Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

Following a two-game, 10-goal weekend for Syracuse’s Joey Spallina, the No. 1 recruit in the nation earned Atlantic Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Spallina improved on his first collegiate game against Vermont, in which he scored just one goal on a team-high 15 shots. After the narrow victory over the Catamounts and heading into a slate of two games in three days, he made a “weird” decision to shoot less, Spallina said.

The results, amidst two commanding wins for the Orange that catapulted them into the top 20 for the first time since March 2022, allowed the highly touted freshman to showcase his skills. He shot 71.4% on shots on goal, including three that came on man-up opportunities. Spallina — who frequently spearheads Syracuse’s offense at X — also added two assists in the Orange’s win over Holy Cross.

UAlbany coach Scott Marr, who gave in-depth answers on other questions about Syracuse, could simply muster “he’s good” when asked about Spallina and how the Great Danes gameplanned for the attack last week. Spallina led a scoring effort over the weekend that combined notched 35 goals, even though he said after the Orange’s win over Holy Cross that he felt like he could have “finished the ball a little bit better.”

Syracuse will head to Maryland on Saturday to take on the defending national champions in its first road game and matchup against a Power 5 team.