It’s almost over. They can feel that now, all those on the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team who walked out to midfield at the Carrier Dome with their parents Saturday for Senior Day.

Some, like Greg Niewieroski and Pete Coluccini have an extra year of eligibility left. Others, like fifth-year senior Steven Brooks, don’t.

‘It’s been a long (time) playing here,’ Brooks said. ‘It’s been fun. We’d all like to leave with a bang. And there are a lot of emotions going on for our seniors. It’s a big senior class.’

Those seniors, along with the rest of the No. 2 Orange (12-1), will travel to Hamilton, N.Y., Saturday to face Colgate (10-5) in Syracuse’s final regular season game. The team looks to stretch its winning streak to 11.

Syracuse faces a Red Raiders squad riding high, having secured the Patriot League title – and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament – with a 13-9 win over Bucknell Sunday. It will be Colgate’s first postseason excursion.

But just making the NCAAs is old news for this Orange squad, even if it was upended by the Red Raiders in its final game last season. Syracuse is fighting for the top seed in the tournament overall, tussling with No. 1 Duke for that spot.

The seniors have been a big part of that, the core of this team. Attack Mike Leveille has torched defenses this year for 61 points (36 goals, 25 assists). Brooks, who’s dealt with injuries throughout his entire SU career and usually a long-pole midfielder when he’s on the field this year, has still scored 23 goals and 11 assists – third on the team in both categories. Brendan Loftus too has emerged this year, with 15 goals to his credit.

And face-off specialist Danny Brennan still leads the nation in faceoffs, winning 67 percent of the time.

So though the seniors will almost certainly get one more game in the Carrier Dome – a first-round home playoff game – it is almost over. The playoffs come soon, and with it, a true chance to finally achieve some of that redemption the players have spent all year talking about.

‘If we keep playing like this I could see us going far,’ Brooks said after the team’s 16-3 demolition of Massachusetts.

That’s the key this Saturday: One more stop before the real tests begin.

‘We don’t want to limp into the playoffs at all,’ Leveille said. ‘We want to be playing our best lacrosse this time of year. And that’s what we’re preaching everyday in practice. To keep working hard and getting better so we go into the playoffs with a full head of steam.’

Bye bye, Krause-Simmons?

The Hobart and William Smith College board of trustees voted Saturday to move Hobart lacrosse from Division I to Division III. The board cited a lack of scholarships – the school offers zero for lacrosse – and the inability to continue competing at a high level as the main reasons.

This may open a spot on Syracuse’s schedule for next season – and cast aside a major Central New York rivalry. The Statesmen have met Syracuse 94 times, playing for the Krause-Simmons Trophy the past 23 years. The Orange beat Hobart on March 25, 13-5.

ramccull@syr.edu

Published on April 30, 2008 at 12:00 pm