Syracuse lacrosse: Spallina shines, Hawryschuk and Swart take gold at World Lacrosse Box Championships

A successful and historic world championships came to an end on Sunday with some serious hardware for the ‘Cuse.

The 2024 World Lacrosse Box Championships completed a historic tournament over the weekend, and a handful of Syracuse Orange played big roles in the 10-day event over in Utica.

It was the largest event in the tournament’s history, and it featured the first-ever women’s box championship, won by Team USA in impressive, late-comeback fashion to top Canada and grab the first gold medal in women’s box lacrosse.

The US women weren’t the only ones making some history for the red, white and blue, as the American men came in with their best finish ever. The US took the bronze in each of the first five tournaments dating back to 2003, but they earned the silver this year thanks to their incredible, 12-11 defeat of the Haudenosaunee in the semifinals before losing the gold medal game to Canada, 13-7.

The US men not only secured their best finish in tournament history with their silver medal, they also beat the Haudenosaunee twice, something they had never done in the world box championships before this year. And the silver was just about the best result they could hope for given that Canada has won gold all six times and has literally never lost a single game in the event’s history.

Former Orange standouts Emily Hawryschuk and Sam Swart were members of the historic US women’s team that took gold.

Hawryschuk had a tremendous tournament, finishing fifth on the team in goals (17) and points (24), while Swart finished with two goals and three assists for five points.

Additionally, both players earned wonderful individual honors as Swart received the Heart and Spirit of Lacrosse Award, while Hawryschuk was named one of the Team USA captains for the tournament. As a result, she was the one who got her hands on the trophy first during the postgame medal ceremony.

For the US men, current Orange Joey Spallina had a breakout performance as he competed with and against plenty of professionals from the NLL, and more than showed he belonged.

Joey finished third on Team USA in points (23) and second in goals (14) as he became one of the team’s primary scoring threats from the right side. But it was his performances in the big games that was the most impressive.

Any Syracuse fan knows that big matchups have often been a struggle for Joey in his first two years in a ‘Cuse uniform, but that was definitely not the case for him the past few months in the indoor game. After tearing up the Ontario Junior Lacrosse League this summer, he came out and played well four times out of four against Canada and the Haudenosaunee, two teams made up primarily of older, professional indoor lacrosse players.

In pool play against the Haudenosaunee, Joey scored four goals to lead the US in goals for the game on their way to the win. Against Canada, his two goals tied him for the team lead against the best team in the world. In the semifinals, Joey’s three goals and an assist led all goal scorers, including his goal that tied the game late in the fourth. And in the finals, he tallied a goal and an assist when the US was only able to muster seven goals on the night.

He proved himself capable of stepping up big in big moments; now we’ve just got to hope it translates back to the field come spring.

Joey and Joel White added silver medals to their trophy cases on Sunday for Team USA.

On the ‘Cuse-rich Haudeanosaunee roster, Randy Staats had a fantastic tournament as he led his team in points (30) with 13 goals and 17 assists on his way to making the men’s tournament All-World Team.

Cody Jamieson perhaps underwhelmed a little by his lofty standards, but still finished with 15 points on three goals and 12 assists. Trey Deere became the second current Orange to gain senior-level international experience with his five points (3G, 2A). Brendan Bomberry (2A) and Jeremy Thompson (1A) joined the Orange brigade, as well. Warren Hill had a solid tournament as one of the Haudenosaunee’s goalies, appearing in all six games and saving 81 percent of his shots faced while also tallying two assists.

Finally, Nate Solomon had himself a great tournament playing for Team Israel as he helped lead them to a fifth-place finish, the highest placement for a team outside of the top group of four.

Nate finished with 17 points on 11 goals and six assists, and he provided potentially the goal of this championship or anywhere when he put home this gem against Hong Kong:

One-handed. Behind-the-back. Bouncer. Five-hole. On-the-run. Nate Solomon for the win.

In the end, it was an incredible world championships, and one that was fun to see so many ‘Cuse people heavily involved in. Congrats to Emily and Sam on their historic gold medals and individual accolades, the US boys on their first-ever silver, and the Haudenosaunee boys on their bronze!