Syracuse played its first intercollegiate lacrosse game in 1916, and captured United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse League (USILL) co-championships in 1920, 1922, 1924, and 1925 based on winning the Northern Division Syracuse. And Syracuse won the coaches national championship in 1956 lead by Jim brown there future head coach and goalie and future indigenous people’s rights activist Oren Lyons[2]
Syracuse was one of seven Big East Conference schools that formally began competing in men's lacrosse in 2010. Previously, Syracuse men's lacrosse had remained independent (i.e., unaffiliated with any athletic conference). The other six Big East schools were Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence, Rutgers, St. John's, and Villanova.
Head coaches
Syracuse has had five men's lacrosse head coaches since 1916:[5][6]
Laurie D. Cox (1916–1930), 116-40-15 record, .722 winning percentage
Roy Simmons, Sr. (1931–1970), 253-130-1 record, .660 winning percentage
Roy Simmons, Jr. (1971–1998), 287-96-0 record, .749 winning percentage
John Desko (1999–2021), 258-86-0 record, .750 winning percentage
Gary Gait (2021–present), 21-19-0 record, .525 winning percentage
As of games through 03/29/24, these coaches have combined for a 933-371-16 record, which is a .707 winning percentage, while winning 15 total national titles.
One notable tradition of the Syracuse program is the number 22 jersey, which is given to the player who is expected to be the team's best overall player.[7] The number has been worn by Gary Gait, Charlie Lockwood, Casey Powell, Ryan Powell, Mike Powell, Dan Hardy, Cody Jamieson, Jojo Marasco, Jordan Evans, Chase Scanlan, and most currently Joey Spallina.[8]
Season Results
The following is a list of Syracuse’s Men's Lacrosse results by season:
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
Conference regular season champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
Division regular season champion
Division regular season and conference tournament champion
Conference tournament champion
^Prior to 1971, the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) selected the national champion. From 1936 through 1970, the USILA awarded the Wingate Memorial Trophy to its selected annual champions, based on regular-season records. In 1957, both the Wingate Trophy and the Cyrus Miller Trophy (Division I championship) went to Johns Hopkins but the coaches national championship went to Syracuse. Since 1971, the annual NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament has determined the national champion. The Wingate Memorial Trophy was also presented to the first two NCAA champions (1971 and 1972) and was then retired.