J

oey Spallina has always wanted to play lacrosse at Syracuse, and he’s always wanted to wear No. 22. The jersey — the most famous one in the sport — hangs in his bedroom in Mount Sinai, and the No. 22 was always on his back as he became the nation’s best recruit. And like past SU No. 22’s, Spallina still remembers how he found out the jersey would be his.

Then-head coach John Desko had called him at midnight via his mother’s phone to tell him he could wear No. 22 at Syracuse. When Gary Gait told Spallina he’d be the next SU head coach, they talked briefly about the No. 22 jersey and what it means to the program. Playing for Syracuse and wearing 22 was all a dream come true, Spallina said.

“To be able to get that opportunity, it’s hard to say no,” he said. “I cannot see myself anywhere else.”

Spallina’s arrival couldn’t come at a more pivotal time for the Orange, who are coming off their worst season ever. The nation’s top recruit, someone who can help Syracuse return to its proper spot atop college lacrosse, says he’s up for the task. People close to Spallina think he can be the next face of lacrosse. But, his goal isn’t a personal one: it’s to win four straight national championships, when SU hasn’t competed for one in 10 years. 

“He wants to help bring Syracuse back to the top,” said Spallina’s father, Joe. “Bring them back to Memorial Day weekend.” 

Spallina has already impressed Gait, one of the game’s best players ever, and Owen Hiltz, who led Syracuse in goals in 2021. Hiltz sees Spallina as someone who fits well with the offense, bringing “power” to a unit that lost its top four scorers from last season. Spallina and Gait talk every day about making plays and beating defenders. Spallina recognizes Gait as one of the best lacrosse minds ever, constantly picking his brain. In response, Gait has told Spallina not to change his style, though he had to earn his spot on the field. Spallina said he did that in the fall. 

“It’s been awesome,” Gait said of working with Spallina. “He’s got talent and he’s working harder than anybody else, so I’m looking forward to seeing what he does on the field.”

Spallina has always impressed against older competition. When Spallina first picked up a stick at a young age, he already knew how to handle it. And starting at six years old, Spallina traveled for tournaments, playing kids up to two years older than him, forcing him to develop his game quickly. He learned how to play off-ball since he was always playing older and bigger players, Joe said. 

The adjustment to playing at Syracuse as a freshman won’t be difficult since Spallina played so many older, top players on the travel circuit, said Luke Daquino, an assistant at Spallina’s Mount Sinai High School. 

When Mount Sinai’s head coach Harold Drumm first saw Spallina’s “outstanding” skill set with his Team 91 Crush travel team as a sixth grader. When Spallina moved to the Mount Sinai district the following year, coaches debated if he should play on the varsity team or not. At first, the coaches decided it wouldn’t be the right move socially. But after dominating that season and growing his body, there was no debate for his eighth grade year. 

Spallina became the first eighth grader to start for Mount Sinai’s varsity team in decades. He spent most of the season on the right wing as a shooter and dodger, earning all-country and rookie of the year honors with 39 goals and 45 assists. 

Spallina’s well-documented work ethic separated him from the pack. He got up before 5 a.m. for workouts, using shooting drills and hours of film on footwork and defenses to improve. 

Daquino, who coached Mount Sinai’s offense, said that Spallina listened to Drumm (who ran the defense) rather than him in practice because he wanted to understand what the defense was doing so he could beat them. 

“I’ve never met a more dialed-in, focused kid on what it takes to be excellent, what it takes to be great,” Joe said.

During this past winter break, Spallina got up at 4:30 every morning, being the first one at the gym at 5 a.m. for a 90-minute workout. Then, he drove another 30 minutes to a different gym to work with his speed coach. And once that was done, Spallina shot for an hour, grabbing his dad’s key card for the practice facility at Stony Brook, where Joe coaches the women’s team. 

In ninth grade, Spallina became Mount Sinai’s go-to playmaker. He notched 131 points, earning All-American honors. Kids asked for autographs after games that year, recalled Scott Reh, Mount Sinai’s athletic director. 

Spallina continued to improve. He got a feel for how to move people, using his eyes and body language to move defenders and waiting an extra second for the lane to open up. He worked with Daquino to become better at X, improving his patience and ability to finish through contact at the goal. While Spallina wasn’t the fastest player, Daquino said he used his hips and shoulders to make defenders think he’s going one way before moving the other. 

“Joey’s biggest strength is he can really beat you when you’re playing perfect defense,” Daquino said.

Daquino also worked with Spallina to improve his left hand. By Spallina’s junior year, he could score several ways going left, backing into defenders, going behind the back or turning the corner and firing, giving them a “workout,” Reh said. 

“The things that he did were remarkable,” Reh said. “You thought you knew what he was going to do, and then you’re like, ‘wow, look at this’ and he did something that you never thought he could do…He is the best high school lacrosse player I’ve ever seen.”

Spallina broke former Syracuse midfielder Nicky Galasso’s Long Island points record despite missing his sophomore season because of COVID-19 and being face-guarded every game over his last three high school seasons. Mount Sinai’s coaches realized they couldn’t run a true offense with one player locked, but also knowing that Spallina couldn’t come out of the game. 

So, Daquino told Spallina he couldn’t let defenses lock him, needing to break out and still get the ball. Mount Sinai had to do everything possible to get Spallina the ball and he notched 122 points as a junior.  

“He was the Lyle Thompson of high school lacrosse,” Daquino said. “He was unguardable.”

With Spallina’s success came increased pressure as he attracted attention around Long Island. While kids supported him at games by wearing his Mount Sinai jersey or Syracuse’s No. 22, many fans heckled Spallina. But Reh said the pressure made Spallina better. Daquino said Spallina even enjoyed it. 

When Mount Sinai needed a goal late, they gave him the ball, and Spallina “thrived” under pressure, Drumm said. Other times, when defenders were all over Spallina, he’d be relaxed, jogging, with no panic in his eyes, Drumm said. 

Spallina said he doesn’t think about pressure or high expectations. After one of Syracuse’s first spring practices, he reflected on his approach to handling pressure.

“If you’re worried, that means you haven’t done enough to prepare yourself,” Spallina said. “You don’t get nervous if you’re prepared and you trust that your skills will get you through it.” 

That pressure won’t go away over the next four seasons at Syracuse, he said. Spallina always wanted to be SU’s 22, and wanted to play in the JMA Wireless Dome because “lacrosse is king here,” he said. 

“I will tell you that going on the visits with him to all those places, I saw a different look in his eye when we were at Syracuse,” Joe said. 

Spallina has gotten to know former No. 22’s like Casey Powell and Charlie Lockwood, and former Syracuse players told him that he could be the guy who brings the program back, Joe said. 

Lockwood said the number has become a symbol of lacrosse. Kids all over the country want to wear it, and people associate it with a high-level player. It’s harder to work through scoring droughts or losing streaks when you’re a No. 22, especially at Syracuse, Lockwood said, because everything is magnified. 

“When you put the No. 22 on your back, you better be prepared,” he said. 

In January, the three Powell brothers met with Gait and Lockwood at LaxCon in Baltimore. It was the first time the five former No. 22’s had been together in two decades. They tossed a ball between themselves, one No. 22 to the next. And Spallina, always yearning to wear the same jersey, wants his name to be remembered in the same sentence as the Powells and the Gaits, Daquino said. 

“Joey is much like me. I think we have the same mindset,” Powell said. “He wants to be the best. He wants to bring Syracuse University back to its heyday.” 

Powell believes No. 22 still has its “magic,” since it helped attract the nation’s top player to Syracuse. Years ago, when Powell played for the Major League Lacrosse’s Long Island Lizards, with Joe at head coach, he watched Spallina — the team’s ball boy — put on a show for fans at halftime with his stick work and showmanship. Years later, Spallina was doing the same thing, this time in real games, becoming the hottest name in high school lacrosse.

Spallina’s drive, playmaking ability and experience playing beyond his years etched his name into the high school record books. And his ceiling is still unknown. Reh said Spallina could be one of the best college players of all time. Daquino thinks Spallina could become the new face of lacrosse, but Spallina’s goals are team-based. 

While sitting on a table after a preseason practice at Ensley Athletic Center, cradling his Gait Torq stick in his hands, Spallina shared his ambition:

“To win a national championship every single year.”

Photograph is courtesy of SU Athletics

Published on February 2, 2023 at 12:04 am

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @csmith17_