Syracuse Lacrosse: Led by No. 1 national recruit, 2022 shaping up as epic

In a tremendous win for Syracuse lacrosse, the Orange has secured Joey Spallina, the No. 1 recruit in 2022, along with several other stars in this class.

Syracuse lacrosse finished the 2020 season, one that got cut short due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, as the No. 1 team in the country, the Orange has lofty expectations for 2021 and the ‘Cuse 2022 class is turning into one for the ages.

So while Syracuse lacrosse hasn’t captured an NCAA championship since 2009 and isn’t as dominant as it proved years ago, positive momentum is clearly transpiring in the Orange’s favor.

The centerpiece of these encouraging developments comes in the form of Joey Spallina, the No. 1 recruit across the country in the 2022 class according to Inside Lacrosse, committing to the ‘Cuse.

Ty Xanders, director of recruiting for Inside Lacrosse, broke the story about Spallina, who is heading into his junior term at Mount Sinai High School in Mount Sinai, N.Y.

“From the time I started playing lacrosse, my dream was to play at ‘Cuse and wear No. 22 and carry on the tradition there, which I know is a huge part of things at Syracuse,” Spallina told Xanders in an article.

Per Lindsay Kramer of Syracuse.com, the 5-foot-10, 180-pound attackman fielded scholarship offers from about 30 squads, and Spallina’s five finalists amounted to the Orange, along with Loyola, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia.

"In late August, Xanders published his list of the top-10 juniors in the 2022 recruiting cycle. Spallina checked in at No. 1, and here’s what Xanders wrote about the new Syracuse lacrosse commit. “There isn’t a player in the class who’s been more battle-tested and proven over a long period of time quite like Spallina, who played up two grades with the Team 91 Crush 2020 team, where he flourished as an off-ball scorer alongside household names Brennan O’Neill and Xavier Arline. Possessing a tremendous skillset and a fine-tuned bag of tricks, college coaches rave about his advanced lacrosse IQ and physicality, as he’s crazy effective when posting up his man. Spallina, who is the oldest son of Stony Brook women’s coach Joe Spallina, racked up an incredible 131 points as a freshman All-American in 2019. He took on all comers as a constant presence on the summer circuit, getting a strong push from Dom Pietramala for the top spot, so it’ll be an excitable yet friendly competition for the No. 1 spot in the years to come. The expectation is that Spallina will focus on five or six schools in the Big Ten and ACC, having already visited several on his own.”"

Spallina is the most-recent pledge for Syracuse lacrosse in its 2022 class, but he’s not the only stellar one. Others who have committed to the Orange of late, per various media reports, are five-star midfielder Carter Kempney, four-star goalie Jimmy McCool, attackman Michael Leo, defensive midfielder Vinnie Trujillo, and midfielder Zach Mercado.