In last year’s national championship game, the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team beat Navy despite losing 20 of 30 face-offs.

A new face-off rule installed for this season did not change SU’s fortunes on draws in Saturday’s 13-13 scrimmage tie against the Midshipmen in the Carrier Dome. Navy won 17 of 29 face-offs.

The new rule requires the opposing players in the face-off circle to keep their sticks four inches apart before the referee blows his whistle. In the past, after the referee placed the ball in between the two sticks, players tried to gain an unfair advantage by inching their sticks up to press against the ball.

‘Last year, the stronger guy may have had a little bit of an advantage,’ said SU head coach John Desko. ‘This year, the quicker guy might have an advantage.’

SU’s top two face-off men from a year ago, senior Geoff Keough and sophomore Danny Brennan, went a miserable 3-for-15 combined. The other two players that took draws for SU were used sparingly in that capacity last year, but senior Chris DiMarco and sophomore Jon Jerome finished an impressive 9-for-13 combined.

Despite those numbers, Desko had no intentions of abandoning his two main face-off men from a year ago after only one scrimmage.

‘With the face-off guys, we wanted to give them all an opportunity to prove themselves,’ Desko said. ‘It’s a matter of technique and just working through it.’

After playing with SU freshman attackman Mike Leveille for four years at Albany Academy, Navy freshman defender Jordan DiNola thinks he knows why his best friend since sixth grade was able to adjust so quickly to the college game. Leveille tallied four goals on Saturday.

‘(Leveille) fits perfectly with Syracuse’s system – a fluid offense,’ DiNola said. ‘His big strengths are when he’s moving without the ball.

‘He is a pretty good athlete but he’s not going to blow by anybody. But he’s got such a great stick and mind for the game. (SU’s) athletes at the midfield will draw so much attention, it opens up space for Mikey.’

That may have been the case against Navy, but upcoming opponents will certainly watch Leveille closer after a sparkling start to his SU career.

As a side note, DiNola’s girlfriend – Amanda Molyneux – sat amongst Navy fans wearing a shirt that read on the back: ‘#28 on the roster, #1 in my heart.’ For all you Valentine’s Day cynics out there, DiNola does indeed wear No. 28.

Two other rule changes made their debuts on Saturday.

The first one forces a team to move the ball across midfield in 20 seconds. Navy was called for one 20-second violation.

The second one permits teams to call a timeout only when they are in possession of the ball in the attack part of the offensive zone. Previously, a team could call a timeout with possession of the ball as soon as it crossed midfield.

The word ‘ORANGEMEN’ has resurfaced in the east endzone of the Dome. The new ‘SU’ logo that was painted over ‘MEN’ in October to match SU’s nickname change was barely visible. Carrier Dome Managing Director Pat Campbell said the ‘SU’ patch was removed last week because it was too hard compared to the rest of the field. Campbell said ‘ORANGEMEN’ will remain for the rest of the lacrosse season. … Despite the continued presence of SU’s old ‘S’ logo at midfield and the aforementioned return to SU’s old nickname, SU unveiled new uniforms with the word ‘SYRACUSE’ in the new logo’s font.

Published on February 13, 2005 at 12:00 pm