The Stony Brook men’s lacrosse team fought valiantly in their first-ever matchup with the Syracuse Orange. But such efforts couldn’t beat the No. 7 ranked team in the nation, as the Seawolves lost 17-9 at the Carrier Dome amid a worrisome skid of losses.

While certainly the underdog, Stony Brook played well enough early on to put their nationally televised audience on watch. Down 5-1 early in the second quarter, the Seawolves surged for three goals, led by graduate attackman Cory VanGinhoven’s pair of goals to bring the score back within one. 

Unfortunately, Syracuse reminded everyone why they are No. 7 in the nation, and scored nine straight goals on the Seawolves to bury any hint of a comeback.

VanGinhoven, graduate midfielder Matt DeMeo, redshirt-freshman attackman Dylan Pallonetti and junior midfielder Mike McMahon all scored two goals apiece, while junior midfielder Caleb Pearson scored one. McMahon’s goals were the first two of his career.

“We knew this was going to be a battle, and for us to win we were going to have to possess the ball, finish our opportunities on offense, play great team defense and clear the ball,” head coach Anthony Gilardi said in a postgame press release. “We struggled early at the faceoff X and missed some early opportunities on offense, and they capitalized. We settled down to cut it to one, then just couldn’t make enough positive plays to stop their run.”

While hardly anyone would scoff at the Seawolves for the loss today against such a highly ranked opponent, the game does come amid a three-game losing streak that began with blown leads against Hofstra and UMBC. After a hot 2-0 start that saw the team enter the national rankings all the way up to spot No. 16, the team now must recollect itself and get back to their former winning ways. 

Their next game is as good a chance as any to do so, albeit with short rest, as they return home to Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium to face America East newcomer, NJIT on Sunday, March 14th.