Before the Syracuse University men’s lacrosse team huddled up at practice Wednesday, a chorus of yelps and hollers were interrupted by one, loud coherent sentence.

‘This weekend, baby, this weekend!’ one SU player shouted.

It can’t come soon enough for the Orange. Saturday at 11:30 a.m., Syracuse hosts Hofstra and Le Moyne for an informal, yet highly anticipated opening scrimmage. The Orange’s 2007 record of 5-8 has clung to the eight-time national champions for 10 months. The players are exhausted talking about it, yet can instinctively reel off last season’s harsh numbers as quickly as their phone number.

‘Everyone knows how it was our worst season in 30-some years and the first time we didn’t make the playoffs in 25 years,’ junior Matt Abbott said. ‘It was a long, long offseason.’

Dan Hardy provided the punctuation.

‘I’m sick of answering questions about ’07,’ he said. ‘We just want to get out and start ’08.’

They will this weekend. Hofstra and Le Moyne will duel first, followed by the Orange and Hofstra. City rivals Syracuse and Le Moyne will play last. The tri-scrimmage is open to the public.

Amongst the team, there is almost no debate as to what Syracuse must improve on to reclaim its elite status. A renewed commitment to defense has been the team’s focus throughout a never-ending offseason. From 2002-06, the Orange held its opponent under 10 goals 30 times. Last season it happened only four times. And while it’s easy to point the finger at goalie Peter Coluccini and his ’07 goals against average of 11.27, the cure may lie in the middle of the field rather than the hyped, three-way goaltender sweepstakes.

Syracuse’s deep crop of midfielders is full of various sizes and skill sets. It’s just a matter of who fits in where. That’s what the scrimmage is for.

‘Oh yeah, (the coaches) have been preaching all preseason that defensive midfield is what can bring us back,’ Hardy said. ‘Most of the old guys have been working a lot on defense. … It will be good to see who can run together. I’m sure there will be a bunch of different groups running out there.’

Hardy played midfield throughout his high school career for Tully and during his freshman year with the Orange, but moved to attack for most of his sophomore season. That was until head coach John Desko slid him back to midfield against Cornell. After former-middie Greg Niewieroski scored five goals in that 16-15 loss, the position swap stuck. The burly, 6-foot-4, 225-pound, Hardy enters 2007 as a preseason All-American, along with fellow midfielder Steven Brooks and attackman Mike Leveille.

Versatility is the junior’s strongest asset. During high school, Hardy played quarterback and receiver in football and guard and forward in basketball. A universal sports IQ grew.

‘(Football and basketball) helped me out with leadership and communication,’ he said. ‘It makes you aware of everything else. Basketball helped my footwork. Playing quarterback and seeing receivers helped me read the field in lacrosse better.’

Alongside the speedy 6-2, 177-pound Abbott, who was listed as the nation’s sixth-best defensive midfielder by Inside Lacrosse, and Brooks (19 goals last season), Hardy could pose matchup problems for defenses. It’s rare to see a player of his stature hold a lacrosse stick, let alone roam the middle of the field. But Hardy isn’t merely the team head hunter. Last season, he was second on the team in points (32) and first in shot percentage amongst players with at least 50 shots at .386.

After what Desko labeled an ‘average fall,’ Hardy has picked up his game in January practices.

‘Dan, as a junior now, has come back a lot more confident and comfortable with the offense and defensive situations,’ Desko said. ‘He’s a big, strong athlete. There aren’t too many 6-foot-5 lacrosse players in our game today. He’s one of those.’

Before last season’s disappointment, the last time SU finished below .500 was in 1975. The team is well-aware. To avoid another 10 months of talking about it, the midfield must play two-way lacrosse, said Abbott.

‘I get the feeling that coach wants a lot of guys to go offense and defense in the midfield,’ Abbott said. ‘We have lot of guys, so we can afford to do that. We won’t have to worry about guys just playing offense and worried about getting tired on defense. We can have everybody do everything, and it will be better for the team in the long run.’

Finding the best combinations starts Saturday, when the bad habits that practice doesn’t capture are put under the microscope.

Said Desko: ‘The scrimmage is great because no matter what you think about your team every day in practice, a lot of things become very glaring.’

Published on January 31, 2008 at 12:00 pm