Syracuse men’s lacrosse: Orange finally got the epic May moment they’ve been chasing

Back-to-back weekends have yielded wild results as the Orange have found their way back to Memorial Day weekend.

There’s a simple truth about long droughts in sports.

They don’t end ordinarily. They end spectacularly. They end when a certain combination of characteristics come together to create an extraordinary event that brings unbridled joy to a fanbase longing for better days.

The past two weekends, the Syracuse Orange gave their fanbase what they’ve been longing for for the last 12 years and 10 NCAA Tournaments: a trip back to Championship Weekend.

It was never going to happen any old way, with the Orange Sunday-strolling their way back to the Final Four. It had been too long for that now, with too many near misses and too many disappointments. 12 years-worth of them, an eternity by the standards of the most decorated program in NCAA lacrosse history.

No, the time for ordinary was past. It was always going to be something crazy. An epic comeback. A breathless roller coaster ride. A showdown with an old, historic foe.

In the case of the 2025 Syracuse Orange, it turned out to be all of the above.

And when opportunity presented itself, opportunity that was created by their work in the ACC Tournament, they took full advantage of it in the most exciting and/or agita-inducing ways possible.

They authored a five-goal comeback with just 11 minutes to go and their season on the chopping block against Harvard, one of the greatest comebacks in ‘Cuse postseason history.

They fought back-and-forth to win one of the most thrilling, greatest games in the history of the NCAA Tournament against old rival Princeton.

They didn’t just get themselves back to their first Final Four since 2013, they did so by providing their fans with two incredible postseason memories that will stay with them for years to come. They did so by writing the best May script the 315 has seen in a long time.

When was the last time we got to experience playoff wins this exciting?

2017, maybe? The one-goal win over Yale that required a late Stephen Rehfuss goal to prevail with an 11-10 victory. That was good, but it was a first round game that ended in agony one week later as the Orange were rudely upset by Towson in the quarterfinals.

Before that? It would have to go back to 2013 itself, when SU won back-to-back one goal games on their way to the national title game. They beat Yale, 7-6, in the quarterfinals and Denver, 9-8, in the semifinals.

Those games were not only incredible, but happened in eerily similar ways in back-to-back weekends. In both games, the Orange found themselves down by two goals with roughly three minutes to play in the game. And in both games, they scored three goals in those final three minutes to win the games in regulation.

Against Yale, it was Dylan Donahue on a feed from JoJo Marasco with 13 seconds to go. Against Denver, it was Derek Maltz with 20 seconds to go.

As someone who was in person to watch both, I can tell you the memories of jumping up and down and losing my mind while watching my team roll on to Memorial Day are still very vivid all these years later. I can still see myself and the view I had at Byrd Stadium and Lincoln Financial Field as it all unfolded in front of me.

Those memories are the very reason we all care so much, because they provide us the kind of child-like joy and enthusiasm that only a crazy thing like sports can do.

That 2013 run ended in crushing defeat two days later as I sat there and watched Duke win what felt like every single face-off on their way to the title.

It was brutal, but as I look back on it I don’t care so much anymore. Because with 12 years and zero Final Four appearances to think on it, I have grown to appreciate the ride that 2013 ‘Cuse team took us on. They stormed to Memorial Day on the back of two of the most thrilling late-game comebacks you’ll ever see.

And up until two weekends ago, we hadn’t had a single postseason moment as amazing as those in the past 12 years.

We’ve been waiting. Patiently, at times, and not-so-patiently at others. But we’ve been waiting, because these types of moments are worth waiting for. And the more sparse they become, the more meaningful, too.

I had almost forgotten what it’s like to watch a ‘Cuse run through May. But the past two weekends have hit me like a ton of bricks; how much fun, and stressful, it is to see the Orange factoring in to May lacrosse once more. It’s all come rushing back with the last few weeks, and I couldn’t be any happier for the reminder of what this program has been chasing this last decade.

We don’t know what’s going to happen next, and that 2013 Duke game could still be looming on Memorial Day weekend, but we know this team has already brought ‘Cuse back to the place we’ve been desperate for all these years.

And they’ve given us some pretty cool memories along the way, too.