AMHERST, Mass. — As SU head coach John Desko walked toward the Syracuse locker room and off the Garber Field turf, an SU fan approached him.

‘It’s OK, coach,’ the fan said. ‘We’ll get them in the tournament.’

At this point, the No. 7 Syracuse men’s lacrosse team even making the NCAA Tournament is uncertain after its 14-13 overtime loss to No. 4 Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon. Syracuse (7-5) hopped on the bubble when UMass attackman Jeff Zywicki fired a shot past SU goalie Jay Pfeifer in overtime.

‘It’s a possibility (we won’t make the tournament),’ Desko said. ‘Sure, there’s a possibility. But we can’t worry about records. We have to take care of ourselves.”

Once again Syracuse, which has lost its five games by a combined six goals, fell just short. UMass (12-1) handed SU its third consecutive loss, marking the first time the Orangemen have lost three straight in a season since 1981. That’s also the last time UMass beat Syracuse.

‘We were just concentrating on ourselves,’ Desko said. ‘We didn’t want to get caught up in any records or anything like that.’

The depression the Orangemen felt after the game differed from the joy SU experienced just minutes earlier.

With SU trailing, 13-12, and UMass midfielder Chris Fiore having been called for a one-minute slashing penalty, Desko called timeout with 1:03 remaining in the fourth quarter.

On the ensuing possession, the Orangemen felt out the Minutemen’s defense. Finally, with five-and-a-half seconds remaining, junior attackman Mike Powell found midfielder Sean Lindsay in front of the net. Lindsay’s man-up goal sent the game into overtime.

Lindsay embraced teammates as the Orangemen, who trailed, 2-0, three minutes into the game, celebrated their unlikely second life.

‘I felt like we were in good position to win the game,’ Lindsay said. ‘When you’re anxious to score, you push and have trouble.’

Syracuse was at a disadvantage. With six minutes left in the first quarter, SU midfielder Steve Vallone took a hack to the face. He went to the sidelines and took off his pads. After trainers worked on his mouth for about five minutes, Vallone went to the hospital for X-rays, Desko said.

Desko couldn’t comment on any specifics of the injury because of NCAA rules.

‘We went back and forth on whether to bring someone up from the third line or to pull someone off the second line to the first,’ Desko said of the gameplan after Vallone left. ‘But we didn’t want to lose the cohesiveness on the second group.’

Desko decided to put freshman Greg Rommel in Vallone’s place.

‘We just had to adjust,’ Rommel said. ‘We kept doing what we were trying to do all along. We just had to shuffle some people around.’

Despite the loss, Syracuse played impressively. Senior Chris Bickel dominated the faceoffs, winning 24 of 30, including the one in overtime. Syracuse also outshot the Minutemen, 45-38.

‘All in all, guys played with a lot of fire,’ Desko said. ‘We snapped out of it as far as taking care of things we need to take care of.’

With the loss, SU must defeat No. 6 Georgetown next Saturday to make the NCAA Tournament.

‘I haven’t really thought about missing the tournament,’ SU attacker Liam Banks said. ‘All this means is we have to win next week.’

Published on April 27, 2003 at 12:00 pm