Some guys will go home. Some will stay and relax. Sol Bliss is going fishing.

The Syracuse men’s lacrosse team earned such leisure time with a first-round bye in the NCAA Tournament, which begins this weekend. No. 2 Syracuse (12-2) faces the winner of No. 7 Duke and Hobart at noon on May 18 at Hofstra.

‘(The bye week is) just a time to relax,’ Bliss said. ‘I kind of knew we were going to have it anyway. The win against Georgetown kind of sealed it. It gives us a chance to get our mind off lacrosse a little bit.’

Defenseman Billy St. George said most players have not been home since January. Some will take the break to travel home, while the graduating seniors are afforded the opportunity to focus on Sunday’s graduation and academic requirements during finals week.

Syracuse will not prepare for any specific opponent this week, St. George said, but rather use the week to work on fundamentals and conditioning.

‘I think we’re almost there,’ St. George said. ‘I know we’re not at the top of our game yet, but hopefully we’ll keep on improving this week. The week off will give us a little chance to reflect on each others games. Then next week it’s all business.’

Syracuse faced Patriot League champion Hobart (6-7) on March 27 at the Carrier Dome and won easily, 19-4. The Orangemen have not faced Duke (7-6) this season. The Blue Devils received an at-large bid over Hofstra despite losing to the Pride, 14-6, in the regular season finale.

Duke did, however, beat several quality opponents. The Blue Devils downed Maryland twice during the regular season, both times while the Terrapins ranked in the top 10. More impressively, Duke knocked off No. 3 Virginia, 14-13, in the ACC tournament final.

Bliss said he knows almost nothing about the Blue Devils.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever played them,’ he said. ‘I really don’t know too much other than they have a bunch of big guys and like to pound around a little bit. That’s the style we like. No matter who we play, we’re going to take it the same way.’

Line of defense

The Syracuse defense showed a few chinks in a 15-14 victory over Georgetown on Saturday.

Syracuse held leads of 6-2 and 14-8, but both times failed to put the game away. The Hoyas pulled to 14-13 with less than two minutes remaining. SU needed two key saves from redshirt freshman goaltender Jay Pfeifer and a goal from Tom Hardy with 1:18 remaining to nail down the win.

The SU defense has suffered several such lapses this season. Against Cornell, the defense allowed the Big Red to post two six-goal quarters. Earlier in the season, SU fell, 9-8, to Johns Hopkins after blowing a three-goal fourth-quarter lead.

‘The main thing is just to hold the crease, stay tight and make sure we have possession of the ball before we try to move it up the field to help Jay out,’ defenseman John Glatzel said. ‘He did his job, he made the save. It’s our job to get rid of the ball.’

The defense failed to do that against Georgetown on a goal toward the end of the first half. Glatzel and Bliss became involved in a scramble for the ball near the crease after a Pfeifer save. The ball squirted out from under a pile of bodies, and Hoya midfielder Steve Dusseau picked it up and dumped a goal into a wide-open net.

The defense has, though, raised its physical play in the last two games. Bliss punished Georgetown attackman Mike Hammer seemingly every time he touched the ball. At the end of the UMass game, seldom-used backup defenseman Joel Howard took out attackman Dan Paccione, leaving him in a heap for several minutes. The two games featured a combined 27 penalties.

Said Bliss: ‘That’s the style we like.’

Saving the day

Twice in the first three quarters goaltender Jay Pfeifer watched Georgetown mount comebacks. But twice in fourth quarter Pfeifer made sure the Hoyas and everyone else knew this redshirt freshman would not implode under pressure.

Pfeifer made two key fourth-quarter saves, both at point-blank range, in the midst of Georgetown’s late comeback. On the first, Hoya midfielder Trevor Walker intercepted a Dave Puccia pass near the 35-yard line and raced up the middle of the field. Pfeifer closed his legs in time to stop a shot that appeared to be headed five-hole. That save kept the score at 14-12.

The second save proved more even more critical, coming with just 13 seconds remaining and the score, 15-14, in favor of Syracuse. Georgetown midfielder Walid Hajj snapped a shot from close range, but Pfeifer preserved SU’s one-goal lead with a stick save.

‘Thank God I saved it,’ Pfeifer said. ‘It just hit my stick and the side of my leg. Thank God. It’s tough with the crowd in it and all. But these are the games that you live for. These are the games you play in the backyard. You’ve just got to calm down, but it’s definitely tough fighting through the crowd.’

‘I thought Jay Pfeifer was very solid today,’ Syracuse head coach John Desko said. ‘They had some opportunities, and he took them away. That can frustrate the other team a lot.’

Pfeifer started all 14 games this season, finishing with a .524 save percentage and 9.21 goals against average.

Saying goodbye

Syracuse honored its seniors at the start of Saturday’s game against Georgetown in a pregame ceremony. Senior players and their parents were introduced to the Carrier Dome crowd.

Eight seniors took part in the ceremony: John Burns, Josh Coffman, Tom Hardy, Brian Herloski, Alex Mummolo, Mike Nockunas, Billy St. George and Spencer Wright.

‘It’s very important for the seniors to come out with a ‘W’ today,’ Desko said. ‘They want to have great memories of their last games at the Dome. It’s just all in all an emotional day for us.’

Coffman scored a career-high five goals in his final Carrier Dome appearance. Seniors Tom Hardy and Spencer Wright also notched goals.

‘It’s pretty emotional,’ Coffman said. ‘I saw my mom with red eyes, and I almost broke down myself. It’s a great game, and it’s a nice way to end it.’

This and that

Mike Powell finished the regular season with 70 points. That puts him in company with his legendary brothers. Casey, the eldest Powell, scored a career-high 83 in 1997, but middle brother Ryan’s high of 96 in the 2000 season is likely out of reach. … Chris Bickel struggled on faceoffs against Georgetown, as the Hoyas won 18 of 31. That marked almost a complete turnaround from a week earlier when SU took 19 of 32 from the Minutemen. Bickel finished the regular season with a .577 percentage. … The attendances for the UMass and Georgetown games were 5,935 and 6,477 respectively. … With its two consecutive home wins, Syracuse finished 5-0 at home. All-time, the Orangemen are 132-11 at the Carrier Dome. ‘Any time you play in here it’s a playoff atmosphere,’ Georgetown goalie Scott Schroeder said. ‘Playing here is like playing nowhere else. It’s hard to get used to.’

Published on May 8, 2002 at 12:00 pm