After Syracuse’s 14-13 regular season-ending overtime loss to Massachusetts on April 30, chaos ensued on Garber Field. UMass attack Jeff Zywicki somersaulted into a pile of teammates while Minutemen fans charged the field. With security thin, students yelled obscenities at the Orange during postgame interviews as the rain picked up.

‘After that game, everything was such a blur,’ SU attack Brian Crockett said. ‘I knew all game long guys were talking trash – fans and players. Just to get one more shot at them, it should be a great time.’

The Orange will get a rematch with UMass in the first round of the NCAA tournament Saturday at 1 p.m. at Garber Field. SU will defend its 2004 national title and begin its quest for a 23rd straight Final Four appearance.

Long-stick defender and senior captain Scott Ditzell, who sat out the April 30 matchup with flu-like symptoms, began practicing with the team Monday after a two-week hiatus.

‘That one hurt,’ Ditzell said of the loss to UMass. ‘I can’t wait to go back there this weekend. It was torture just sitting there on the sideline. The whole way it unfolded, it’s a good place to be. There will be a lot of emotions going on there.’

Ditzell said he woke up the morning of the game and could barely get out of bed. He’s been combating the sickness with an ample amount of rest and said he’s been feeling poorly since a week before the UMass game.

The SU-UMass rivalry dates back to 2003 when Zywicki beat the Orange in overtime in a similar Garber Field setting. Some considered former Orange Mike Powell’s flip during last year’s matchup a sign of disrespect.

In addition, freshman Mike Leveille will play for family pride. His brother, Kevin, who now plays for Major League Lacrosse’s Boston Cannons, was a second team All-American for the Minutemen from 2000-2003.

‘It’s gonna be fun going back to UMass,’ Leveille said. ‘They were getting on our team pretty hard. It’s really an environment we would all like to win in. We can definitely beat UMass. It’s gonna be a heated game.’

Should the Orange (7-5) beat UMass (12-2), it will play the winner of the No.1 seeded Johns Hopkins-Marist game May 21 at Johns Hopkins.

The undefeated Blue Jays, who have not lost at home in 34 tries, defeated SU, 12-11, in overtime on March 18. SU defeated Hopkins in the 2004 NCAA semifinals en route to its third national championship in five years.

‘Playing at a place where the fans are going crazy and the players hate us more than most teams, it’s just a fun place to play,’ Crockett said. ‘That’s one of the funnest things in sports – going against teams that want to kill you. To stand against that challenge and beat those teams, that’s what it’s all about.’

Published on May 10, 2005 at 12:00 pm