Evan Brady leaned forward when he heard the question.

Could you talk about the reason for the turnaround from this year to last on defense?

The senior tri-captain for the No. 1 Syracuse men’s lacrosse team, fresh off a 13-6 victory Saturday over Princeton, jumped at the chance.

‘Sure,’ he said, a slight grin breaking out across his face. ‘I mean, it’s everything.

‘It’s our middie play, short stick middies. Bringing in Sid [Smith], bringing in a new goalie in John [Galloway], a new coaching staff [new defensive coordinator Lelan Rogers], just switching everything up.’

Then he went back to the mantra Rogers preaches each day in practice.

‘But I think we just got back to the basics,’ Brady said.

The basics means limiting shots, forcing turnovers and jumpstarting transition. Because of that, the Orange is 8-1 and No. 1 in the country, with a solid, evolving defense to counterpart the pyrotechnic offense.

Saturday provided a small glimpse, a brief window, into that relationship.

‘I think it’s a great reward to see teams like Princeton only scoring six goals and us keeping other teams under double figures,’ head coach John Desko said.

It’s the kind of effort the defense was missing last year.

Sifting through the wreckage of 2007’s 5-8 record, Desko and his staff knew a change, maybe a bit of a gamble, was necessary. They did so through recruiting and personnel switches.

Rogers took over the defense, preaching simple schemes and avoiding bad habits.

Smith, a junior transfer from Onondaga Community College and flypaper-tight defender, bolstered the defensive corps already manned by senior captains Brady and Kyle Guadagnolo. Joel White, a freshman offensive midfielder, was given a long-pole and told to funnel his athleticism into defense as the long-stick midfielder.

And freshman Galloway beat out two-year incumbent Pete Coluccini for the spot in front of the cage.

The results of the overhaul? So far, so good.

Check the numbers: With defenders like Smith and White sliding out to block shots and cut off passing lanes Saturday, the Tigers shot the ball just 23 times, with only five from leading scorers Mark Kovler and Tommy Davis.

For the fourth game in a row (and seventh time this year), the Orange kept its opponent under double digits.

Last year? Opponents scored double figures nine times and averaged 11.38 goals per game on a defense that constantly broke down.

Those kind of games have been rare this year, as the defense protects Galloway, the Central New York player of the year last season at nearby West Genesee High School.

The freshman made the saves he was supposed to Saturday, including four in the first period. And when his clears are smooth, he starts the engine for the Syracuse offense.

‘John’s certainly doing a great job of getting the ball out,’ Desko said. ‘I think you look at our clearing stats from a year or two ago, we’re clearing the ball better. So a lot of good things are happening with the defense. And it helps us at the offensive end.’

There’s a flip side to that coin. Having an explosive offense like Syracuse does – not to mention Danny Brennan’s dominant faceoff unit winning draw after draw – keeps the onus off the defense too.

The pressure frustrated Princeton head coach Bill Tierney, who rubbed his hands against his face as he answered questions after the game Saturday.

‘It’s easy to play defense when you’ve got the ball,’ Tierney said. ‘That’s been our M.O. for years. [But] I’m not disparaging their defense at all. They’re fabulous. They’ve got great athletes.’

Brady and his fellow defenders want to use that to their advantage. Keep things basic. Keep the score low.

It’s working so far.

‘People try to set a limit at the number of goals you want to give up each week,’ Brady said. ‘But, you know, we want to give up zero. You got to start with a zero on the board and try to keep it there.’

ramccull@syr.edu

Published on April 6, 2008 at 12:00 pm