Gary Gait confirmed the news on Thursday when he met the media.
A rough couple weeks for the Syracuse Orange got rougher on Thursday.
While doing his weekly media availability yesterday, Gary Gait confirmed that redshirt senior midfielder Jackson Birtwistle is expected to miss the rest of the 2025 season with a lower-body injury.
Midfielder Jackson Birtwistle is expected to miss the remainder of the 2025 season after suffering a lower body injury on Saturday against Harvard, head coach Gary Gait confirmed at a media availability on Thursday.
#HHH x #LikeNoOther pic.twitter.com/8jiM4O0Qoe— Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse (@CuseMLAX) February 27, 2025
The news doesn’t come as a huge surprise after Birtwistle got hurt late in last weekend’s loss to Harvard. He had to be helped off the field and was subsequently seen lying down on the sideline. It looked bad at the time and, unfortunately, it was.
In addition to being terrible news for the fifth-year senior, this is a brutal blow to the depth of the midfield at a point in the season when the offense is going through a significant identity crisis. Losing a regular member of their midfield rotation, part of a second line that was already having troubles producing, is not going to help matters.
In addition, Gait also noted that Luke Rhoa and Billy Dwan are both considered day-to-day going into this weekend. Rhoa missed the Harvard game with an upper-body injury, while Dwan briefly had to exit the game to get his ankle looked at before returning.
Gait said that both are traveling to the game with the team, so time will tell on them.
The Orange are hitting the road in a big way for their first ever trip to Salt Lake City to play the Utah Utes at 2 PM on Saturday on ESPN+.