It was inevitable that at some point, the No. 2 Syracuse men’s lacrosse team would stumble, would trip over its feet during this season’s return to prominence. At some point, all these blowouts would stop and the Orange would find itself in an actual game.

Friday was a chance for that: a night game against an in-state rival (Albany) combined with an overeager offense that produced more turnovers (21) than shots on goal (20) facing a talented goaltender (Brett Queener).

Seems like a recipe for an upset. Or, at least, a bit of a scare.

‘We had some turnovers,’ SU head coach John Desko said afterward. ‘And I don’t think we were as sharp or as crisp as we have been in a few games.’

But did it matter? Nope. Was it ever close? Try again.

The Orange (11-1) still scrapped its way to a 10-5 win against the Great Danes (5-7), jumping out to a 5-2 lead in the first quarter and shuffling towards the finish line in fits and starts. With the win, Syracuse stays on track for the second seed in the NCAA tournament, just two weeks away.

The defense did its part. John Galloway recuperated well from a disappointing performance last Saturday against Rutgers. His 14 saves kept Albany – playing without leading scorer Corey Small – at bay and made sure it was never really that close

Still, it was a scuffling sort of game, the kind Syracuse had avoided most of this season. The Orange had a few earlier in the season, an 8-7 win over Army, a 9-8 double overtime thriller against Georgetown. Since then, it’s been mostly smooth sailing. Nine wins in a row with the offense (13.65 goals per game before Friday) acting as the turbine and generator.

So for the first time since that Georgetown game, the Syracuse offense sputtered, as if a mechanic had left a wrench in its engine following a week-long inspection. The constants were there: senior attack Mike Leveille tallied a hat trick while senior midfielder Steven Brooks and junior attack Kenny Nims each notched two goals and an assist.

Besides that, the offense struggled. Syracuse had to resort to grunt work to pick up most of its scores, crashing the net and back-checking to disrupt Albany’s clears to pounce on turnovers.

‘Sometimes when you don’t play as clean a game as you’d like, you pick it up in just hard work,’ said Evan Brady, senior defender and tri-captain. ‘Ground balls, riding, and just doing the little things.’

And even if Albany actually won the ground ball battle (38 to 34), Brady had a point.

‘We weren’t as crisp as we usually are,’ said Leveille, whose hat trick was his eight of the season and 21st of his career.

It didn’t seem like that early on, however.

Syracuse jumped out to that early lead and Steven Keogh bulled his way in front of net to pump the score to 7-2 with 9:22 remaining in the second. It seemed then, as it has so many times in this resurgent season, that the rout was on.

It wasn’t.

The Great Danes shifted into a zone defense and the Orange offense pressed too much thereafter, shooting too soon and passing too wildly at times to settle in. The goals came in drips and drabs after that: two in the second and third quarter and one in the fourth, when Syracuse got off just five shots.

‘It was a little different zone then most people were playing,’ said Albany head coach Scott Marr. ‘So I think it kind of throws you a little bit. And hey, give us some credit. It was 5-2 at the end of the first quarter and we held them to five goals over the next three [quarters].’

The Orange didn’t help itself, of course, spraying shots (41 in all) and passes and never truly settling in to a rhythm.

‘I saw a couple turnovers I really, really didn’t want to have,’ Desko said.

Here’s a snapshot of Desko’s frustration.

Late in the second quarter, Keogh found Mike Leveille slashing towards the net, a wide-open chance for the Tewaaraton Trophy finalist. Except his lay-up spiked wide.

Late in the fourth, Matt Abbott flashed down the right side off a Galloway clear, blowing past two defenders to set up the counter attack. Except his centering pass skipped off Leveille’s shoes.

Syracuse has more than a week to fix that, to settle back into the groove before it faces Massachusetts (5-5) at home next Saturday.

‘I think if we just stay patient,’ said Leveille, ‘keeping running our offense, even our zone offense, we should be able to execute.’

ramccull@syr.edu

Published on April 18, 2008 at 12:00 pm