Syracuse men’s lacrosse: The pressure and privilege of expectations is back

For the first time in a while, the bar is high as the Orange have their eyes set on the season’s final weekend.

After the Syracuse Orange’s 2024 season came to an end against Denver in the NCAA Quarterfinal round, I wrote an article about the different phases of being ‘back’ as the program tries to rise back up under the leadership of Gary Gait.

It’s been a steady rise in three years under Gait, from their low point in 2022, to respectable mediocrity in year two, to one step short of the Final Four last season. It’s all been a part of the program’s quest to climb back up the mountain of college lacrosse.

During Gait’s stretch, they’ve re-loaded and re-stocked their talent, gone from youth to veteran, and gotten themselves back into the national conversation, all in relatively short fashion.

And it’s all been leading to this season, where taking the next logical step after last year’s quarterfinal loss means making it back to their first Final Four since 2013.

Memorial Day weekend in 2025 was the prevailing Syracuse take in the immediate aftermath of the Denver loss, and it has remained the same all the way up until the eve of the new season.

It’s a new reality of expectation that should feel awfully familiar to SU, even if it has been a while. The Orange have been ranked No. 2 in the preseason polls by Inside Lacrosse and USA Lacrosse, and No. 3 by the coaches. The ACC coaches unanimously picked them to finish second behind Notre Dame. USA Lacrosse and Inside Lacrosse picked them to have eight and seven preseason All-Americans, respectively, among the highest in the nation.

All the indicators are there, and that level of expectation comes with a pressure to keep your upward trajectory and deliver on that next step, especially when you’re the winningest program in NCAA lacrosse history.

As much talent and depth as they have, setting the bar that high doesn’t come easy; not for any team in the ACC who plays the caliber of schedule that the Orange do.

The best news in all of this preseason hype is that the team seems to be as aware of it as anyone around the program or the sport is, and they’re embracing and even inviting the pressure, because they know what they’re capable of.

That has been the case since the moment last season ended, when Michael Leo made this statement in the postgame press conference after the NCAA quarterfinals:

Could that have been an emotional statement in an emotional moment? Certainly, but it’s representative of the confidence and swagger that this team has about themselves. And that’s crucial because you’ve got to have a little swag if you’re going to walk-the-walk all the way to Memorial Day weekend.

In Gait’s era, the self-belief and swagger flowed freely, to the ultimate results. It’s a different time now, but Gait’s boys are trying and expecting to bring a little of that back for a new, rejuvenated generation.

The ascent back up continues tomorrow.