Stephen Keogh took a familiar place at the podium following the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team’s victory over Albany on Saturday. But beside him sat three non-regulars — midfielders Max Bartig, Josh Amidon and Jovan Miller. 

For Bartig, the recognition was overdue. 

‘I think (our hard work) is starting to show,’ Bartig, a senior, said. ‘Previous games, we’ve kind of been loaded on the attack end in scoring and people have been saying some stuff about why the midfield isn’t scoring. I think today showed we were pretty balanced out there.’ 

It was the midfield that shined  for the No. 3 Orange (7-1, 2-0 Big East) Saturday afternoon, leading SU to a 15-8 victory over Albany (2-7, 1-0 America East) in front of a crowd of 5,229 inside the Carrier Dome. 

The victory marked the 800th in Syracuse program history, as the Orange joins Johns Hopkins as the only other lacrosse program to reach the mark. As a player, assistant coach and now head coach, John Desko has witnessed over half of them — he’s been with the program for 405 of its 800 wins. 

‘To be part of that tradition as an assistant coach and head coach, and to see it all, it’s important,’ Desko said. ‘I’ve been able to see the progression of Syracuse lacrosse from being the bottom of the barrel to coming up to be one of the teams of this era. To have this consistency … I just feel I have a great appreciation of where it is and where it’s been.’ 

Coming into the season, questions were abound. Who would replace Matt Abbott? Dan Hardy? Pat Perritt? 

The Orange midfield answered those questions the same way it has at each team’s turnover in Desko’s coaching reign — through consistency. 

Consistency in the form of nine goals from the midfield position. Consistency in the form of an all-around effort, where the SU midfield harassed its Albany counterparts all day and constantly forced the Great Danes into turnovers. And consistency in the form of the midfield leading Syracuse to its latest victory in a long line. 

‘We just go out there and try to play,’ Miller said. ‘It just so happens that we had a great game midfield-wise. I think it’s just collective. I think we just don’t care who’s putting the ball in the back of the net as long as we’re scoring and as long as we’re winning.’ 

Forty-nine seconds into the game, Orange midfielder Jeremy Thompson forced a turnover on an attempted Albany clear. Taking only a few steps, he bounced a shot past Great Dane goaltender John Carroll to give Syracuse a 1-0 lead, one from which it would never look back. 

It was a similar premise for the entire afternoon — ride Albany on its clearing attempts, force turnovers and create scoring opportunities. And the Orange followed that plan to a T. Syracuse created 25 Albany turnovers and forced the Great Danes into a dismal 63 percent (17-of-27) on clearing opportunities.  

The midfield was responsible for much of it. Whether it was Miller making a play by knocking the ball out of a Great Danes’ stick or co-captain Joel White scooping up ground ball after ground ball — finishing with six on the day — the midfield was always in the middle of the action. 

‘I think when we did lose the ball, we weren’t turning around and running back on defense or substituting everybody out,’ Desko said. ‘I think we’ve done a good job of getting (the players) to understand what we’re doing on a change of possession and in the riding situation.’ 

Those turnovers led to goals for the finishers on the SU offense, as well as fellow midfielders. Three for Bartig. Two for Amidon. Three for Miller.  

To Bartig, it’s just a culmination of all that work finally coming together on the field. The work that has led to a balanced, consistent midfield once again. 

‘We’ve been working a lot together on and off the field,’ Bartig said. ‘I think it’s starting to show.’  

bplogiur@syr.edu

Published on April 2, 2010 at 12:00 pm