A bit of unexpected news for the leader of the Orange’s defense.
Notre Dame week has brought with it some interesting and unexpected news for the Syracuse Orange, specifically in regards to their defensive coordinator.
On Wednesday, it was announced that ‘Cuse assistant John Odierna has been named an assistant coach for the Boston Cannons of the Premier Lacrosse League for the 2025 season taking place this summer.
Welcome to the #BoomSquad
We have hired John Odierna and Alec Jernstedt as Assistant Coaches. pic.twitter.com/TIXas9na2a
— Boston Cannons (@PLLCannons) April 2, 2025
The PLL season starts the weekend after Memorial Day, which allows a college coach to pull double-duty at the professional ranks.
Odierna joins a Cannons team that finished second in the league last season in scoring defense. They went 7-3 during the regular season, tied for the best record in the league. Back in February, they won the PLL’s Championship Series for the second year in a row.
Odierna’s been doing an outstanding job in his two seasons as ‘Cuse’s defensive coordinator. In that time, the Orange have been averaging exactly 10.00 goals-against per game. So far this year, they’ve been even better with 8.20 goals-against, tied for fourth-best in the country.
Another One.
Jimmy McCool picks up his second Defensive Player of the Week honor from @theACC.
No. 7 Syracuse vs. No. 5 Notre Dame
Saturday | 2 p.m. | JMA Wireless Dome
https://t.co/VlhGIHRGzl
️ https://t.co/6BnMTATFM2
1-888-DOME-TIX (1-888-3663-849)#HHH x #LikeNoOther pic.twitter.com/flzvADZwss— Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse (@CuseMLAX) April 1, 2025
In other news, ‘Cuse goalie Jimmy McCool has been named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time in the last four weeks.
McCool has caught fire in recent weeks. One game after making a career-high 18 saves against Colgate, he nearly duplicated his efforts last week against Virginia in earning the weekly honor.
McCool came up huge with 17 saves and a 62.9 save percentage, including a massive doorstep save with two minutes left in the game to help secure SU’s first ACC win of the year on the road at Klockner Stadium.
After not earning any defensive player of the week nods in the first five weeks, the Orange have now been awarded that honor in three of the last four; two by McCool and one by Johnny Mullen last week.
The Orange will next take the field on Saturday for their biggest game of the year when they host Notre Dame at 2 PM on the ACC Network.