The Heisman Trophy of lacrosse. The sport’s most prestigious honor. The Tewaaraton Award. 

Given annually to the nation’s best collegiate player, the Tewaaraton conversation is always full of debate over which athlete deserves to be crowned the top player of the year. At the end of the 2023 NCAA regular season, a list of 50 candidates, 25 men and 25 women, is released with just one from each group being crowned the Tewaaraton winner. On Thursday, Apr. 20, the nominee list was published, with one notable attackman left out.  

Joey Spallina, Syracuse’s freshman phenom, took the lacrosse world by storm as the number one overall recruit in the high school graduating class of 2022. With a unique playing style of physicality, creativity, absurd assists, seemingly-impossible goals and swagger, Spallina became the player that any young athlete aspired to be. 

In his rookie campaign, he transformed a 4-10 Orange squad into an 8-6 (with one game remaining) team with the possibility of an NCAA tournament berth. Registering 34 goals and 29 assists, Spallina put together a very complete, balanced season that created opportunities for not just himself but his teammates. 

He rides extremely hard, winning the ball back, and makes insane plays to spark life into his teammates. Dodging against Maryland’s Brett Makar, one of the nation’s top defenseman, Spallina decided to attempt a behind-the-back shot that astonishingly went in without a reaction from the Terps’ goaltender. That play, alongside dozens of other seemingly-effortless highlight-worthy clips, proved the youngster’s worth in the difficult world of college lacrosse.

While I believe that Spallina’s incredible play warranted a nominee for the award, I do not believe that he should take home the prized award. Notre Dame’s Pat Kavanagh is the clear winner in my opinion, guiding the Irish to a phenomenal 9-1 record and a nearly unanimous first place ranking. 

Though the ‘Cuse freshman cannot win the award, had he been nominated, his “Tewaaraton moment” was a whopping nine points against a good Princeton team to pull off a 16-13 upset in early April. 

Joey Spallina has done everything possible to warrant a Tewaaraton nomination as Syracuse is looking much like the powerhouse they once were, in large part due to the impact of number 22 in the blue and orange.