The Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse team represents

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

men's

college lacrosse College lacrosse is played by student-athletes at colleges and university, universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played at both the varsity and club levels. College lacrosse ...

. The Orange have won 15 national championship titles (one was later vacated) and currently compete as a member of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

men's lacrosse conference. Syracuse plays its home games at the

JMA Wireless Dome The JMA Wireless Dome, originally the Carrier Dome (1980–2022), is a domed stadium in Syracuse, New York, Syracuse, New York (state), New York, United States. Located on the campus of Syracuse University in the University Hill, Syracuse, Univer ...

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

History

Syracuse played its first intercollegiate lacrosse game in 1916, and captured United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse League (USILL) co-championships in 1920, 1922, 1924, and 1925 based on winning the Northern Division Syracuse. Syracuse compiled an undefeated season with one of its strongest teams in 1957, led by Jim Brown, Roy Simmons, Jr. (their future head coach), and goalie and future indigenous people’s rights activist, Oren Lyons. The men's lacrosse team competed as independents until 2010 when the former Big East Conference began sponsoring men's lacrosse. It joined the

from the 2014 season onwards following the athletics program's switch to the ACC.

NCAA national championships

In the modern

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

era, Syracuse has won 10 national championship titles, in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

, 1988,

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, with one championship in 1990 vacated due to NCAA rules infractions after an investigation revealed that Nancy Simmons, the wife of Coach Roy Simmons Jr., had co-signed a car loan for the team's star player, Paul Gait, in the 1990 season. NCAALaxChampionship

The Orange's ten NCAA championship titles are the most since the NCAA began holding tournaments in 1971

Big East lacrosse

Syracuse was one of seven

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

schools that formally began competing in men's lacrosse in 2010. Previously, Syracuse men's lacrosse had remained independent (''i.e.'', unaffiliated with any athletic conference). The other six Big East schools were Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence,

Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...

, St. John's, and Villanova.

Head coaches

Syracuse has had five men's lacrosse head coaches since 1916: * Laurie D. Cox (1916–1930), 116-40-15 record, .722 winning percentage * Roy Simmons Sr. (1931–1970), 253-130-1 record, .660 winning percentage * Roy Simmons Jr. (1971–1998), 287-96-0 record, .749 winning percentage * John Desko (1999–2021), 258-86-0 record, .750 winning percentage * Gary Gait (2021–present), 21-19-0 record, .525 winning percentage As of games through 03/29/24, these coaches have combined for a 933-371-16 record, which is a .707 winning percentage, while winning 15 total national titles.

Individual honors and awards

USILA All-Americans

Twelve Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse players have been four-time United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association All-Americans: * Brad Kotz (1982–85) * John Zulberti (1986–89) * Gary Gait (1987–90) * Pat McCabe (1988–91) * Tom Marechek (1989–92) * Charlie Lockwood (1991–94) * Roy Colsey (1992–95) * Ric Beardsley (1992–95) * Casey Powell (1995–98) * Ryan Powell (1997-2000) * Michael Springer (2000–03) * Mike Powell (2001–04)

Tewaaraton Trophy

Syracuse has also produced two Tewaaraton Trophy winners: * Mike Powell (2002, 2004) * Mike Leveille (2008)

US Lacrosse Hall of Fame

Twenty-three Orange men's lacrosse players and coaches are enshrined in the United States Lacrosse Hall of Fame: * Laurie D. Cox (1957) * Irving Lydecker (1960) * Frederick A. Fitch (1961) * Victor Ross (1962; a three-time All American) * David Periard Sr. (1964) * Evan Corbin Sr. (1965) * Victor J. Jenkins (1967) * William N. Ritch (1972) * Louis Robbins (1975) * Stewart Lindsay Jr. (1977) * John Desko (1979) * William L. Fuller (1982) *

Jim Brown James Nathaniel Brown (February 17, 1936 – May 18, 2023) was an American professional American football, football player, civil rights activist, and actor. He played as a Fullback (gridiron football), fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the ...

(1984) * Ron Fraser (1987) * Roy Simmons Jr. (1991) * Oren R. Lyons Jr. (1992) * Dick Finley (1999) * Brad Kotz (2001) * Gary Gait (2005) * Thomas Ortese (2005) * Pat McCabe (2006) * Tom Marechek (2008) * Tim Nelson (2011) * Roy Colsey (2011) * John Zulberti (2015) Only

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where he remained for mos ...

(63) and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

(31) have more inductees in the Hall of Fame.

Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame

At least three former Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse players have been inducted into the

Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame The Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame is a Canadian lacrosse hall of fame, located in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. The Hall was chartered in 1965 by the Canadian Lacrosse Association, and inducted its first class of hall of famers in ...

: * Tom Marechek (2012) * Gary Gait (2014) * Paul Gait (2014)

National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame

Several former Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse players have been inducted into the National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame: * Gary Gait (2006) * Paul Gait (2006) * Tom Marechek (2007)

Traditions

One notable tradition of the Syracuse program is the number 22 jersey, which is given to the player who is expected to be the team's best overall player. The number has been worn by Gary Gait, Charlie Lockwood, Casey Powell, Ryan Powell, Mike Powell, Dan Hardy, Cody Jamieson, Jojo Marasco, Jordan Evans, Chase Scanlan, and most currently Joey Spallina.

Season Results

The following is a list of Syracuse’s Men's Lacrosse results by season: {, class="wikitable" , - align="center" * - No games played due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. ^† - NCAA canceled 2020 collegiate activities due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

References

External links

* {{Sports in Syracuse NCAA Division I men's lacrosse teams 1916 establishments in New York (state) Lacrosse clubs established in 1916