BALTIMORE — It had been awhile, perhaps even since last season, that the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team executed so smoothly for a complete game.

The crisp passes and snappy shots on goal. The dominant defense and goaltending. The relentless hitting. In a season where nearly every win has been a struggle, the Orange finally put together a performance Saturday afternoon that resulted in an easy victory.

No. 7 Syracuse defeated Loyola, 12-6, at Diane Geppi-Aikens Field on Saturday in front of 3,113. Syracuse, and in particular Mike Leveille, dominated in every facet of the game. Leveille led SU with three goals and four points.

‘I don’t know if we needed an easy win,’ Leveille said. ‘It certainly felt good getting one.’

Though SU (5-3) entered the game with a three-game winning streak, the wins hardly seemed convincing. The Orange won its three previous games by an average of 1.3 goals.

After last Saturday’s 9-8 win over Brown, head coach John Desko criticized the Orange’s sloppy play. His players seemed far from satisfied as well, entering a postgame press conference looking like a team that had just lost.

But on Saturday, the Orange didn’t give Loyola, a team that entered the game on a four-game winning streak, a chance. Leveille ran off three straight first-quarter goals to start the onslaught. At the end of the quarter, SU led, 5-0.

‘The defense came out strong, and our shots finally started to hit the back of the net,’ Desko said.

The Greyhounds (4-4) rarely tested SU goalie Jay Pfeifer. When they did, he proved up to the task, finishing with 11 saves. The offense possessed the ball for a majority of the game and the defense kept the ball from reaching Pfeifer.

Loyola didn’t score its first goal until there was 12:27 remaining in the second quarter. Whenever the Greyhounds carried the ball into Syracuse’s defensive end, the defense laid solid hits on Loyola’s attack.

The second quarter featured several hard checks by SU defenders, including a smashing hit by Scott Ditzell near midfield.

‘We knew we wanted to have a more physical presence,’ said junior defenseman John Wright. ‘We got more mean.’

Most importantly, SU steered clear of the turnovers that plagued it last week. The Orange did have some sloppy moments in the second quarter, failing to score until 1:23 remained. When the offense awoke, SU struck for two goals on strong cuts toward the net.

With 1:23 remaining in the quarter, Leveille pressured Loyola into a turnover and found a cutting senior Andrew Boyle for a 6-1 lead. It was Boyle’s first-career goal. A minute later, middie Jarett Park came blazing down the field. He paused near the goal just long enough to find a wide-open Boyle who deposited the pass for his second goal.

The Orange refused to relent in the second half, scoring two quick goals. Loyola answered with two of its own, cutting Syracuse’s lead to 9-3. In past games, SU has taken big leads, only for the defense to allow a long run of goals.

In a 12-11 overtime loss to Johns Hopkins on March 18, the Orange led by six goals at one point. On Saturday, though, Syracuse responded with two goals, securing its lead.

‘It’s a problem we’ve had all year,’ Boyle said of giving up leads. ‘We were getting on each other on the sideline not to let it happen again.’

Loyola never came close, and SU’s reserves played much of the fourth quarter. Desko was especially happy to rest his players with only two days off before Tuesday’s home game against Cornell.

‘We needed a game like this,’ Wright said. ‘Winning every game by one or two goals really starts to tire guys out.’

Published on April 9, 2005 at 12:00 pm