PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Although his name appeared on two lists of first-team All-Americans, that empty spot on Mike Powell’s left ring finger remained.

But after the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team captured its eighth national championship May 27 with a 13-12 win over Princeton in front of 19,706 here at Rutgers Stadium, Powell can finally grace his soft hands-the ones that provided the Orangemen with four goals and three assists in the finals-with a championship band.

After being named a first-team All-American for the second straight season at halftime, Powell, a sophomore, added to his afternoon by collecting the NCAA Tournament’s MVP honors. His contributions helped the Orangemen exact revenge on Princeton, who knocked off Syracuse, 10-9, in overtime, in the 2001 final. This year’s contest marked the third straight season the two teams met in the championship game.

‘I couldn’t ask for a better time to play well,’ Powell said. ‘Last year I didn’t feel I played very well until the fourth quarter. I proved that I can play four quarters. It’s easy to put up stats when you have players around you.’

Especially when those players are also first-team All-Americans. Fellow first-teamer, Carthage native and attackman Josh Coffman notched two goals and an assist. He and Powell combined on a goal in the third quarter that sprung the Orangemen to a four-goal lead.

Powell grabbed a pass Princeton’s Josh White mishandled in his own end and fed a streaking Coffman. With only goaltender Julian Gould in front of him, Coffman dashed toward the cage and beat the helpless netminder to put SU ahead, 11-7.

‘Mike made a great play,’ Coffman said. ‘When I looked up, all I saw was the goalie one on one, and my smile was ear to ear.’

That goal came as part of a 5-1 Syracuse run spanning the second and third quarters during which the Orangemen fired half of the 40 shots they took in the contest.

The run started when Powell fed Brian Solliday for one of the midfielder’s three goals on the afternoon, giving Syracuse an 8-6 halftime lead. Powell scored twice in the third quarter, including off a Solliday pass for a 12-7 lead with 10:24 left, SU’s biggest lead of the game.

‘It felt like for a while there we just couldn’t stop them,’ Princeton coach Bill Tierney said. ‘I thought we showed so much heart against a great and unbelievably coached Syracuse team.’

Princeton showed much of that spunk over the final 20 minutes, chipping to within 12-11 when Sean Hartofilis scored with 1:05 left in the third and Brad Dumont scored with 13:21 to go.

Powell responded by scoring the eventual game winner from 15 yards out, but Dumont answered just 13 seconds later, closing SU’s lead to 13-12.

‘We know what they’re all about,’ Syracuse head coach John Desko said. ‘We know their players didn’t get where they were in the championship game by giving up. The game got into a little bit of a frenzy because when we had the lead we just wanted to sit on it a little bit.’

Syracuse could afford to do just that thanks to its defense. Sol Bliss, playing with a brace protecting the left knee he twisted in SU’s 12-11 double-overtime win over Virginia two days earlier, shut down the Tigers’ B.J. Prager. Perhaps the nation’s most dangerous player around the crease, Prager scored the sudden-death goal that lifted Princeton over Syracuse in last year’s championship. This time, Bliss limited Prager to a goal and an assist.

SU goaltender Jay Pfeifer stopped Princeton’s Dan Clark with about seven minutes left – one of Pfeifer’s 13 saves – and Dumont’s behind-the-back shot from the side of the net sailed wide two minutes later.

Syracuse defensemen John Glatzel intercepted a long clearing pass with less than 10 seconds remaining, and when Syracuse players erupted from the sideline in celebration, the referees flagged them for an illegal substitution. But with only six seconds left and the ball at midfield, Princeton failed to get a shot off.

The game and championship went to Syracuse; the MVP award to Powell. Nine days later, he would add the Tewaaraton Trophy, given to the best player in collegiate lacrosse.

‘It’s great, but I kind of feel like I cheat some of my teammates out on that (MVP) award,’ Powell said. ‘I might be a little biased, but I don’t think we would have been here without players like Josh Coffman, Tom Hardy, Michael Springer and especially Jay Pfeifer. But to receive that award is great, and I owe a lot of it to my teammates.’

Published on June 29, 2002 at 12:00 pm