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Making the most out of a man-up opportunity seems simple. But the execution can be tough, especially for teams lacking a cohesive attack. Head coach Gary Gait said Syracuse has consistently stayed a top-five team in man-up offense this season by keeping it fresh.

“Coach (Pat) March has been changing out what we do every week, sometimes he’ll go back to some old stuff, otherwise he’ll use new plays,” Gait said. 

Syracuse currently has the fourth-best man-up offense nationally, scoring on 57.4% of its opportunities. It’s the best the team has produced since 2015 and 23.3% better than last season. Joey Spallina and Jackson Birtwistle are at the forefront of the Orange’s extra-man attack with 10 and nine man-up goals, respectively. 

SU has a nation-leading 35 man-up goals, nine more than the next closest team, on 57 attempts. Gait said he doesn’t understand why Syracuse’s games have more fouls, but his team has made the most of it offensively. 

The Orange’s attack relies heavily on chemistry and ball movement throughout every man-up play. In whatever set March calls, every player on the offense actively moves the ball around until someone is eventually open at the doorstep. 

“The real key is just skill players moving the ball well,” Gait said. 

Usually, Birtwistle functions as the finisher near the middle of the crease, while the rest of the offense circles the ball around the perimeter. This clockwise motion of the ball’s movement is known as the 3-3 man-up wheel. It’s a common play, but the Orange’s execution has been unstoppable this season.

On SU’s first man-up goal this year, in its season opener against Vermont, Birtwistle stood five yards from the cage. He kept his back turned to the net while the rest of the attack played out, taking 20 seconds off the clock. Eventually, Alex Simmons threaded a pass between two upright sticks to Birtwistle for a goal. 

Birtwistle finished off a similar play the following weekend against UAlbany. Again, almost 20 seconds into a man-up play in the third quarter, Birtwistle received the ball in the middle of the field as Syracuse moved the ball forward down the right flank. 

As the ball swung crossfield, Birtwistle moved toward it. He grabbed possession from nine yards out and rocketed a backhand shot into the net. 

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Spallina scored against the Great Danes later in the period. Gait said that Spallina’s “low right” spot in the man-up is specifically hard to stop, especially when the outnumbered defense is forced to slide up. 

“It gives him an opportunity to finish well down there, which he’s doing,” Gait said. 

Spallina stayed in the low right spot when Hiltz, at X, passed to Simmons, who was 10 yards out on the left side. Simmons caught the ball, raised his stick and shuffled a few strides downfield. UAlbany defender Jake Piseno charged at Simmons, who pump-faked and passed to Spallina for the easy score. 

The Orange scored four man-up goals against the Great Danes and again in their next game versus Holy Cross. Both matchups ended in blowout wins for SU. But its best man-up performance came in a 19-13 loss to then-No. 12 North Carolina on Feb. 25. 

The Tar Heels’ defense recorded 11 penalties throughout the game, giving the Orange more than 10 minutes of man-up opportunities that led to five scores.

Syracuse started to diversify its play in the man-up against UNC, using X to its advantage. With five minutes left in the first quarter, Spallina ventured back to X while Finn Thomson followed behind. 

Spallina flipped the ball to Thomson and trailed behind as Thomson approached the goal. Thomson pitched it back to Spallina as the Tar Heels miscommunicated on a slide, leaving Spallina open. He slotted an underhand score into the back of the net. 

Two minutes later, the Orange tried to get Birtwistle a point-blank look on another man-up opportunity. Instead, two defenders converged on Birtwistle, leaving Simmons unmarked in his normal spot, 10-to-15 yards away from goal. Now wide open, Simmons stepped down into his shot, placing the ball into the bottom right corner.

In Syracuse’s first ranked win since March 2022, the Orange beat Princeton’s defense with four man-up goals. Just like the second man-up score against the Tar Heels, Birtwistle was the main option at the edge of the crease. At X, Spallina found Birtwistle in the final two minutes of the first half. Birtwistle launched a powerful attempt that bounced off the pipe before a mistimed ground ball pickup left it airborne.

Simmons snatched the ball out of the air and flipped the ball behind his back as two defenders tackled him to the turf. Somehow, the ball soared, untouched, into Spallina’s stick, who relayed the ball to a wide-open Michael Leo on the right side. The Tigers stopped the first attempt but could do nothing against the second. 

“For some reason, they just kept fouling us so we had to score a man-up goal,” Spallina said.

Published on April 16, 2023 at 10:17 pm

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