Le Moyne’s defenders had their arms around each other, huddled together with their helmets down. Senior Dan Hardy had scored the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team’s fifth goal of the first quarter seconds earlier.

The Dolphin defense was trying to find an answer to the Orange’s offensive attack. They couldn’t do it. The Le Moyne defense attempted to step up its level of play, drawing six yellow flags, a few for aggressive play, but the Syracuse offense continued to outplay them.

Syracuse shot more, scored more, and had no fear in creating offensive opportunities for itself Thursday afternoon at the Carrier Dome, in its first preseason scrimmage against Hofstra and Le Moyne. The Orange defeated the Pride, 13-6, and an hour and a half later took down the Dolphins, 13-6 (in three periods).

‘They came out playing very physical and got some penalties early,’ Syracuse head coach John Desko said. ‘They played well in man-up situations, executed well, had a lot of possession that first period against Le Moyne, all which created opportunities.’

The Orange took its time creating those opportunities: Hardy passed the ball to Kenny Nims, Nims to Chris Daniello, waiting for an opening. But when the chance came, Syracuse capitalized and scored aggressively.

‘We played hard clearing, riding, transitioning, everything,’ Nims said. ‘We created opportunities, then they create a lot of goals. Our hustle helped us the most. We rode pretty well, grabbed ground balls, Galloway cleared it really well – all of those things led to some easy goals.’

The Syracuse players were not greedy in their scoring. Thirteen players registered a goal for the Orange during the course of the doubleheader.

At the 12:10 mark of the second quarter of the Hofstra game, veteran Hardy assisted Tim Desko, an unlikely star of the day, giving Desko as easy goal and his second of that contest. Desko had seven goals total during the day and received the praise of his father, John Desko, who called Tim the best overall shooter from the attack unit for the day.

‘Practice and opportunities made it possible for the younger and older guys to connect,’ senior captain Matt Abbott said. ‘Getting to an open guy, being unselfish is the key. I’m pretty happy with how we moved the ball.’

Abbott didn’t shy away from pointing out what Syracuse, the defending 2008 national champions, needed to improve on. Abbott wants to improve his defense. He also pointed out the Orange’s sluggish beginning and ending can’t happen in regular-season games against tougher opponents. In the first quarter against Hofstra, one goal separated the Orange and the Pride. Both offensives looked slow and lacked intensity.

‘We did improve in most areas as the game went on,’ John Desko said. ‘That’s encouraging. We gave up a few goals that you need to practice on a full-field to realize why you did that.’

Syracuse outshot Hofstra in every quarter. During the Le Moyne game, Syracuse outshot the Dolphins in the first period, 15-3, but started to slow down in the second and third period, letting Le Moyne take more shots on goal than they attempted themselves. The worst for the Pride came in the second period, when Syracuse outshot Hofstra, 12-3.

The experience from the Orange’s offense unit shined through. Nims and Hardy returned to the starting lineup. Junior Chris Daniello played a significant amount of time, registering one goal in both the Hofstra and the Le Moyne game. Daniello scored four goals last season.

‘We are just trying to keep our younger guys calm,’ Nims said. ‘It’s their first game. All the seniors showed good leadership. And a lot of people stepped up.’

John Desko expressed disappointment in attack Stephen Keogh, who registered two goals in the Le Moyne game. Keogh started the Hofstra game, but didn’t register any assists or goals. Desko said Keogh shot worse than he expected. Keogh scored 20 goals in 18 games during his freshman campaign.

Goalie John Galloway made 10 saves in the Hofstra game, and another five in the Le Moyne contest. Al Cavalieri, Paul Dubas and Michael Williams all saw time in the Le Moyne game. Dubas allowed two Dolphin goals to go by him in under a minute.

The three Le Moyne goalkeepers did not fair much better, allowing 13 Orange goals, including six in nine minutes in the first period alone. The Syracuse attack proved to be too much for both defenses, which even had trouble shutting down the Orange’s second string.

‘It’s good to see that type of execution so early,’ Desko, who is in his 11th season as head coach, said. ‘Sometimes things are backward and you’d be rusty. But they did pretty well. Remember we have big shoes to fill.’

mkgalalant@syr.edu

Published on January 31, 2009 at 12:00 pm