The 2022 lacrosse regular season is coming to a close, and we caught up with SNY’s Eamon McAneney to get his thoughts on what has been an eventful year on this week’s The Juice on the Cuse Podcast, presented by SNY.tv.
It’s been eventful for Syracuse, but not in a good way. After being ranked in the top 10 to start the season, the Orange has struggled in the back half of its season. Currently, SU is on a five-game losing streak, the first time that’s happened since 1975.
Syracuse will also have a losing record for the first time since 2007.
Part of the reasons for the struggles has been back luck, McAneney said. Syracuse has played without key players like Owen Hiltz and Lucas Quinn for large stretches fo the season.
“Injuries were a major problem. They’ve lost a ton of talent to injuries, and they weren’t necessarily deep enough to begin with to bounce back from that.”
But injuries are only a part of the issues with the Orange, McAneney said.
Syracuse is also going through a transition period, shifting from John Desko, who guided the Orange for 22 seasons, to new coach Gary Gait.
“They played for so long for one coach and one staff, and now it’s different,” McAneney said. “It’s a different voice and method than what they heard. I think they’ll be fine. There have been a lot of close games. I think it’s just a comfort level.”
» Related: Syracuse drops fifth straight after being downed by UVA
While Syracuse is 4-9 on the season and is expected to finish the season 4-10 after its game against No. 6 Notre Dame this weekend, McAneney doesn’t expect the lull to last. A huge reason for that is a second year with Gait as head coach, and also an incoming recruiting class that features the No. 1 overall recruit, Joey Spallina.
Said McAneney: “They’re going through a transition period. If you want to get Syracuse, I would get them now. They have a great recruiting class coming in. Gary Gait and that staff knows what they’re doing. I don’t expect them to be down for very long.”
I also chatted with McAneney about the rest of the lacrosse world, including whether anyone can stop No. 1 Maryland, and who has been his biggest surprise of the season.
Afterward, editor in chief Brad Bierman calls to further break down Syracuse’s loss to Virginia and preview’s SU’s season finale against Notre Dame.
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