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Michael Leo spread his arms wide as his teammates mobbed him. Sam English high-stepped toward the block 'S' at midfield, pumping his fists in delight. Head coach Gary Gait gave assistant coach Nick Acquaviva a light high-five before sporting a grin across his face.
It was a sign of pure jubilation for Syracuse. The scene transpired when Leo slotted home a goal with 2:59 remaining in the fourth quarter, putting the Orange up by three over Johns Hopkins, all but clinching the result. An SU team that couldn't finish against top competition finally did on Sunday -- scoring three unanswered goals to do so. The fact that it came against the Blue Jays, their arch-rival, made the final moments that much sweeter for the Orange.
No. 11 Syracuse (5-2, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) defeated No. 7 Johns Hopkins (5-2, 0-0 Big Ten) 13-10 Sunday in the JMA Wireless Dome for its first top-10 victory of the season. Attack Owen Hiltz led the way with four goals, while Leo added a hat trick, as the Orange outscored the Blue Jays 8-4 in the second half to escape with a win.
Following a 4-2 start that left much to be desired without many big wins, Syracuse's NCAA Tournament chances received a major jolt after upsetting JHU.
Gait felt his team was slow out of the gate last season. He says the Orange have fixed that problem in 2025, though, made evident by their 5-0 start against then-No. 15 Harvard and 10-1 halftime advantage over Utah.
But the third quarter has proved to be a house of horrors this year for Syracuse. One third-period goal in an eventual loss to current-No. 1 Maryland. Two versus the Crimson en route to a stunning defeat. And even though Gait's squad decimated the Utes last weekend, the head coach was left shaking his head postgame, irritated by SU's scoreless third quarter.
He knows the Orange don't stand a chance against the best of the best if they cease to show up for an entire quarter.
"We're working as a staff, whether it's tweaking the halftime and what we do at halftime, and then hopefully we'll get some better third-quarter performances," Gait said Friday.
Syracuse was thrust into a crucial third quarter once again Sunday. It trailed 6-5 to Johns Hopkins at halftime. If the Orange were to avoid more late disappointment, they needed a consistent John Mullen at the faceoff X and an attack that converted on point-blank chances, neither of which happened in the first half.
With an opportunity to make its most significant dent in improving its NCAA Tournament resume thus far, Sunday's third quarter was now or never for SU.
It didn't start well. Down 8-6 with less than two minutes left in the third, Johns Hopkins's defense had Syracuse in a dark place. Outside of an improbable Luke Rhoa goal midway through the quarter, where he scored from his knees, the Orange were indecisive in set offensive possessions. They were looking for the perfect shot instead of letting their instincts carry them.
But Syracuse regained its rhythm when the clock ticked under two minutes. It scored three goals in a 51-second span. First, midfielder Tyler Cordes buried a runner. Then, Mullen won a faceoff, and Leo quickly tallied an unassisted score from the left side. Fifteen seconds later, the Dome became engulfed in pandemonium.
Mullen defeated JHU faceoff specialist Logan Callahan again before Syracuse burned upfield in transition. Mullen dumped the ball off close to the cage, and the Orange swung it back atop their offensive zone to star attackman Joey Spallina. Amid the rapid ball movement, Johns Hopkins goalie Luke Staudt didn't know who had possession. Spallina spotted a wide-open net.
Thirty yards out, Spallina slightly galloped forward before tossing a bouncer that nestled in the low left corner of the cage. Spallina turned around at his defense and looked to the skies as he bellowed a scream of relief. SU had taken its first lead, 9-8, since the opening quarter.
Syracuse's momentum carried into the final quarter. Late goals from Rhoa and Hiltz -- on which Spallina hit him with a picturesque pass from X -- gave the Orange a 12-10 lead. Leo's conversion with the 2:59 left sealed the deal.
SU had finally won a defensive battle, though that didn't seem to be the case early.
In the first quarter, the typically slower-paced Blue Jays were equaling the Orange's offensive intensity level, accumulating 11 shots to SU's nine. For a Syracuse team that often falters when the pace of play is slowed, Johns Hopkins was the opposite -- it let SU play its brand of lacrosse and arguably outdid the Orange at it. The two sides were all square at 4-4 after one quarter.
Yet, the game's speed hit a screeching halt in the second quarter. Both teams began sloppily, as Syracuse had a pair of attacking trips end in blocked shots, while Johns Hopkins couldn't get a clean look off, either, with one possession closing with a shot-clock violation. Even for the litany of offensive artillery that the Orange boast in their lineup, only Cordes found twine in the second quarter. Their inactivity allowed JHU to take a 6-5 halftime lead.
With 6:03 left in the second, JHU's Erik Chick fired a slick back-door feed to attack Stuart Phillips for an easy tap-in finish. Syracuse goalie Jimmy McCool, who held strong in the first half with a .538 save percentage, stood no chance on the play.
Johns Hopkins entered the weekend with the No. 38 overall adjusted defensive efficiency in the nation, per Lacrosse Reference, a middling total. It seemed like a welcome task for SU on paper. But any sign Sunday would be simple was quelled by Scott V. Smith and Quintain Kilrain's play from close defense.
Smith and Kilrain shut down each and every attacking opportunity on set offenses for Syracuse in the second quarter. The Orange's unabating ball movement early dissipated as the contest progressed, unable to find many pockets for shooters. Spallina wasn't a threat from X. With Smith face-guarding him, he missed the mark on two intermediate-range shots and was held without an assist in the first half. Smith caused both of Spallina's two first-half turnovers.
It was clear Sunday would be a defensive battle gauging how the second quarter transpired. And that's a game Syracuse typically doesn't win, which made a transition goal by Johns Hopkins attack Charlie Iler with 59 seconds left in the first half a killer for the Orange's hopes of a victory. They trailed by one goal, but each point had to be scratched and clawed for.
At the end of the day, though, Syracuse just needed to test Staudt. Once it started winning one-on-one matchups and distributing the ball with added precision, it did just that. The Orange closed the second half with eight goals as Staudt finished with a brutal save percentage of .316.
As it did last year, a complete second-half performance propelled SU to a top-10 victory over Johns Hopkins. Now, the Orange's NCAA Tournament road looks a whole lot easier.