Syracuse Lacrosse: Coach Desko speaks at media day

Yesterday we were officially one month from the start of the lacrosse season in Syracuse and to kick things off we have six, that’s right, six captains set to lead the 2018 Syracuse Orange two of whom will have the same last name. Tyson Bomberry, Matt Lane, Austin Fusco, Brad McKinney were voted captains with Ryan Simmons and Brendan Bomberry were named assistant captains just in case the first four need help.

Also, yesterday was also media day for the Orange with John Desko speaking to the media. The takeaways are below followed by some quotes…enjoy!

• Danny Varello is top dog at the X after working on the non-faceoff portions of his game
• Dom Madonna is the front runner in net
• Desko continues to be impressed by Jamie Trimboli, the offense is going to lean hard on him for production and he could become more of a distributor
• Austin Fusco will probably be playing exclusively at the LSM
• With Brendan Bomberry, Stephen Rehfuss, Nate Solomon, and Brad Voigt, who had a tremendous preseason, Desko thinks the attack could surprise
• The Binghamton Bearcats > Siena Saints

Hey Coach, without Ben Williams on the roster, do you still support having a faceoff what’s the sitch in the sandbox?

“All the guys are doing pretty good, but Danny [Varello] right now I think has, he’s got very quick hands and I think he’s got the slight edge-the experience from last year... so right now I’d give him the edge”

“As I mentioned earlier, he’s got pretty quick hands he gets down on the ball pretty quickly, what he needed to work on was the other aspects of the game…”

Do we have a goalie? Is there a front-runner?

“I think right now Dom Madonna has got the most experience obviously, being a fifth year guy and has been, you know, with the team I think three years now. He’s had a really good fall, he did well-he was a backup last year, did a nice job out there. So, we’re waiting to see what he can do in game situations but I think he’s ready.”

Has Nick Mellen officially transitioned to the coaching staff or will he be playing this year?

“…he’s a strong, very quick player…he’s got great feet so it gives us the ability to cover a small quick player, he can shut people off and we’re excited to get him back and get going again this year.”

Is the defensive unit the big unit out there?

“I think so.”

The obligatory “Hey, it’s been a few years…you gonna win a Natty C? You feeling any pressure? Tell me how the game has changed John, it’s been a year since we’ve discussed.”

“I think it’s more of a desire than pressure, that we’d like to get back there and like to bring home another trophy, but you know the game has changed a little bit, there’s a lot of competition going out there. You can just see in the national rankings some teams that are up there that haven’t been there in the past, so I think all we need to focus on is getting better. Again, we’ve got-I think you’re going to see some younger players get on the field for us relatively early, and I think, something we haven’t talked about, is our strength of schedule this year is very high. You know were adding-also adding Rutgers and Navy onto the schedule, so I’m hoping what doesn’t kill us will make us stronger by the end of the year.”

Coach, can you talk about Jamie Trimboli?

“I think he played very well [last year]…[he’s got] just tremendous ability, he’s got that great first step, he’s got the speed after the first step, the ability to shoot on the run with both hands. I’ve got him on man-up this year, and I think you’re going to see that he’s really elevated his game from last year.”

“So this year he’s going to step into that next role, I think the ball is going to be in his stick a lot and we’re going to need him to create for us and score for us.”

“What did he need to improve on? Maybe his shooting percentage, a little bit, has to-especially being the guy on the midfield this year, he’s going to have to be able to move the ball I mean it’s no secret, especially early on, people are going to figure it out, they’re going to have to go to him early and maybe make him into a passer more than a shooter off of a dodge.”

Coach, can you talk about Austin Fusco?

I think it’s going to be similar to last year’s, he’s going to play at the long-stick, he’s not going to-I don’t think he’s going to play any close defense I don’t have him marked there. He’s a very good offensive player too so to have somebody in the midfield defense that has good offensive skills, you know it’s one thing to be good defensively and get some stops there as a pole but it’s a bonus when you get your pole to come up and be good at the offensive end of the field and he can score and he can find the open man, so I think he’ll help us best in that position.”

Coach, can you talk about Stephen Rehfuss?

“…he stay’s very calm, so its-you know he plays with some emotion but he’s pretty steady, and it’s nice to see especially in, you know, in tight games he doesn’t get too rattled, so I think he’s going to make our attack strong again this year, you know with Bomberry and Solomon back, Voigt had a tremendous fall, and so with Stephen on that left side I think it’s going to be a strong attack. I think we’re going to surprise some people there.”

Coach, can you talk about Tyson Bomberry?

“I think he got very comfortable out there last year, you know, in his starting position. He’s probably our best communicator…and he’s very offensive, we like him going down the field with the ball. He plays a lot of box lacrosse in the summertime and so he’s at the offensive end of the field in the summer quite a bit, faces off in the box, so I think that’s helped him go from defense to offensive in transition situations.”

Binghamton plays you close every year and you blow out Siena every year, why keep the Bearcats?

“I ask myself that about every day now. I think that, you know, at the end of the year your RPI has been so important as far as the rankings and going forward, how the NCAA committee will set up for the playoffs, so I think that Binghamton had a pretty good year last year, their RPI was pretty high…it helps our strength of schedule.”