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Syracuse’s loss to then-No. 15 North Carolina last Saturday means the Orange will miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007 and finish the season with a losing record.

SU’s second-to-last game of the year will come when it hosts No. 6 Virginia at home in a rematch of February’s contest. In Charlottesville, the Orange lost 20-11 against the then-No. 2 Cavaliers, who jumped out to an early 8-1 lead and then used a 7-0 second-half run to put away the visitors.

Here’s what you need to know about No. 6 UVA (9-3, 4-1 Atlantic Coast) before Saturday’s game:

All-time series

Syracuse leads the all-time series 20-19. 

Last time they played

Syracuse played Virginia in Charlottesville earlier this season and suffered a 20-11 defeat. The Cavaliers jumped out to an 8-1 lead by the end of the first quarter. Syracuse mounted a partial comeback to make it a three-goal game a few minutes into the third quarter, but the then-No. 2 Cavaliers used a 7-0 run to seal the victory.

Syracuse struggled to deal with the ride, going 13-of-18 in clears, which is still SU’s worst clearing percentage of the season. That, combined with defensive errors, led to a nine-goal game by the start of the fourth quarter. Syracuse has suffered eight losses this year, but only the Virginia and Notre Dame ones weren’t close games at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Cavaliers report

The ACC doesn’t have an automatic qualifier bid for the NCAA Tournament since there are only five teams in the NCAA, but Virginia is a lock for the postseason. Lacrosse Reference’s bracketology gives the Cavaliers a 97.6% chance of making the tournament, and they currently sit atop the conference standings.

Eight teams get seeded in the tournament format, and the other eight are unseeded — Virginia currently ranks seventh, according to Lacrosse Reference, and would be on track for a first-round home game.

It ranks eight in the nation in offensive efficiency (35.9%), per Lacrosse Reference, but slumps to 48th in the country in defensive efficiency (31.5%). The Cavaliers rank No. 6 in Inside Lacrosse’s rankings and have lost just three games this season.

The first came in a shocking 11-goal defeat against No. 1 Maryland, back when Virginia ranked No. 2. The Cavaliers have also lost by four goals to Richmond and by nine goals to Duke. UVA was expected to win the latter two of those contests but lost by surprising margins in both.

How Syracuse beats Virginia

Syracuse has regularly created offensive opportunities, but it’s had a number of shooting slumps recently. It had 15 straight shots without a goal toward the beginning of the North Carolina game and took 52 shots against UAlbany despite scoring just 12 goals.

Virginia’s defense should be porous enough for Syracuse’s Brendan Curry, Tucker Dordevic and others to get through, but it’ll need to be able to keep up with Virginia’s offense. The unit averages 15.08 goals per game. Its shooting percentage, 31.9%, ranks 13th in the nation, compared to Syracuse’s 28.2%, which is 41st in the nation.

Those offensive possessions will start at the faceoff X, where Jakob Phaup dominated Petey LaSalla twice last year but then had his worst game of 2022. Phaup, who’s been one of SU’s most consistent players this year, won just 11 of 32 draws, the majority of which came against LaSalla.

Syracuse might have difficulty containing all of Virginia’s offensive weapons, including Connor Shellenberger, Payton Cormier, Xander Dickson and Matt Moore, among others. In the first game, Shellenberger had seven points, and Cormier, Dickson and Moore were among the five players that had a hat trick of points.

SU will need to limit its defensive mistakes, which it struggled to do in the first contest, and make Virginia work for its goals.

Stat to know: 28.4% turnover rate

Virginia is among the best teams in the nation in taking care of the ball, ranking fourth in turnover rate, according to Lacrosse Reference. Syracuse, on the other hand, ranks eighth. This game could potentially come down to who makes fewer mistakes and takes better care of the ball, and Virginia has a slight edge in that category.

Player to watch: Matt Moore, attack, No. 5

Syracuse has struggled against secondary scoring options this season, at times locking down the top threat but allowing others — like Jake Taylor of Notre Dame, John Piatelli of Cornell and Nicky Solomon of North Carolina, among others — to run loose against the defense.

Moore is hardly a secondary scoring option, either, but he’s tied for third on the team in total points (31) compared to past seasons. He was second in 2021, behind only Shellenberger, and led the team in 2020 and 2019.

The attack suffered an injury in UVA’s loss to Richmond and missed the following game, but he returned against Duke. He didn’t play once more in Virginia’s blowout over Quinnipiac. If he does play, he should pose a threat to SU’s defense.

Published on April 20, 2022 at 9:56 pm

Contact Roshan: [email protected] | @Roshan_f16