Before Sunday, Syracuse was more than a month removed from its previous loss, and was riding a six-game winning streak that had saved its season.

But after Sunday’s defeat, which awarded Notre Dame the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship, that run is no longer.

“It put a little chip on our shoulder,” SU faceoff specialist Austin Wentworth said. “We have something to fight for, instead of being relaxed.

“We can’t lose any more games. We need to treat every game like it’s the national championship.”

Syracuse pulled off a furious last-second victory over Duke on Friday, but couldn’t repeat the magic against the Fighting Irish two days later, ending the torrid stretch of play that’s pushed the Orange back into the national discussion. No. 4 Syracuse (10-4, 2-3 ACC) has one more regular-season chance to reclaim some momentum to spark a run in the NCAA tournament, a 4 p.m. date with Colgate (9-6, 4-4 Patriot) in the Carrier Dome on Saturday.

“Another loss could move us down. It’s an important game for us,” SU head coach John Desko said. “We just don’t want to go into the playoffs with (another) loss on our schedule. We know we’ve got our hands full come Saturday afternoon.”

Syracuse’s seniors will play their final guaranteed game in the Carrier Dome against an upstate New York foe that peaked at No. 16 four weeks ago, but has since dropped out of Inside Lacrosse’s top 20.

Although SU and the Raiders haven’t met in five years, they share a rivalry that dates back to 1921.

“A lot of people think of it as an easy last game for Senior Day, but I like the route we took with a nice upstate rivalry,” senior faceoff specialist Chris Daddio said. “It’s a good game coming off a loss in the ACC championship to kind of find ourselves again. We still have a lot of work to do and this is a good game to do it.”

Following the Orange’s 21-7 loss at Duke on March 23, Syracuse was two ACC losses away from going winless in its first year in the league. The team’s hopes of reaching the conference tournament were fading, and SU needed to provide substance to complement its top-ranked strength of schedule for the NCAA tournament selection committee.

With SU’s back drawing closer and closer to the wall, the blowout loss at the hands of the Blue Devils lit a fire underneath the Orange, which pieced together six consecutive victories to qualify for the ACC tournament and boost its résumé for the national tournament.

The last of those victories, the miraculous comeback against Duke, highlighted a weekend of three thrilling ACC showdowns.

“They were some of the best lacrosse games all year,” Daddio said.

But just two days after SU felt the excitement of a down-to-the-wire win, Notre Dame turned the tables on the Orange.

The ACC trophy wasn’t SU’s most sought-after accomplishment of the year, but still one it wanted. When Notre Dame goalie Conor Kelly saved Kevin Rice’s potentially game-tying shot with three seconds left, SU players fell to their knees in anguish.

Now they have to get back up for the rest of the ride.

“Colgate’s a good team, so it’ll be a good transition from ACC play back into the playoffs,” senior goalie Dominic Lamolinara said. “But we can’t overlook them. I don’t think we’re going to.”

Published on May 2, 2014 at 4:38 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb