The Syracuse Orange are back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021, a two-year absence from the postseason that would have seemed impossible not that long ago.
On Sunday night, they’ll be hosting their first tournament game since 2018 while simultaneously looking for their first tournament win since 2017.
Those droughts are three, six and seven years old, respectively, and more significant accomplishments go back more than a decade.
These simple facts illustrate what has become of the program, like the ming-boggling notion that they haven’t won an NCAA Tournament game in seven years. But what they mean in the context of the 2024 Orange is that they enter May a team primarily devoid of collegiate postseason experience.
They’ve got a small handful who’ve played in big moments before. Jake Stevens and Sammy English went to the Final Four with Princeton in 2022. Mason Kohn played in the Division III National Championship game last season with Tufts. There are others, as well, but the vast majority of this team have never reached May Madness until now.
Postseason lacrosse, like in every sport, is a different animal. It’s lacrosse without a safety net. It requires you to take all your skills and abilities and cohesion as a team, and perform them under the most intense pressure. It also requires the toughness and grit to get the job done, perhaps late in the game when you need to make a play to win.
We’ve seen this team tough out games and make plays late to win this year. There’ve been failures along the way (Maryland, Army, Cornell), as well, but they’ve shown the ability to get the job done (Hopkins, Virginia); something they’ve struggled with mightily in recent years.
The postseason hits different, though, and the problem is there’s just no way to truly prepare for it until you’re in the middle of it, facing the pressure of the moment.
Will the offense lean on the experience of Stevens and English, who scored the game winner in the Virginia thriller a few weeks ago? Or is one of the young players ready to step up in his first taste of the big time?
We know this is an offense that works extremely well together, that’s why they rank second in the country in assists per game (9.56). But the question all year about them, even before making it to the postseason, was do they have a player who can win his matchup to help get a goal late in the game when you need him to the most?
English did it in the final minute against Virginia, so do they lean heavy on his experience coming out of a fourth quarter timeout? Do they look to one of the young guns, or can they keep up the great passing for a goal in the tensest of moments?
The same questions abide all over the field, whether it be winning a matchup on defense, causing a turnover, making a save, or picking up a key ground ball.
Much like the players themselves, we won’t truly know the answers until we see it happen with the season on the line.
One thing is for sure, though. On Sunday, this team will take another step back up the ladder in their quest to rise back up the ranks of the sport; officially gaining that first bit of postseason experience that they need to eventually reach the ultimate goal.
