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

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the best goalies throughout Long Island trained at Stony Brook’s indoor lacrosse facility. They needed players to shoot on them so Joey Spallina, a regular at the field, called his friend Michael Leo.

Leo drove an hour from Seaford, New York, and for two to three hours the pair tested their array of strikes against elite competition like Notre Dame’s Liam Entenmann. Spallina roamed at X and repeatedly fed a cutting Leo, improving their chemistry with every rep.

“That’s where we built our trust and, I’m blanking on the word,” Spallina said. Leo chimed in: “connection.”

Spallina and Leo’s careers ascended in parallel on Long Island. They faced once in fifth grade, but their paths intersected in the last two years of high school when they both excelled on Team 91. Joe, Spallina’s dad, coached the pair in those two seasons and said their chemistry from the club circuit has directly carried over to college. Leo and Spallina have combined for 50 goals and assisted each other four times this season.

“Their chemistry was not overnight,” Joe said. “It was homemade, slow baked.”

Leo and Spallina both started playing lacrosse around the age of 6. Leo immediately stuck out as a “slick lefty,” Team Igloo coach Keith Cromwell said. Spallina faced players up to two years older than him in travel ball, learning how to play off-ball, Joe said.

Arlo Stone | Design Editor

The pair’s work ethic mimicked each other, too. Leo trained 10 minutes away from his house in a park by the water with a bucket of 150 lacrosse balls, asking his dad Mike to stay longer even if the lights were half-on at 9:30 p.m. Spallina preferred to be an early bird, waking up before 5 a.m. to do shooting drills and watch hours of film on footwork and defenses.

“Those are two guys that have always committed to the extra work,” said Tom Schreiber, Leo’s trainer and former Premier League Lacrosse star for Archers LC.

As eighth graders, 40 miles away from each other, Spallina and Leo were both pulled up to their high school’s varsity squads. Spallina became the first eighth grader to start for Mount Sinai’s varsity team in decades, receiving all-county and rookie of the year honors with 39 goals and 45 assists.

Leo said that being the young guy helped him build more confidence, competing against players who were five years older than him. He had 19 goals and 12 assists as MacArthur High School’s main scoring threat.

Being young players on varsity helped the duo hone in their strong suits. Mike said that Leo became a physical, downhill dodger, reliant on his speed to get past any defender and pinpoint accuracy to score. Spallina wasn’t the fastest, instead using his hips and shoulders to shake off defenders, said Mount Sinai assistant Luke Daquino.

Their coaches also helped them add more skills to their arsenal. Schreiber made small tweaks to Leo’s form, helping him control more of his lower, nontraditional release points. Daquino improved his patience and ability at X, a position which has since defined his career. Leo started to use more shot fakes and learned how to “set up his dodge.” Spallina figured out how to score from tough angles. Both worked on their nondominant hand too.

“You get a feel of what they think and how they look at the game,” Leo said about working with different trainers on the island.

Joey Spallina (left) and Michael Leo (right) at the 2021 Under Armour All-America Game Courtesy of Mike Leo

As juniors, Leo and Spallina were invited to the Under Armour Classic with Joe as head coach of Long Island’s squad. It wasn’t the first time the pair played together, but Spallina said it was the first time they dominated. Soon after the showcase, Leo thought it was a good idea to start building chemistry with Spallina, so he joined Team 91.

But for most of his life, Leo was a mainstay on the left wing of the attack, equipped with a quick release that allowed him to score against the tightest coverage. Syracuse already had a player like that in Owen Hiltz, so Joe and Leo switched him to midfield in preparation for his arrival at SU.

“This was a situation where he got a little ahead of the curve. It has allowed him to make a tremendous instant impact (at Syracuse),” Joe said.

Leo was always open to learning both midfield and attack, Schreiber said. The biggest difference between the two positions is the dodging angles, requiring players to free their hands up top versus coming around the goal. Leo said his speed actually helped with the switch.

Joe said Leo had to learn to advance the ball forward and trust that Spallina, who was the quarterback of Team 91’s offense, would give him the ball back. Once he did, the offense opened up.

Spallina said it took only one tournament for the duo to realize they perfectly complemented each other. Leo’s athleticism helped him get open or underneath defenders, leading to easy goals. Spallina said that opponents putting a short-stick matchup on Leo is “disrespectful.” Leo said he could care less.

The pair dominated with Team 91 through tournaments like Mesa Fresh and Laxachusetts. It got to the point where Leo said Spallina had eyes in the back of his head. Spallina said he knew exactly where Leo would be at all times.

“Us together is really, really good,” Spallina said.

Joe had the pair run plays that he knew they’d run at Syracuse. They dodged the alley, fired it through X and played big, little around the cage. There’s still one play which they haven’t showcased — the fish hook. Opposing defenses can expect that soon.

Senior Staff Writer Connor Smith contributed to the reporting of this article.

Published on April 20, 2023 at 12:05 am

Contact Anish: asvasude@syr.edu | @anish_vasu