Previewing Syracuse’s 2020 men’s college lacrosse schedule

The Syracuse Orange are the 46th team in our 2020 men’s college lacrosse schedule preview series and the second team from the ACC. Syracuse finished 9-5 overall in 2019 and 2-2 in ACC play. The Orange lost to North Carolina in the opening round of the ACC Tournament and then lost to Loyola in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Here’s their entire 2020 schedule:

Who’s In?

• Binghamton Bearcats (2/15)

Who’s Out?

• Navy Midshipmen (18-9 W)

Circle These Dates

• 2/7 vs. Colgate: Syracuse’s season started off on a down note in shocking fashion as they were upset by Colgate in Matt Karweck’s first game as head coach. The Orange got to within one goal on multiple occasions, but the Raiders were able to pull away late. This should mark the debut of Chase Scanlan, the new No. 22 for Syracuse, as well as the regular season return of Tucker Dordevic.
• 2/23 vs. Army West Point: Army has always been a tough team to play against for the Orange. And it shows from past results this decade. Only one game has been decided by more than three goals, with five of the last seven coming down to a single tally. Army loses goalie AJ Barretto and defensemen Johnny Surdick and Griffin Schultz to graduation. Brendan Nichtern will look to lead the Black Knights on offense after he was contained for most of last year’s meeting by Nick Mellen.
• 3/21 at Duke: One of the more closely contested conference meetings in the entire college lacrosse season, these two teams have played to one-goal regular season games in the last four seasons. The Orange have won the last three, two of them at home including last year’s game-winner from Brendan Curry at Cicero-North Syracuse High School, and are 7-2 against the Blue Devils since Syracuse joined the ACC. Both Orange losses were in Durham.
• 4/3 at Albany: Playing the Great Danes in early April is just one of two changes to this year’s meeting. The biggest one is that the Orange will play the guest as Casey Stadium will host this year’s contest with the Carrier Dome undergoing renovations. Capital Region natives Stephen Rehfuss (Shaker HS) and Lucas Quinn (Niskayuna HS) will be returning close to home as well and will look to help their team beat Albany once again in a game that should have a wild atmosphere.
• 4/18 at Virginia: Another notable switch in the schedule is the Orange’s usual conference opener moving from early March to the end of the season in mid-April. It sounds like this is what Virginia wanted to do and it should be better for both teams in the long-run. This will be the 37th meeting between the two teams, each splitting the first 18 and each scoring 466 total goals. 17 times the game has been decided by a single goal, including the last five meetings, and seven have gone to overtime, including Virginia’s game-winner last season inside the Carrier Dome.