For the first time all fall, the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team was able to play a team other than itself.

Saturday’s Sixth-Annual Price Modern ‘Lacrosse for Leukemia’ Tournament gave the Orangemen an opportunity to showcase the talents that have landed them in 21 straight NCAA Final Fours.

Syracuse’s record from the day-long event wasn’t even something that SU head coach John Desko knew. Scores weren’t kept, unless ‘(the players) kept track underneath their breath,’ Desko said. Instead, the real point of the day was experience.

‘We got some game time against an opponent as opposed to going against ourselves like we have been when we’re doing our scrimmaging,’ Desko said. ‘And we got three opponents in one day, so that’s a lot of game experience.’

Last year’s leading scorer, attackman Michael Powell, sat out the tournament.

The 14-team tournament featured Syracuse playing against host Loyola, Albany and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Winning or losing, though, wasn’t the main point of the day for Desko and the Orangemen.

‘It’s for evaluating our players,’ Desko said. ‘To see how freshmen and guys who are coming back are going to do against teams in a game situation; for looking at our offense, our defense and how the goalies play. It was great for evaluation purposes.

‘We weren’t that concerned. We always play to win, but we weren’t going to not put in a player, maybe a lesser-experienced player that might make a mistake and cost you a goal. We needed to get those players out on the field and in a game situation. We weren’t so much playing to win, although that’s in the back of my mind.’

Desko did note, though, that he was happy with strong first-half performances in the games against Albany and Loyola.

The game experience was most beneficial for freshmen – it was their first taste of college lacrosse, and in particular, Syracuse lacrosse.

‘It was good,’ said Evan Brady, a freshman defender. ‘It was good to be out there with a new set of people and just learning their style and getting use to how fast the game is.’

‘It was a good learning experience,’ said Steve Panarelli, another freshman defender. ‘It was good getting used to the speed of the game and the difference of the college lacrosse level.’

It was also a chance to continue learning the SU defense, something both Panarelli and Brady will need to continue to study.

‘I learned a little bit about how to play the defense,’ Brady said, ‘the different schemes we run and just learning each player’s style.’

The tournament was also a chance to raise money for the Maryland chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, whose mission is to find cures for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma. This year, more than $80,000 was raised to bring the six-year total to more than $600,000.

‘I’ll be honest with you,’ Panarelli said. ‘It didn’t hit me until the end when they did the ceremony and honored a few young kids that had leukemia and they did a big presentation for them. And after that, when you realize how much money you raised for it, and you know you’re playing lacrosse for a good cause, it kind of hits you.’

Published on October 6, 2003 at 12:00 pm