.”

From that point on, Thorpe, a defensive coach, proved to be the ideal complement to Gait’s offensive genius. He won over the locker room with his companionship and motivation.

Several alums described his coaching style as fatherlike. Levy said you knew he wouldn’t berate you for slip-ups, but you still didn’t want to disappoint him. She added he creates a “healthy learning environment” where players understand the expectation but still know it’s OK to play freely and make mistakes. Sam Swart, a midfielder from 2018-21, said Thorpe brought optimism by emphasizing that players get to work rather than have to.

“A lot of coaches are great coaches and motivators, but he just brings that grit and that grind out of people,” Swart said. “I think that's the best trait about him.”

When game-time rolls around, Thorpe knows how to set the tone. Alums remember Thorpe giving a fiery speech each game to prepare his squad for battle. The themes varied based on opponents, but Swart remembers Thorpe often encouraging his players to “be a dog, be gritty” and to focus on themselves rather than the outside noise.

Hoga n doesn’t remember most of the speeches’ messages. She just remembers “wanting to run through a wall” after each one. Levy said, when the two reunited at Florida in 2022, Thorpe’s first pregame speech made her eyes water. Florida head coach Amanda O’Leary said Thorpe “just had a way of finding the words to fire a team up.”

Thorpe, in turn, became a key part of Syracuse’s identity for a decade. But he left after the 2019 season to become the general manager and head coach of the NLL’s New York Riptide. Swart said his departure disheartened the team, yet the consensus in the locker room was that

Thorpe had left his mark. Swart said she knew he’d be back one day.

First, though, Thorpe returned to college lacrosse at Florida.

When O’Leary added Thorpe in 2022, she said he was “the full package” and could’ve easily been a head coach. She predicted Thorpe probably turned down numerous head-coaching gigs just to stay as then-head coach Gait’s assistant.

While at Florida, though, Thorpe leaned on the “championship mindset” he learned at SU. He primarily led the Gators’ defense, though O’Leary said he “had every tool in his toolbox,” and Levy said he assisted everywhere. Thorpe said a major point of emphasis was “changing the mindset” to mold the Gators into a hardworking, strategically-prepared squad. It resulted in back-to-back Final Four appearances in 2024 and 2025.

Two days before Florida played UNC in the Final Four, Treanor informed Syracuse of her departure. Thorpe interviewed for the position soon after the Gators were eliminated and was hired on June 5, 2025.

“It was just a good fit for everyone and the timing was right,” Thorpe said. “It's a situation where I think a lot of boxes could be checked for everyone.”

His first order of business was reintroducing himself to the program. Thorpe met the team and their families over a Zoom call

within a few days of his hiring, where he discussed his background, family and expectations.

Thorpe’s first few months in charge were focused on relationship-building and ironing out his new-look roster. Levy, who was hired a month after Thorpe, said the new coaching staff met with players one-on-one as they moved in over the summer. They often discussed life outside of lacrosse to build bonds.

Familiarity in other aspects of the program also made the transition smoother, Levy said.

Two assistants from the Treanor days — Caitlin Defliese Watkins and Maggie Koch — returned to the Orange, which made it easier to retain high-caliber recruits and even flip a few of Thorpe’s own from Florida.

On the practice field, Thorpe had his work cut out for him. The departures of Olivia Adamson and Emma Ward shook up SU’s attack. Thorpe’s staff spent most of fall ball

158

Total games Syracuse won while Thorpe was an assistant coach from 2010-2019

experimenting with the roster, and Levy said they implemented some new concepts on both ends of the field. Thorpe said his squad certainly answered some questions but some remain in the final days of the offseason.

But, for now, Thorpe’s just excited to be back home. When the Orange face Maryland on Feb. 6, he’ll enter a familiar place — the JMA Wireless Dome — with perhaps an unfamiliar feeling.

He’ll walk across the field he played on three decades ago. He’ll toe the sideline he spent nine years on as an assistant. He’ll watch a team he invested 10 years in. But this time, he’ll be the one in charge. He’ll wake up the next morning and head to the office he once dreamed of occupying.

Thorpe insists he doesn’t want to look too far ahead. His squad is just focused on the seasonopener. But if he takes a peek up from his desk and looks around at the history that hangs in his office, he’ll remind himself what he was brought here to do.

He just hopes he’ll have to make some room on the windowsill for the big one.

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NO HIBERNATION Everyone calls Payton Anderson "Bear." His drive to improve doesn’t sleep.

By Nicholas Alumkal sports editor

T

he Anderson house looked like a gym.

Logs were carried through rooms. A speed ladder doubled as living room furniture. Battling ropes inhabited the basement.

The setup expanded outside. Lacrosse nets spotted the yard like hydrangeas. Pullup bars were bolted next to a swing set. A rebounder held court. When winter hit, the cars were parked outside so training could move into the garage.

“Anything and everything a kid and a person would need for performance training is at the house,” Rob Anderson said.

Most nights, the soundtrack of the Anderson residence was the steady thump of lacrosse balls. Payton Anderson and his father, Rob, were putting in the hours. Rob got the idea from Malcolm Gladwell’s 2008 book “Outliers: The Story of Success,” which argues that roughly 10,000 hours of “deliberate practice” are required to achieve mastery in complex fields. Rob wanted to “obliterate” the standard.

He aimed for 15,000 shots per month.

Repeating the same lacrosse drills since age 4, Anderson’s relentless work paid off. It’s become second nature, he said, so when he arrives in a situation he’s practiced, Anderson doesn’t need to think. It also allowed the class of 2024 No. 18 recruit to make an immediate impact as a freshman for Syracuse in 2025.

Anderson stepped up when attack Finn Thomson went down with a broken arm, scoring 14 goals in 15 games while showing confidence in late-season play. Now, ESPN analyst Paul Carcaterra, a family friend, called Anderson the “natural replacement” for prolific departing attack Owen Hiltz.

“Payton has such a physical presence that he could own a lot of matchups with opposing teams’ second defenders,” Carcaterra said. “So it's going to make teams really think and be strategic on who they put where.”

Anderson admitted he took SU’s seasonending 14-8 loss to Maryland hard. But in the offseason, those drills haven’t just continued; they’ve ramped up.

“I've never seen him more focused,” Rob said of Anderson’s offseason work rate. “I've never seen him work harder. I've never seen him put more time into his body. I've never seen him put more time into shooting, into his scoring. Ever.

Ever. At any point.”

Rob instilled that work ethic in Anderson early. A sports trainer and self-proclaimed “extremist,” he shared his expertise with

Anderson and his three other children — Matthias, 13, Cadyn, 17 and Javon, 26.

“A little of that (work ethic) has rubbed off on all four of them,” Rob said. “And because I'm such an extremist, a little bit is a lot.”

Rob tracked Anderson’s wall-ball reps since he was 4 years old, starting at 3,000 a month and building toward 15,000. He later tracked Anderson’s shots with a speed gun, aiming to up his 75-mile-per-hour middle school shots to 100 by high school. Sessions rarely lasted over 15 minutes, but Anderson could complete 450 reps in that time. Plus, Rob never wanted to leave Anderson exhausted or dreading the training, he said.

Whether in the backyard, driveway or the garage, Rob and Anderson trained his stickwork every offseason until Anderson was 17. Gospel music blasted as Anderson repeated the same regimen. He strafed shots with both hands, from different angles and situations.

“It just was always about us,” Rob said. “I tried my best to make it so he never felt alone in the process. I never said, ‘Hey, get outside on the wall. Hey, you got to go out and shoot. Hey, you got to go work out.’”

Most workouts were “really hard,” Rob said.

Each one ended with a hug.

Along the way, Anderson earned a nickname.

As a toddler, he’d crawl past Rob, open up Rob’s dresser drawer and throw out all his socks. He also loved running face-first into the family’s couch, Rob added.

It was on that same couch that, at age 6, the Andersons were taking a family picture. Anderson’s hand covered Cadyn’s entire rib cage, Rob said. Right then, Rob had a revelation.

“Oh my gosh, he has a bear paw,” he said.

The name stuck. Anderson became Bear.

It’s what his family, friends and teachers call him. It’s also felicitous to how he plays on the field.

“If you gave a bear a lacrosse stick, good luck getting them off their line,” Carcaterra said.

However, there was no hibernation in Anderson’s drive to improve. If he wasn’t working on his stickwork, he was training with Rob, who held a hand shield to help him embrace contact.

Or he was standing one-footed on a BOSU ball catching tennis balls. Or mimicking videos of NFL legends Adrian Peterson and Champ Bailey to reinforce his footwork.

Later, Rob would have him work each side of his body separately when exercising, doing single-leg squats or jumping on one foot, to lay the foundation for his coordination.

Finally, they put it all together through basketball training, which Anderson did weekly during sixth grade, seventh grade and high school. It was in middle school that Anderson said he understood the value of all the repetitions and sessions.

The nimble Bear was released for the Orange on March 29, 2025, in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Syracuse trailed 5-1 late in the first quarter of Anderson’s first start.

“There was just no energy,” Rob said. “And I know his mannerisms. And I knew all he needed was the ball.”

With under 20 seconds left, SU goalie Jimmy McCool made a save. Defender Michael Grace hoisted a pass from behind midfield to Anderson on the right wing.

Anderson received the pass and took off. He saw his one-on-one matchup, UVA defender George Fulton, and knew he was faster than him, he said. Anderson’s one thought was to get to the net. He did, not without going airborne, heels over head. While in mid-air, Anderson deposited the ball into the back of the cage.

Defender Riley Figueiras called it a “juice goal” that helped the Orange ultimately secure the 12-10 comeback win.

However, it took Rob four or five years to discover what “triggers” Anderson to take that initiative. It’s not to make himself happy. He’s triggered by not wanting to let anyone down, Rob said. He’s triggered by wanting to be part of the reason people celebrate.

Anderson said he began to understand that about himself in high school. David Bruce, Anderson’s head coach at the Brunswick School, recognized Anderson’s ability as a freshman, as he made the distinguished prep school’s varsity team. But Anderson often deferred to the upperclassmen, Bruce said.

The turning point came at the 2022 Maverik Showtime Showcase at the end of his sophomore year, with college coaches watching.

“He didn't shy away,” Bruce said. “We had some older guys that were probably more spotlighted, and (Anderson) took it on himself.”

From there, Anderson was comfortable being the star.

“Now, the switch is permanently flipped,” Rob said.

Anderson’s freshman season culminated in a key contribution. Yet, the first moment Anderson remembers from the campaign was playing Duke. No, not the ACC Tournament Championship triumph over the Blue Devils, where he scored twice. Anderson recalls the Orange’s

first date with Duke on April 19, which ended in an 11-7 defeat.

“That was one of those moments where I realized that I was prepared, and it just comes down to executing and slowing the game down when you’re not scoring the ball,” Anderson said.

When the Orange’s second meeting with the Blue Devils arrived, Anderson had learned to let the game come to him, he said. That proved literal. Anderson got to his spot to the left of the net in the third quarter, waited for a Joey Spallina pass, then fired a low shot into the net. He followed it up by scoring the game-winner with under 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, when he charged down the right goal line extended.

Once the NCAA Tournament began, the production continued. The then-freshman converted two more scores against Princeton in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals. Syracuse’s future was making plays in the present.

But the season came to a screeching halt a game later, when the Terrapins tore apart the Orange in the Final Four. Since then, Anderson has aimed to make his game more well-rounded, with a specific focus on releasing his shot quicker. He even worked out with Carcaterra in Stamford, Connecticut, over winter break to practice quick shots and finishing in uncomfortable situations, Anderson said.

Those training habits began working with Rob and continued through high school. At Brunswick’s graduation ceremony, every student delivered a speech. Anderson’s served as an expression of gratitude to his father. Rob said he felt seen. He never asked for a thank you. If he wasn't doing everything humanly possible to help Anderson succeed, then he said he wasn’t doing his job, he added.

Although Anderson now works out separately, his dad’s motivation remains. Before every game, Rob sends Anderson the same song — “Kingdom” by Kirk Franklin — and the same text. The message? He’s ready.

After all those cold nights in the backyard, the driveway and the garage. After countless repeated training sequences. After sharpening his footwork and physicality.

After all that, Bear has been bolstered.

“Anytime in-game, I know that I'm ready,” Anderson said. “To play and make a play happen for my team. That goes back to all the hours of training with my dad.”

@nalumkal njalumka@syr.edu

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EYES ON HER Overlooked her whole career, Coco Vandiver is now everyone’s focus

By Jordan Kimball asst. sports editor

C

oco Vandiver stood alone in the middle of the Lally Athletics Complex field, feeling invisible. It was her first Division I practice, and, as former Syracuse defender Hallie Simkins put it, the jump from high school is like getting hit by a freight train.

But if no one knows who you are, how bad could it really be?

Vandiver was an unknown, undersized, unpopular recruit. With her first collegiate drill set to begin, everything slowed down. The field split in two. Midfielders one way. Defenders the other. The choice was hers.

It should’ve been simple. Vandiver was recruited from Maryland powerhouse McDonogh High School as a midfielder. Maryland’s Kori Edmondson and UNC’s Caroline Godine shaped her craft. But Vandiver said she’d rather give the bruises than take them.

Why not?

“I was so under the radar that I was just able to walk to defense, and I was like, ‘No one’s gonna say anything,’” Vandiver said. “I thought no one really cared.”

Vandiver’s decision to play defense molded her career, becoming a fixture on Syracuse’s backline for the past three years. She was one of two freshmen to start every game for SU in 2023. She’s since started each of Syracuse’s 62 matchups, collecting Atlantic Coast Conference, USA Lacrosse and Tewaaraton Watch List honors. Entering her senior year, she’s the heartbeat of a unit she wasn’t even guaranteed to play for.

“Her ability to make plays, we weren’t expecting that of her,” said Syracuse associate head coach Caitlin Def liese Watkins.

“Sure enough, that’s what we got. She was really hungry.”

The 5-foot-5 Baltimore, Maryland, native didn’t play on McDonogh’s varsity team until the end of her junior year, when an injury to an attacker thrust her on the field. SU recruited her through two Zoom calls and a few brief texts with then-head coach Gary Gait, Vandiver said. She never toured Syracuse. She didn’t receive a scholarship. She didn’t even speak with Defliese Watkins during the recruiting process, giving then-assistant coach Sydney Pirreca most of her attention.

It was far from her teammates’ paths, who made waves on national rankings before Vandiver knew such lists existed.

But when Vandiver arrived in Syracuse, that was put in the past. Former Orange defender Katie Goodale said SU didn’t care who was a five-star recruit as long as you performed at the caliber the consensus top-5 program demanded.

62

Coco Vandiver has started 62 games for Syracuse since her freshman season

No one embodied that better than Vandiver.

“Within the first couple months of her being there, it was pretty obvious she was gonna make an impact,” Goodale said. “It became evident how much she was willing to risk to make a play.”

Vandiver didn’t earn stars — let alone know how to get them; she cracked the rotation with her IQ. Defliese Watkins said she was one of those “special players” who controlled the game’s tide. Vandiver knew her teammates’ tendencies so instinctively that they joked she had a magnet in her stick.

“It’s just her desire to be that Swiss Army Knife for the team. Fit in wherever she needs to fit in or whatever the coach needs from her,” Simkins said. “She wants to be on the field, and she’ll prove herself to be there.”

Vandiver honed her craft in fourth grade in her Baltimore backyard, where she battled her twin sister and Elon attacker Ana Lee Vandiver. Ana Lee was four inches taller than Vandiver, yet Vandiver could read her sister’s every move. Hours of one-on-ones regularly ended in disagreement.

The two sharpened each other’s teeth with suggestions on new techniques to try out and ways to react faster. Ana Lee was blunt, unfiltered, and Vandiver respected it. The back-andforth dogfights lasted years.

Vandiver displayed that same “scrappy” playstyle in her first fall at SU. In her mid-fall review with Syracuse’s coaching staff, Vandiver’s coaches pinpointed that part of her game exceeded their expectations. She agreed.

“I went in with this attitude of, no one’s expecting anything out of me. I’m a freshman,” Vandiver said. “There were girls in my class who were All-Americans and four or five-star athletes, and I didn’t have any of that, so there was zero pressure on me.”

Vandiver’s mentor also eased her arrival at Syracuse. Goodale — who ended her career as the program’s all-time leader in caused turnovers and was a First Team All-American — was Vandiver’s “buddy.”

Each year, SU’s coaches match players in pairs, creating a network of buddies, someone to turn to with questions. When Goodale was a freshman, she depended on All-American defender Sarah Cooper. Cooper’s main piece of advice to Goodale was to trust herself, which she passed down to Vandiver.

As Vandiver scaled the depth chart to solidify a starting role throughout her freshman season, the advice paid dividends. In her first game, a 16-15 win over No. 4 Northwestern, Vandiver picked the pocket of Izzy Scane, who Goodale called college lacrosse’s best player at the time. It was a testament to Goodale’s past message to Vandiver: her time would eventually come. On that February night, it had.

Vandiver said the lack of pressure she put on herself allowed her to play freely. She never felt like she had to prove anything to anyone.

That feeling quickly vanished, though. As Vandiver’s career progressed, the pressure mounted, not by her, but by others. When Simkins — who’d spent five years becoming SU’s devoted backer — left after Vandiver’s sophomore season, the expectations reached their peak.

Simkins described the backer position as “doing everyone’s job and no one’s job at the same time.” The position normally

serves as the last line of defense in front of the goalie. Its responsibility is to follow the ball, supporting and organizing the rest of the backline. It took the ultimate communicator and meant wearing “a million hats.”

Defliese Watkins said it’s the team’s “jack of all trades.”

In Simkins’ final year at SU, Vandiver constantly asked her for guidance during practice.

Defliese Watkins told Simkins to coach Vandiver from the sidelines before she took over the role.

For the first time, Vandiver openly expressed ner vou sness.

She described experiencing “culture shock,” going from a place where mistakes were expected to one where a single slipup could prove costly.

She even told Simkins she was unsure she could fill the gap.

“At a certain point, you have to tell yourself that you deserve where you are and the spot you’re given,” Goodale said. “And the way you keep deserving it is by working as hard as you did when you were that underdog.”

For two seasons, Vandiver had been the youngest defender on the field, learning behind players who seemed nearly faultless.

Entering her junior year, she noticed a shift. During the first practice, she realized it was her job to direct traffic and keep everyone on the same page.

At first, the responsibility felt heavy. Vandiver never spoke up unless absolutely necessary. Now, she says she’s too used to using her voice.

With a new defensive spine came new aspirations. One of Vandiver’s was to allow fewer than 10 goals per game. She measured her personal success by how well she guided the defense.

Unfortunately for Vandiver and Co., the Orange allowed double-digit goals in 13 of 19 games in 2025, resulting in nine losses, the most Vandiver — and Syracuse — have ever experienced.

It was difficult for Vandiver to pinpoint the cause of the defeats. She tries not to hold resentment, but the sting of falling to Yale in the NCAA Tournament — the Orange’s second loss to the Bulldogs last season — still lingers.

It left Vandiver feeling just a little bit different about the upcoming campaign.

“People are going to look at us like, ‘They didn’t have the greatest year’ and we’re more of an underdog,” Vandiver said. “The underdog mentality I love, because I always felt like one growing up.”

As Vandiver prepares for one last ride at the forefront of Syracuse’s defense, it’s hard for her not to recall the uncertainties she faced when she first arrived on campus. One of those moments came in a conversation with Simkins.

Amid the pressure transitioning to backer, Simkins would look at Vandiver and tell her to play as if no one were watching. Vandiver had no trouble following that advice. She’d been doing it her whole life.

Now, with Syracuse aiming to reclaim its elite status, Vandiver leans on that same mentality she’s always carried.

Except then, no one was watching. Now, everyone is.

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‘SILENT KILLER’ There’s only one way for Riley Figueiras to live up to Syracuse’s No. 11 legacy

By Mauricio Palmar asst. sports editor ACL tear. The second act was pushing SU’s defense to an ACC Championship.

Riley’s third act? Cementing his legacy as Syracuse’s No. 11 by leading its defense to a National Championship.

“If we win this year, the number will be lived up to,” Riley said.

••• Riley wasn’t all that menacing to Nick Fraterrigo. The former SU defender gave Riley slack for it all the time, how his voice would become an unintimidating, high-pitched yell when he barked out directions. If you don’t buy the idea of Riley as one of the most intense defenders in Division I lacrosse, no one would blame you.

But ask the Arden Diamondbacks about it.

They spent years despising Riley. The way his father, Rich Figueiras, tells it, the animosity began when 6-year-old Riley faced off against the Diamondbacks in a tournament. He laid waste to anyone in his path.

“I'm not gonna keep telling him to stop hitting people,” the referees told Rich.

“We're gonna have to kick him out of the tournament.”

Riley turned around, locked eyes on his target — the son of the Diamondbacks’ coach, conveniently enough — and “wrecked his world,” Rich said. The child began wailing and was whisked away to a tent on the Diamondbacks’ sideline. Riley was on the sideline, too, for a much different reason. The referees ejected him, and he was furious. Rich went to grab his son.

“Dude, you need to walk over and apologize,” he told Riley.

Riley relented and followed Rich to the Diamondbacks’ sideline. He looked at his teary-eyed rival and issued what — in his mind — constituted an apology.

“Sorry, I crushed you.”

That right there, that’s Riley. He throws opponents off their game. If he’s already won the mental battle, it’s all but over for an attack. He just had to find a different way to gain an edge on his foes. The problem with trucking 6-year-olds is that it often lands you in the penalty box.

Watching film doesn’t carry that same issue.

Riley and Ryan spent every Saturday watching lacrosse in their basement, recording whatever was on ESPNU. Since Syracuse was often on, Riley watched defenders such as Nick Mellen and Brett Kennedy — both former No. 11s — to incorporate their tricks into his arsenal.

That’s where he’d find his advantage. He studied his opponents’ tendencies through their Hudl highlights. It’s one of the reasons why, after Riley moved to the Annapolis Hawks in sixth grade, he limited elite attacks like Joey Spallina.

After their first matchup at Lehigh University, Team 91 head coach Brian Spallina approached the Hawks’ head coach, Tom Ripley, who stood next to Riley after a one-goal loss.

He had something to get off his chest.

“I want you to know, that is the best job anyone has done covering Joey,” Brian said. “Ever.”

Years later, when Riley rematched Spallina at Lake Placid — and beat him handily — he

last five no. 11s caused turnovers per season

R

iley Figueiras has a bit of an edge to him. If you took his temperature, his youth club coach says, the reading might be a couple degrees higher than everyone else’s. He just has a different heat — precisely why he became a defender. It certainly wasn’t to win popularity contests, because if he had it his way, he might stay in the shadows forever. His performances don’t stand out. They hide, best noticed by the absence of an opponent’s top attack.

He can be vicious at times, brutal, even. Are those the right words?

No, not exactly. Those imply a sense of maliciousness, the idea Riley plays lacrosse to harm his opponents. It’s more of a “see ball, get ball” mindset. His physicality is just a means to an end.

Intense. That’s the word. It encapsulates each of his actions since he first picked up a lacrosse stick. He approaches everything, on and off the lacrosse field, with the same drive and desire to achieve greatness. It’s why, in his fourth season with the Orange, it’s up to Riley to anchor their potential title-winning backline.

It’s why, for the past three years, he’s been Syracuse’s No. 11.

“He's gonna be the best defender in college lacrosse,” former SU goalie Kyle Rolley said.

Historically, the No. 11 has been given to some of Syracuse’s best defenders. Nine players have worn the number in the past two decades. Seven of them were AllAmericans, and if everything goes to plan for Riley, he has a shot at making it eight.

His film habits, unparalleled. His weight room habits, extreme. They made him go from an undersized kid, in the eyes of his high school coach Wesley Speaks, to someone who maxed out at a 405-pound squat in his senior year.

When he tore his ACL in his first year at SU, those habits helped him return as a starter.

“Some guys will get hurt, and the recovery is so intensive and so grueling that they don't want to put in that effort to come back at the same strength,” former SU midfielder Vinnie Trujillo said. “Riley took it to the point where he came back stronger than he was before.”

Growing up, Riley used to put on WWE Smackdown and wrestle his older brother, Ryan Figueiras, in their basement, remaining as quiet as possible to not alert their parents.

Before each game, he plays Super Smash Bros to get in the mindset of knocking opponents off the map, and his Mario Kart skills are second to none.

It’s that competitive fire that has everyone around him convinced he'll take a bigger leap this season. He’s only played two full seasons, and he already ranks eighth all-time in SU history with 55 caused turnovers.

Entering his fourth year at Syracuse, consider this Riley’s coda. The first act was bouncing back from an

For the last two decades, the No. 11 has gone to Syracuse’s best defender.

27.5 18.3 11.8 Riley Figueiras

Brett Kennedy

9.0 Nick Mellen

didn’t ask Ripley if he could guard Spallina. He told him, with a sense of assuredness few used when speaking to the former Marine. Riley spent years guarding teams’ No. 1 attacks with the Hawks, on a team with Billy Dwan III and Penn State defender Alex Ross, and did the same as a freshman at St. John’s College (Washington, D.C.).

“Go take a blanket, soak it in water and then walk around with it … It's f—ing suffocating,” Ripley said. “That's the way the guy plays. He plays like a wet blanket.”

Riley’s penchant for frustrating attacks followed him to the Cadets. In his junior year at St. John’s, Riley faced off against Taft School (Connecticut), led by future Notre Dame attack Chris Kavanagh. The future Irishman got so infuriated, Speaks recalls, that he was penalized after swinging his stick like a baseball bat at Riley’s back.

“If we win this year, the number will be lived up to.”

Riley Figueiras su defender

His penchant for studying film did as well.

Riley crafted defensive gameplans for St. John’s in his senior year, when he led the Cadets to a 19-0 record and wasn’t scored on once. As Inside Lacrosse’s No. 6 recruit in the class of 2022, he was getting everyone’s attention — except John Desko’s, evidently. When former SU defensive coordinator Dave Pietramala reached out to Rich after Gary Gait took over, Riley wouldn’t let him forget it.

“I'm committed to Rutgers,” Riley told Rich.

“They didn’t call me.”

But it was always going to be Syracuse. He was always going to follow Mellen and Kennedy’s footsteps. Riley should’ve known better.

Eavesdropping from their kitchen, Ryan just couldn’t stay out of it.

“Come on, Riley,” Ryan told him. “You know we've always loved Syracuse.”

••• Joel White became a Syracuse lacrosse legend by accident. He grew up playing three sports — soccer, basketball, lacrosse — in that exact order. White didn’t pick up a lacrosse stick until sixth grade — a ridiculously late start for a kid from Cortland — and when he did, he played short stick midfield.

He didn’t become a long stick midfielder until he got to SU, where it took him about a year to learn the mechanics of throwing and catching with the long pole, he said.

The rest is history. Donning the No. 11 — which he wore in every sport throughout high school, simply because it was available — White became a two-time First Team All-American and the most offensively-skilled defender in Orange history.

Steven Panarelli, a former All-American defender who wore the number before White, took notice. He’d seen how the No. 22 became a

Austin Fusco

12.0 Scott Firman

North Star for Orange attackmen, and he talked to White about leaving a similar legacy with their number.

It’s since become an exclusive club. Of the nine defenders who have worn it in the past two decades, only Austin Fusco and Riley haven’t earned All-American honors yet.

But that’s not to say Riley doesn’t belong in that group. There’s a reason why — unlike previous No. 11s, who earned it years into their careers — he received it before he arrived on campus.

“Every single week, Riley's most likely guarding an All-American,” Kennedy said. “I feel like he has a killer mindset, that he's gonna go out there and dominate these matchups.”

You could see it on May 12, 2024, with just over 13 minutes left in the third quarter of the Orange’s NCA A Tournament win over Towson. With the game tied at 9-9, Alex Roussel to his right and Nick DeMaio to his left, Riley read Roussel’s eyes, sensed the pass, flipped his hips and lifted his stick to snag the ball out of the air, snuffing out the Tigers’ two-on-one opportunity.

You can see it each day in practice, when Riley seeks out Spallina — the same way he did with the Hawks — and the two spend hours going at it. They have their battles, Riley frustrates Joey, and the team gets all amped up for him every single time, Rolley said.

You could even go back to March 30, 2024, rewatch his performance in SU’s 14-12 loss to Notre Dame, and see it in how he stalked Pat Kavanagh for four quarters. The way he held the 2024 Tewaaraton Award winner to three points, even though Pat entered the contest averaging over 8.5 points per game against the Orange.

Because that’s what a No. 11 does.

“If you're looking for the hallmark traits of what it means to wear No. 11,” Ripley said. “I think Riley is as deserving as any young man I've ever seen.”

On Jan. 20, USA Lacrosse named its Preseason All-American selections. Ten days before that, Inside Lacrosse released its Preseason Top 50 Players list. Riley was absent from both. Inside Lacrosse CEO Terry Foy feels that due to his ACL tear, it’s difficult to decipher how much of Syracuse’s defensive success Riley’s responsible for compared to his backline counterpart Dwan, who was No. 35 on Inside Lacrosse’s Preseason Top 50.

Add that to the list of reasons why Riley has a chip on his shoulder. Spallina and Dwan think it’s ridiculous. The best-kept secret in college lacrosse is that Riley Figueiras is an All-American-caliber defender, and they’ve known it since high school. Trujillo calls him a “silent killer.”

He flies under the radar, obsesses over his opponents’ tendencies and locks them down.

That nickname, as clean as it sounds, has about a four-month expiration date, because there’s only one way for Riley to live up to the jersey on his back. The team doesn’t talk about it much, but they all know it. He’ll have to render a championship contender’s No. 1 attack useless for 60 minutes — nothing new — and Spallina and Co. will have to outscore them.

Then, and only then, he’ll get to hoist a national championship trophy and celebrate SU’s first title since 2009.

Riley will be a lot of things in that moment.

But he certainly won’t be silent anymore.

@mpalmarDO mjpalmar@syr.edu

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LACROSSE GUIDE 2026 11

‘BIG DOG’

Mackenzie Borbi furthers South Jersey’s esteemed draw specialist pipeline

By Jason Glick asst. digital editor garden state faceoff

top draw controls

M

ackenzie Borbi was flustered. She couldn’t beat Delaney Jackson.

It was 2022, and Borbi had just begun her freshman year at Shawnee High School (New Jersey), which was off to its best start in six years.

On April 14, she notched a hat trick and controlled seven draws in a 10-5 rout of Moorestown. Everything was clicking. But two days later, she was suddenly suppressed.

Jackson, Cherokee High School’s draw specialist, gave Borbi a rude awakening. She held Borbi to one draw win — taking five — and handed the Renegades their first loss.

Mike Jackson, Jackson’s father, looked on from the sidelines. He watched his daughter annihilate Borbi, whom he knew from a junior club event. After the season, when Mike became Shawnee’s assistant coach, he took Borbi aside.

“He told me that she was a ‘big dog’ and I was a ‘little pup’ compared to her,” Borbi said. “It always stuck in my head that, even though I was a freshman, I'm not playing like a freshman. I can go against the ‘big dog.’”

Now the Renegades’ head coach, Mike’s seen her destiny unfold in southern New Jersey before. Twice, actually.

He watched his daughter end her illustrious Cherokee career with 363 controls in three years before she left for Loyola. Two years before, it was McKenzie Blake at Haddonfield, who won 143 tieups as a senior before departing for Princeton.

Mike doesn’t often get the feeling that he’s found the next great draw specialist. But he immediately sensed it when he saw Borbi.

“That was the run of these three legendary midfielders out of South Jersey,” Mike said.

Borbi — Inside Lacrosse’s No. 22 recruit in the class of 2025 and Syracuse’s topranked freshman — rewrote the Shawnee record books, continuing the timeless tradition of high-quality South Jersey midfielders on the draw control. She sits atop the Renegades’ throne, setting their seasonhigh and career-high draw wins record with 172 and 555, respectively.

But unlike Blake, Jackson or any draw specialist in South Jersey, much of Borbi’s athletic prowess stemmed from her background as a soccer goalie.

“Even though it's a completely different position, (soccer) helped out a lot,” Borbi said.

“Being quick off my feet helps with dodging in lacrosse.”

In her four seasons at Shawnee, Borbi accumulated a program-record 316 saves, taking the starting job from senior Ava Rieger late in her freshman season. Borbi paralleled her lacrosse hardware, becoming the All-South Jersey Goalkeeper of the Year in 2023. No Shawnee player had ever notched 19 shutouts in a season before she did in 2024, leading the Renegades to a 25-0 state title-winning campaign.

“I think she could go to most Division I colleges and make the team,” Shawnee girls soccer head coach Drew Wagner said. “I've been coaching girls soccer for 23 years. She's the best keeper I have ever seen.”

But Borbi was set on prioritizing her lacrosse dreams. When she was 6, Borbi started retrieving ground balls with her father, Patrick Borbi, playing with a rebounder and using a radar gun in their backyard. Patrick and his wife, Rachel Borbi enjoyed watching their daughter play lacrosse much more than soccer.

Borbi joined her club team, All American Aim, when she was 8. She graduated last year as its longest-tenured member, playing with the fourth-grade squad a year before an appropriate age group was available. Despite her unparalleled athleticism, club director Katie Lee said she needed some tune-ups to refine her skills beyond draws in sixth grade.

“Her conditioning wasn't necessarily where it needed to be at that time to run true middie,” Lee said. “She jokes with me pretty often about the conversation we had and how it really flipped a switch in her to be that true two-way middie, which is pretty hard to find in the game nowadays.”

During a 2019 summer tournament, Borbi showed off her revamped conditioning. After All American Aim conceded possession when a player fell, she covered 20 yards

Mackenzie Borbi won a school-high 555 draw control at Shawnee High School in South Jersey, a hotbed for draw control specialists.

555

Mackenzie Borbi at shawnee

363

354

Delaney Jackson at cherokee

McKenzie Blake at haddonfield

within seconds as the opposition pushed the ball upfield. Borbi stole it back and buried it in the back of the net.

“Mackenzie always had the raw talent that you can't teach. There was always something innate in her,” said All American Aim defensive coach Paige Beierschmitt.

Her encounter with Jackson was a humbling start to her time at Shawnee. But as a freshman, Borbi was still its third-best scorer, tallying 31 goals. She recovered from the early-season hiccup and won six or more draws in a seven-game span late in the season. Borbi set herself up to smash Shawnee’s all-time single-season draws record with 116 victories.

“Mackenzie always had the raw talent that you can't teach. There was always something innate in her.”

Paige Beierschmitt all american aim defensive coach

The Renegades were primed for a storied run in the 2022 NJSIAA Girls Lacrosse Tournament, winning the first two playoff games by double digits. But Borbi broke two ribs in the semifinal round against Ocean City. She wore a protected guard that her teammate Abby Davidson said looked like a “bulletproof vest.” Borbi remained stoic, scoring twice to help advance Shawnee to the final. Though the Renegades fell to Moorestown 9-5, Borbi had no regrets.

“The sheer amount of stretch that her body can handle — it's unbelievable,” Beierschmitt said. “She can turn it into a different gear that not many people can do.”

With Mike joining the staff under former Shawnee head coach Julie Cancila, Borbi received the proper coaching to improve upon her excellent freshman play, and she did.

“I don't think at that point she knew how good she could be,” Mike said.

Nobody could figure Borbi out on the draw, with her school-record 172 controls in her sophomore year, and that gave her a resume suited for Atlantic Coast Conference lacrosse.

Her school records outclassed Blake and Jackson’s high school performances.

Borbi was fulfilling Mike’s prophecy by being South Jersey’s next big thing on the draw. When she pledged to the Orange, she became the lone one of the three in the pipeline to commit to an ACC program. But there was a catch.

Blake and Jackson began their freshman seasons with the same head coach who recruited them. But after SU narrowly fell to No. 7 seed Yale in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, former head coach Kayla Treanor departed for Penn State.

“It was definitely scary,” Borbi said. “And I think everybody could agree that you don't know who's coming in, so you kind of feel unset-

tled, like you don't know what you're going to do.”

National Signing Day was much earlier in her senior year, and she had minimal flexibility with summer camps approaching. Reagan O’Donovan, a 2026 SU goalie commit, followed Treanor to the Nittany Lions, and captain Olivia Adamson had her eyes set on Northwestern for her final year of eligibility.

Borbi was stuck.

But when Syracuse swooped up alums Regy Thorpe and Nicole Levy to serve as its head coach and assistant, the pitch was even more intriguing for Borbi. She also clicked with fellow incoming freshmen, who were in a similar situation. Borbi played Fortnite with them and bonded through making vision boards.

There’s a glaring vacancy on SU’s draw control. Kate Mashewke graduated two years ago, following her record-setting 234-win senior season. Adamson posted a team-high 107 the year prior. Syracuse’s specialist in 2025, Meghan Rode, only posted 75, the fewest by a team leader since the pandemic-abridged 2020 season.

Mike’s genie-esque projections have proved credible thus far. He and Borbi know her goal isn’t to be like Blake or Jackson, though. The only closure she needs is knowing she’s the “big dog.”

She’ll have Feb. 24 circled on her calendar when Loyola visits the JMA Wireless Dome.

Jackson as a junior, and Borbi as a freshman.

They meet each other in the middle, and it’ll feel just like it did four years ago when they rotated the draw circle, staring into the other’s soul before doing battle.

“Once you stop playing like a freshman, you start actually playing like the way you want,” Borbi said. “It doesn't matter that she's older than me. No matter who I'm up against, I can do better than them, regardless of age.”

@jason_glick jaglick@syr.edu

12 LACROSSE GUIDE 2026

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