Syracuse's 1988 team is noted for finishing undefeated, 15-0, and featuring the Gait brothers, Paul and Gary Gait. Syracuse was ranked number one in the nation for most of this year, averaged just under 18 goals a game, and had only one close game—an overtime win over North Carolina—during the regular season. They had also defeated the second seed in the tournament, Johns Hopkins, 19–7 early in the season.
This NCAAs is also notable for being the tournament where Gary Gait took his famous "Air Gait" shot in a close semi-final game against Tony Seaman'sPenn team. Penn played a tough zone defense to try to contain the Gaits and Syracuse. Gary Gait saw a way around the zone, by running directly at the goal from behind and slam dunking the ball into the goal past the shocked goaltender. At that time, a player was allowed to both touch the goal and land in the crease, provided the ball had first crossed the goal line. Gait scored on two "Air Gait" plays in that game. The NCAA outlawed that type of play a short while later. Syracuse won this semifinal game against Penn on a goal by Paul Gait with three seconds left in the game.
In a 23–5 quarterfinal win over Navy, Gary Gait scored a tournament record 9 goals.