Syracuse Orange Lacrosse Dominates Opening Scrimmage, Quotes To Prove It

Oh how nice it is to see a Syracuse Orange team dominate. Syracuse Lacrosse got their season started with a doubleheader scrimmage at the Dome. The Orange defeated Hofstra 15-10 and then dismantled Holy Cross 16-6.

Looking at those scores, you can see that the attack was clicking for Syracuse. The usuals of JoJo Marasco (1G 5A), Luke Cometti (4G 1A) and Derek Maltz (4G 1A) were all impressive as usual. Surprising production and flow came from younger guys like Kevin Rice (1G 4A), Eric DeJohn (4G) and Pat Powderly (4G 4A).

For Rice, a sophomore from Skaneateles, and Marasco it's all a result of communication.

We got a good group of guys this year on attack who are all unselfish and move the ball well and I thought we were ping ponging it around pretty well. -Rice

We have four or five attack that are playing so well right now. The coaches trust all of them, they're all great finishers and they're all smart players. So to know that I can dodge and they'll be cutting, it makes my job easy and makes me look good. -Marasco

The Orange really did look good with Morasco dishing behind the goal and in the box in general. The Orange were pushing the game tempo all game and showing off the athleticism that gives Syracuse a huge advantage. As I mentioned last week, a lot of that is because of the new rules.

We won a couple of faceoffs real quick and that was huge for us. With these new rules, we were able to play Syracuse lacrosse like back in the day where we could pick up the ground ball and push it. -Marasco

Ah yes, that faceoff situation. While it remains to be seen what the exact plan will be, Junior Chris Dadio made a strong case for playing time with a combined 15 for 18 success rate. Don't worry, John Desko and others noticed.

I thought he was getting the ball out pretty well, and again it's about the decisions we make once we get the ball out there. -John Desko

It felt like we had the ball all the time today. Even our wing play was great with Steve Ianzito and Harris and Pete, those guys really stepped up big there. -Marasco

The Orange will continue their preseason warm-ups with a trip to Columbus, Ohio to take on Ohio State next week at 11:30 AM. (Seriously, what's up with these 11th hour morning starts??) The guys feel that the Holy Cross fans and doubleheader has everyone ready to go.

It will be great for us, the past two years we haven't traveled to Ohio State. It will be great for the younger guys, get them accustomed to a road crowd and a different environment from the Dome. I'm looking forward to it. -Derek Maltz

Any scrimmage right now helps us, especially to have success in said scrimmage by getting execution, getting production especially the way the defense and goalies played. We'll go watch the film and try to build on what we did right and what we did wrong and learn from it. - Coach Desko.

Final Notes:

Stronger competition is necessary to see if this is 100% true, but the attack-midfield movement looked outstanding. The Orange made smart decisions with their passes and slashed their way into prime scoring positions. The midfield may not be the best, but if they can get into the attack box, things will be alright.

Bobby Wardwell played great in net while Lamolinara did not. A source told me after the game that Wardwell is going to be the starter for Syracuse this season. No reason to doubt this.