USALAX Way-Early 2026 Division I Men's Rankings: | Page 2 | Syracusefan.com
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USALAX Way-Early 2026 Division I Men's Rankings:

2. SYRACUSE​

2025 record: 13-6 (2-2 ACC)

Last seen: Paying a steep price for nearly every one of its first-half mistakes in a 14-8 loss to Maryland in the NCAA semifinals.

Projected starts lost: 57 of 190 (30 percent)

Projected scoring departing: 135 of 412 points (32.8 percent)

Initial forecast: Let’s not diminish the Orange’s losses to graduation; attackman Owen Hiltz (46G, 27A), midfielder Sam English (24G, 14A), defenseman Michael Grace and short stick Carter Rice were all on Premier Lacrosse League rosters this summer and were immensely vital figures in the program’s first semifinal appearance since 2013. Nevertheless, Syracuse’s window to win a championship might be open a little wider now that it has some championship weekend experience, and it has a loaded senior class that should be especially incentivized. The Orange have six double-digit scorers back, led by Joey Spallina (35G, 55A), Michael Leo (32G, 12A), Luke Rhoa (27G, 6A) and Finn Thomson (23G, 7A). It brings back one of Division I’s best faceoff men in John Mullen (.630) and a goalie Jimmy McCool (.535SV%), who was superb against ACC competition. That’s a lot to work with coming off a deep run, and it will give Syracuse a chance to win its first national championship since 2009. Is the Orange more consistent in 2026? Does it adopt a title-or-bust attitude — as many of its fans likely will — and deal with the challenges inherent with that approach, or can it take a more narrow, short-term outlook each week? And can it be more buttoned up in the back half of May should the opportunity arise? Syracuse has made steady progress in its first four seasons under Gary Gait. If the Orange takes another step, it will play on Memorial Day.
 
We have a big question mark at ssdm and that could honestly dictate how far we go. It is an absolutely crucial position. The downturn in defenses like Hop's and ND's are heavily based on the losses they had at ssdm. We saw the downturn in our own defense when we lost Joe Gillis and Paolo Ciferri from 2017 to 2018.

I would love if we found a way to get Levine back next year, which was not 100% ruled out. Just pay that guy whatever salary his starter job was going to offer! Bowen and Kittelberger should be a solid boost. I have some faith that Ochoa and Spallina can continue to improve with more experience under their belt. Bolognino could continue getting run there after looking solid with minimal experience. McCarthy will likely get more two way run on the defensive end where he was solid. We also had some athletic guys in the 2024 class who redshirted with injuries. One new face emerging there could go a long way.
 
DoctahLexus said:
We have a big question mark at ssdm and that could honestly dictate how far we go. It is an absolutely crucial position. The downturn in defenses like Hop's and ND's are heavily based on the losses they had at ssdm. We saw the downturn in our own defense when we lost Joe Gillis and Paolo Ciferri from 2017 to 2018.

I would love if we found a way to get Levine back next year, which was not 100% ruled out. Just pay that guy whatever salary his starter job was going to offer! Bowen and Kittelberger should be a solid boost. I have some faith that Ochoa and Spallina can continue to improve with more experience under their belt. Bolognino could continue getting run there after looking solid with minimal experience. McCarthy will likely get more two way run on the defensive end where he was solid. We also had some athletic guys in the 2024 class who redshirted with injuries. One new face emerging there could go a long way.
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I think Kittelberger comes in as the number one SSDM recruit in the country. It's a really difficult position to step into on the college level, but he seems to have all the tools you look for. Size, speed, and he comes from a prep powerhouse, so you know he'll be prepared. I think the big question is if he can step in to the Rice role as the number one guy. That's a big expectation for a freshman obviously, but Rice himself hit the ground running as a freshman, so it's not unheard of.

I don't know much about Bowen to be honest as I didn't watch a lot of OSU games and SSDM play is the hardest position to gauge from stats alone. I'm still not clear if he was a starter last year or how much he played for them. A good depth piece at the very least. Big question is if he starts alongside Kittelberger or if he runs with the second group.

Totally agree about LeVine, that would be a big boost. I do worry about the knee injury. That's not something you just bounce back from, and the timing of it all probably couldn't have been worse as it was late in the year. He wasn't the fastest guy beforehand so I'm not sure if its a good or bad thing. Still, having him back is better than not having him back. Fingers crossed.

It sounds strange but I worry the coaches aren't going to show any imagination, and they will continue with Spallina and Ochoa as rotation players. Spallina I just don't think has the physical tools to be a standout SSDM. Ochoa just makes silly mistakes and I don't think is fast enough even though he has good size. Felt like they were picked on over and over again at the end of the season. Bologinio didn't impress me much, but he was a freshman playing out of position. Perhaps these three make big strides in the offseason. We were all pretty hard on Levine his first few years but turned into a really good player. But yeah, it's imperative that more than one player from this group or RS freshmen emerge.
 
Powellfan said:
I think Kittelberger comes in as the number one SSDM recruit in the country. It's a really difficult position to step into on the college level, but he seems to have all the tools you look for. Size, speed, and he comes from a prep powerhouse, so you know he'll be prepared. I think the big question is if he can step in to the Rice role as the number one guy. That's a big expectation for a freshman obviously, but Rice himself hit the ground running as a freshman, so it's not unheard of.

I don't know much about Bowen to be honest as I didn't watch a lot of OSU games and SSDM play is the hardest position to gauge from stats alone. I'm still not clear if he was a starter last year or how much he played for them. A good depth piece at the very least. Big question is if he starts alongside Kittelberger or if he runs with the second group.

Totally agree about LeVine, that would be a big boost. I do worry about the knee injury. That's not something you just bounce back from, and the timing of it all probably couldn't have been worse as it was late in the year. He wasn't the fastest guy beforehand so I'm not sure if its a good or bad thing. Still, having him back is better than not having him back. Fingers crossed.

It sounds strange but I worry the coaches aren't going to show any imagination, and they will continue with Spallina and Ochoa as rotation players. Spallina I just don't think has the physical tools to be a standout SSDM. Ochoa just makes silly mistakes and I don't think is fast enough even though he has good size. Felt like they were picked on over and over again at the end of the season. Bologinio didn't impress me much, but he was a freshman playing out of position. Perhaps these three make big strides in the offseason. We were all pretty hard on Levine his first few years but turned into a really good player. But yeah, it's imperative that more than one player from this group or RS freshmen emerge.
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bowen rotated in as the #4 ssdm at osu this season behind langermeier, eiland, and allen. good size and athleticism. he doesnt offer much in the way of transition or wing play and has dealt with some injuries...i could see him slotting in as the #2 or #3 for the orange...
 
Powellfan said:
I think Kittelberger comes in as the number one SSDM recruit in the country. It's a really difficult position to step into on the college level, but he seems to have all the tools you look for. Size, speed, and he comes from a prep powerhouse, so you know he'll be prepared. I think the big question is if he can step in to the Rice role as the number one guy. That's a big expectation for a freshman obviously, but Rice himself hit the ground running as a freshman, so it's not unheard of.

I don't know much about Bowen to be honest as I didn't watch a lot of OSU games and SSDM play is the hardest position to gauge from stats alone. I'm still not clear if he was a starter last year or how much he played for them. A good depth piece at the very least. Big question is if he starts alongside Kittelberger or if he runs with the second group.

Totally agree about LeVine, that would be a big boost. I do worry about the knee injury. That's not something you just bounce back from, and the timing of it all probably couldn't have been worse as it was late in the year. He wasn't the fastest guy beforehand so I'm not sure if its a good or bad thing. Still, having him back is better than not having him back. Fingers crossed.

It sounds strange but I worry the coaches aren't going to show any imagination, and they will continue with Spallina and Ochoa as rotation players. Spallina I just don't think has the physical tools to be a standout SSDM. Ochoa just makes silly mistakes and I don't think is fast enough even though he has good size. Felt like they were picked on over and over again at the end of the season. Bologinio didn't impress me much, but he was a freshman playing out of position. Perhaps these three make big strides in the offseason. We were all pretty hard on Levine his first few years but turned into a really good player. But yeah, it's imperative that more than one player from this group or RS freshmen emerge.
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I think the staff has shown a reasonable willingness to use their "imagination" in the past at that spot. They went with a freshman who played exclusively offense in high school in Wyatt Hottle when we had Rosa and Clary go down in 2024 and Trujillo was not getting it done. Bolognino was also a full time lsm in high school and they still used him there. They quickly moved away from Brett Spallina at that spot after he struggled. I worry less about their willingness to think outside the box, and more on if we have the guys to work with in the first place.
 
OrangeXtreme said:

2. SYRACUSE​

2025 record: 13-6 (2-2 ACC)

Last seen: Paying a steep price for nearly every one of its first-half mistakes in a 14-8 loss to Maryland in the NCAA semifinals.

Projected starts lost: 57 of 190 (30 percent)

Projected scoring departing: 135 of 412 points (32.8 percent)

Initial forecast: Let’s not diminish the Orange’s losses to graduation; attackman Owen Hiltz (46G, 27A), midfielder Sam English (24G, 14A), defenseman Michael Grace and short stick Carter Rice were all on Premier Lacrosse League rosters this summer and were immensely vital figures in the program’s first semifinal appearance since 2013. Nevertheless, Syracuse’s window to win a championship might be open a little wider now that it has some championship weekend experience, and it has a loaded senior class that should be especially incentivized. The Orange have six double-digit scorers back, led by Joey Spallina (35G, 55A), Michael Leo (32G, 12A), Luke Rhoa (27G, 6A) and Finn Thomson (23G, 7A). It brings back one of Division I’s best faceoff men in John Mullen (.630) and a goalie Jimmy McCool (.535SV%), who was superb against ACC competition. That’s a lot to work with coming off a deep run, and it will give Syracuse a chance to win its first national championship since 2009. Is the Orange more consistent in 2026? Does it adopt a title-or-bust attitude — as many of its fans likely will — and deal with the challenges inherent with that approach, or can it take a more narrow, short-term outlook each week? And can it be more buttoned up in the back half of May should the opportunity arise? Syracuse has made steady progress in its first four seasons under Gary Gait. If the Orange takes another step, it will play on Memorial Day.
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Such an incomplete write up for Cuse. How do you miss an entire position group that brings back 2 top close defenders?
 
I don't care how many people get mad or reply to try to persuade me otherwise, I am not going to be convinced Maryland replicates the performance at goalie. Obviously you rank them #1 preseason, but this Sun Tzu treatment of Tillman works until it doesn't. As the article mentions, past performance is not always indicative of future results. Maybe so for a while, but as I've said before I remember hearing the same exact things about Danowski ~10 years ago. Again, before anyone gets mad, you have to rank them #1. Yale players have the stats, but a lot of good that did them. And I know the usual reply is "it wasn't their offense that was the problem!" but that was one of the worst seasons for Yale in 20 years. Not all stats are equal.

This sport sees senior leadership and experience have more impact than most other sports. This Cuse team is by no means guaranteed a MDW appearance just by the nature of the game, but that's a lot talented seniors coming back next year that have played together for 3 years.
 
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nocohalo said:
I don't care how many people get mad or reply to try to persuade me otherwise, I am not going to be convinced Maryland replicates the performance at goalie. Obviously you rank them #1 preseason, but this Sun Tzu treatment of Tillman works until it doesn't. As the article mentions, past performance is not always indicative of future results. Maybe so for a while, but as I've said before I remember hearing the same exact things about Danowski ~10 years ago. Again, before anyone gets mad, you have to rank them #1. Yale players have the stats, but a lot of good that did them. And I know the usual reply is "it wasn't their offense that was the problem!" but that was one of the worst seasons for Yale in 20 years. Not all stats are equal.

This sport sees senior leadership and experience have more impact than most other sports. This Cuse team is by no means guaranteed a MDW appearance just by the nature of the game, but that's a lot talented seniors coming back next year that have played together for 3 years.
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As a Maryland fan, I sort of look hope that Yale struggling just puts a larger chip on Chris Lyons' and Leo Johnson's shoulders and makes them strive even harder to succeed and play on Memorial Day. Looking at Yale's stat sheet one sort of wonders if their support was that strong last season, with the 3rd best scorer being Brad Sharp with 25 points.
At Maryland, they should get a lot of support with Spanos, Erksa and Whittier returning for their final seasons. Schultz and Stobaugh showed nice signs on the 2nd midfield. Spencer Ford and Johnny Gardiner come off red-shirt freshman years and the Terps bring in a top freshman attackman in Matt Higgins.
Overall, I think Maryland's offensive group looks to be a bit stronger, but we'll have to see.
 
Zack80 said:
As a Maryland fan, I sort of look hope that Yale struggling just puts a larger chip on Chris Lyons' and Leo Johnson's shoulders and makes them strive even harder to succeed and play on Memorial Day. Looking at Yale's stat sheet one sort of wonders if their support was that strong last season, with the 3rd best scorer being Brad Sharp with 25 points.
At Maryland, they should get a lot of support with Spanos, Erksa and Whittier returning for their final seasons. Schultz and Stobaugh showed nice signs on the 2nd midfield. Spencer Ford and Johnny Gardiner come off red-shirt freshman years and the Terps bring in a top freshman attackman in Matt Higgins.
Overall, I think Maryland's offensive group looks to be a bit stronger, but we'll have to see.
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At this point Tillman has earned the benefit of the doubt for me. I'm taking him most years unless it's a certain matchup where I know his teams may struggle a bit. His teams are beatable but he punishes teams who make mistakes and aren't at minimum above average at Fogo and Goalie. Hard to see them not back in the champ game again next year barring major injuries or the goalie position being essentially a mess which seems unlikely.
 
nocohalo said:
I'm also not saying Tillman doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt, I will reiterate that they are deserving of a #1 ranking with what they have back. But this is a Cuse forum and I will put on my partisan hat from time to time.
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Definitely nothing wrong with that
 
Hoo's That said:
Flying below the radar.
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UVa is not flying quite so far beneath my radar, as I have the Wahoos at #8.

I remember back in 2004, the Wahoos went out to Colorado at the start of the season and lost to both Air Force and Denver. The Air Force lost was particularly shocking. The Wahoos finished that season 5-8. In 2005, the Wahoos were back in the swing of things. I believe they were 11-4 and made it to the final four.
While that was a long time ago, I see a lot of similarity with the current situation. Mostly, UVa is loaded with talented players like they were in 2005. All this talk about the locker room seems like hooie to me as UVa fought hard right to the end only losing to Duke 9-10 in ot in their last game.
 
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Didn't want to start a new thread about the 2026 schedule quite yet, but a poster on FanLax says that Syracuse would be hosting Georgetown this season. Has anyone heard anything? That would be a big time game. Obviously lots of storylines outside of it being a preseason top 5 matchup.
 
Powellfan said:
Didn't want to start a new thread about the 2026 schedule quite yet, but a poster on FanLax says that Syracuse would be hosting Georgetown this season. Has anyone heard anything? That would be a big time game. Obviously lots of storylines outside of it being a preseason top 5 matchup.
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I haven't heard that but wouldn't surprise me as I believe a few of the games from last year were one offs and I also believe the Maryland series maybe over.
 
JeremyCuse said:
I haven't heard that but wouldn't surprise me as I believe a few of the games from last year were one offs and I also believe the Maryland series maybe over.
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Dang. Would prefer we kept MD on there, but GTown would be an ideal OOC replacement.
 
DoctahLexus said:
Dang. Would prefer we kept MD on there, but GTown would be an ideal OOC replacement.
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It could be renewed but I believe this year was the final game of the last home and away contract. Having played 4 years straight I assume both schools probably want to change it up although I do know both schools like playing so it could be a brief absence.
 
It has been a while since I looked at fanlax. Went to look at the actual fanlax post about the Gtown rumor and my god, what a totally worthless insane cesspool that place is. I look at the post in the GTown page and that idiot MD fan "wheels" is using it as an excuse to say some nonsense about us. Like literally off nothing but a schedule rumor on GTown's page! He may actually be the worst person in the online lax universe. Then I look at our own page a couple down from GTowns and we have even more insane chirps about the team from trolls in the wake of the final four game. It is a completely unusable space for cuse fans with the sheer amount of worthless trolls dedicated to hating on the team. And it's not like it's harsh but fair truths about our team by smart non-cuse fans who have no reason to sugar coat things. That would be annoying at times but understandable. It is mouth-breathing, crayon-eating, pathetic trolling.

I see some of our own getting into it with guys there and my strong words of advice would be that it is totally not worth it to even post in passing there, no matter what bs they are saying. There is nothing even close to rational discussion of our team, and very little for other teams too. Probably the same 6 losers chirping with multiple burners on twitter. Why feed those trolls y'all? They are worthless scum. We got a good thing going here. Literally zero reason to get into it with those losers. Ok rant over.
 
DoctahLexus said:
It has been a while since I looked at fanlax. Went to look at the actual fanlax post about the Gtown rumor and my god, what a totally worthless insane cesspool that place is. I look at the post in the GTown page and that idiot MD fan "wheels" is using it as an excuse to say some nonsense about us. Like literally off nothing but a schedule rumor on GTown's page! He may actually be the worst person in the online lax universe. Then I look at our own page a couple down from GTowns and we have even more insane chirps about the team from trolls in the wake of the final four game. It is a completely unusable space for cuse fans with the sheer amount of worthless trolls dedicated to hating on the team. And it's not like it's harsh but fair truths about our team by smart non-cuse fans who have no reason to sugar coat things. That would be annoying at times but understandable. It is mouth-breathing, crayon-eating, pathetic trolling.

I see some of our own getting into it with guys there and my strong words of advice would be that it is totally not worth it to even post in passing there, no matter what bs they are saying. There is nothing even close to rational discussion of our team, and very little for other teams too. Probably the same 6 losers chirping with multiple burners on twitter. Why feed those trolls y'all? They are worthless scum. We got a good thing going here. Literally zero reason to get into it with those losers. Ok rant over.
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And that's why I don't even maintain an account over there.
 
DoctahLexus said:
It has been a while since I looked at fanlax. Went to look at the actual fanlax post about the Gtown rumor and my god, what a totally worthless insane cesspool that place is. I look at the post in the GTown page and that idiot MD fan "wheels" is using it as an excuse to say some nonsense about us. Like literally off nothing but a schedule rumor on GTown's page! He may actually be the worst person in the online lax universe. Then I look at our own page a couple down from GTowns and we have even more insane chirps about the team from trolls in the wake of the final four game. It is a completely unusable space for cuse fans with the sheer amount of worthless trolls dedicated to hating on the team. And it's not like it's harsh but fair truths about our team by smart non-cuse fans who have no reason to sugar coat things. That would be annoying at times but understandable. It is mouth-breathing, crayon-eating, pathetic trolling.

I see some of our own getting into it with guys there and my strong words of advice would be that it is totally not worth it to even post in passing there, no matter what bs they are saying. There is nothing even close to rational discussion of our team, and very little for other teams too. Probably the same 6 losers chirping with multiple burners on twitter. Why feed those trolls y'all? They are worthless scum. We got a good thing going here. Literally zero reason to get into it with those losers. Ok rant over.
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I have no issue in admitting I partook in that, but I could not resist. I know you're not supposed to judge a fanbase off a few idiots, but the primal human part of me is having a hard time doing that with Maryland fans.
 
nocohalo said:
I have no issue in admitting I partook in that, but I could not resist. I know you're not supposed to judge a fanbase off a few idiots, but the primal human part of me is having a hard time doing that with Maryland fans.
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Every fanbase unfortunately has fans like that and Maryland definitely has a few of them. That said there are certainly many reasonable ones. I've conversed with a number of them over at fanlax and here with Zack who while Maryland slanted is more than reasonable on most convos.
 
DoctahLexus said:
It has been a while since I looked at fanlax. Went to look at the actual fanlax post about the Gtown rumor and my god, what a totally worthless insane cesspool that place is. I look at the post in the GTown page and that idiot MD fan "wheels" is using it as an excuse to say some nonsense about us. Like literally off nothing but a schedule rumor on GTown's page! He may actually be the worst person in the online lax universe. Then I look at our own page a couple down from GTowns and we have even more insane chirps about the team from trolls in the wake of the final four game. It is a completely unusable space for cuse fans with the sheer amount of worthless trolls dedicated to hating on the team. And it's not like it's harsh but fair truths about our team by smart non-cuse fans who have no reason to sugar coat things. That would be annoying at times but understandable. It is mouth-breathing, crayon-eating, pathetic trolling.

I see some of our own getting into it with guys there and my strong words of advice would be that it is totally not worth it to even post in passing there, no matter what bs they are saying. There is nothing even close to rational discussion of our team, and very little for other teams too. Probably the same 6 losers chirping with multiple burners on twitter. Why feed those trolls y'all? They are worthless scum. We got a good thing going here. Literally zero reason to get into it with those losers. Ok rant over.
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I'm not sure what happened to "Wheels" this season, I always thought he was a reasonable poster and I guess he still is for the most part but yeah seems like he's got a real axe to grind with Cuse going back to the start of the season almost like you'd like MD has lost 8 in a row or whatever it is in the series. However as I'm sure everyone knows that hovers around Fanlax there are some serious Orange haters over there that just bring nothing to an actual lacrosse conversation.
 
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