Resurrecting a power
Lacrosse Preview 2008
They’re the team that broke every Syracuse lacrosse streak. And the players can’t help but feel like they’ve let everyone down.
In the span of three years, the team watched its 22-year Final Four streak, its 25-year postseason streak, and its 32-year winning season streak all snap. It culminated in last year’s 5-8 finish, shocking a lacrosse community that had always considered the Final Four a given, let alone the NCAA tournament.
And in the Syracuse lacrosse family, there’s no shortage of people to disappoint.
‘It was disappointing because I didn’t feel like they were really in it attitude-wise. They didn’t have the heart that it takes to be a winner,’ said Roy Simmons Jr., head coach from 1971-1998, who won the program’s first six national titles.
‘I know that when I played I was always conscious of what the alumni were thinking about the program,’ said Mikey Powell, who graduated in 2004 with three national titles. ‘We always wanted to play well to keep the tradition going, and those guys certainly know that.’
‘Like they always say, things don’t last forever. So now we start a new run,’ said Gary Gait, SU’s all-time leading scorer, who left with three titles and is now the women’s lacrosse head coach.
Like any major failure, the days and months that followed were littered with excuses.
First there were the injuries. Starters Steven Brooks, Dan Hardy and Evan Brady fought nagging injuries throughout the season. Head coach John Desko had to move players around to help fill lineup gaps.
Then there’s what’s now known as ‘that off-the-field stuff.’ That short phrase has become the pronoun for three players getting arrested – two for public intoxication and one for assault. All three eventually left the team.
Desko says all his personnel issues led to inconsistencies on the field, which led to losses. His predecessor says there’s a deeper reason.
‘They didn’t have the attitude,’ Simmons said. ‘They weren’t hungry. They weren’t aggressive. It was almost like when they lost it wasn’t a big deal. ‘Oh, we lost another ballgame.”
The retired coach, from his perch in the Carrier Dome press box, watched as his program lost to teams he didn’t consider worthy of playing back in his day. Simmons, 72, said he can’t go to the supermarket anymore without strangers asking him to fix the program.
Jovan Miller, a freshman from nearby Christian Brothers Academy, drew similar conclusions as he watched the team throughout the recruiting process.
‘The first thing that came to mind is that it looked like we weren’t motivated at all,’ Miller said. ‘From my perspective it just seemed like nobody really wanted to play. Nobody really wanted to win either. It just showed lack of effort.’
Desko attributes last year more to personnel inconsistencies. He doesn’t, however, rule out attitude as a factor.
‘I don’t know if it’s a hunger issue,’ Desko said. ‘I’m sure it would appear that way, as much as just not having consistency of players on the field.’
After nine months to stew about what could have been, the players, almost reluctantly, admit the team did have a problem with attitude.
For them, it was more of an issue of complacency. Thirty-two years of winning can condition a team to the point in which it feels like losing isn’t an option.
‘I think there was some complacency as a team,’ defenseman Evan Brady said. ‘…But I think that’s all changed, and we’re just trying to move forward.’
Winning became a right, not a privilege. It was easy to look past teams like Hobart and Loyola – schools that just filled the schedule gaps between powerhouses like Princeton and Johns Hopkins.
But somewhere along the way, the proverbial peons of the lacrosse world got better. There’s no disagreement that parity makes it harder for any one program to establish the dominance that Syracuse used to enjoy so consistently. Wearing Orange doesn’t guarantee wins anymore.
‘Last year, I think we did a lot thinking we were Syracuse, and we could come in and just beat teams by our name itself,’ midfielder Dan Hardy said. ‘And once again it’s obvious that that can’t work anymore, and we have to be prepared for everyone.’
It wasn’t just the program that wasn’t used to losing. It was the players, too. Most athletes good enough to sign with the Orange played on high school and junior lacrosse teams that consistently rolled over their opponents. Losing seasons were never an option.
‘That was the first time I think I’d ever not made the playoffs,’ Brady said of last season. ‘It was a weird feeling. You’ve got a lot of free time.’
That’s what most of the spring and summer was. Free time. Hardy spent most of the summer answering the same questions over and over. What happened last year? How’s next year looking? Going home and seeing old lacrosse buddies meant hearing stories from the postseason he missed out on.
When it came time to take the field again, playing was therapeutic. A way to escape from the woes of the previous season. For Brady, and a lot of his teammates, the only remedy for the melancholic summer was playing again. As soon as the horn sounded on the final game of 2007, thoughts shifted to 2008.
‘You get pissed off and you work as hard as you can,’ Brady said. ‘But once you get back to school, you know it’s a new season. You’ve got to put it behind you. And you play with a chip on your shoulder kind of, but at the same time it’s a new season. You’ve got to put it behind you.’
Desko called meetings during the fall exhibition season, to help remind players what it means to play lacrosse for Syracuse. The players said it helped refocus the team, and realize they weren’t just playing for themselves, but everyone before them as well.
Some of the team veterans made shirts before fall ball. On the back, they read ‘Our day will come.’
Miller was handed a shirt when he first joined the team. He interpreted it as a tool to keep the team looking forward to the spring. For him, it will be a reminder that this season is all about living in the moment.
‘Our day has come,’ Miller said. ‘So that was motivation during the fall. Our day will come. Our day is now.’
The team vows this year will be different. The players say they’re humbled. You’ve got to be, Brady said. The team was ranked No. 11 in Inside Lacrosse’s preseason poll, and some are actually looking forward to being the underdogs for a change.
The last time Syracuse missed the playoffs, it followed up with a national championship in 1983. The players insist they’ll do the same.
But future triumphs don’t negate past failures. No matter what moment the team plays in, the last one will always exist.
‘For the rest of my life, my sophomore year will always be ‘We didn’t make the playoffs,” said junior midfielder Matt Abbott. ‘No matter what we do, if we go on and never lose another game the rest of my career here, it’s still going to be that one year you let it slip away.’
Published on February 13, 2008 at 12:00 pm
