John Desko stood on the sideline before one of Syracuse’s practices and quickly surveyed his players warming up on the field. Of all the aggressive, strong defenders, Desko was almost certain Matt Harris was the one he’d dread having to match up against.

‘If there’s probably one guy out here that I wouldn’t want to cover me, it might be him,’ SU head coach Desko said. ‘Not only is he a good cover guy, but it hurts when he plays you.’

Desko and his staff saw that quickly and, with one switch, unleashed even more of Harris’ abilities. Before the season opener against Denver, they decided to implement a new game plan that they drew up for the freshman: a switch to long-stick midfielder. Eight games into the season, Harris is proving it’s the right call.

At the team’s media day to open up the season, Desko included Harris into the group vying for the third defender spot. When Harris didn’t get that position, he moved into another. With a senior-heavy line of close defenders, his playing time was destined to be limited. But that’s not the case at midfield, where Harris has done a more than credible job as the primary backup to Joel White.

White is arguably the best long-stick midfielder in the country, winning the Lt. Donald C. MacLaughlin Jr. Award as the nation’s best midfielder last season. White also made a position switch as a freshman, from a heralded scorer in high school to long-stick midfielder in his first year at Syracuse. When he’s off the field, Syracuse can be a different team. But now with Harris filling in, the Orange can breathe easier.

‘I’ve been very impressed with him,’ White said. ‘He gives us a great look when I’m off the field. He really comes out and hassles the other team.’

Harris has played in every one of the Orange’s games thus far, scooping up nine groundballs. At 6-foot-2, Harris is a force on the field and adds depth to Syracuse’s already formidable defense.

Still, the transition hasn’t come without issue. Harris said he played only a little at long-stick midfield in high school. He played close defense almost his entire life. Instead of staying at one end of the field for the whole game, waiting for the play to come to him, he’s now making plays at both ends of the field.

The increased running and conditioning are what poses the biggest challenges for Harris at this point. The defending remains the same, but doing it while having exerted that much more energy is what Harris said he needs to work on the most in practice.

‘You have to try your hardest, run your hardest in conditioning,’ Harris said. ‘You really have to go hard in every drill.’

Ironically, his quickness in getting from one end of the field to another is what earned him a spot at long-stick midfield in the first place. Over the course of SU’s four scrimmages, the coaching staff ran him out to midfield to see what he could do, and Desko saw parts of his game he hadn’t seen before.

‘We tried him out there, and he impressed us going up top,’ Desko said. ‘He was just given the opportunity.’

White said Harris was still learning some aspects of the game at the start of the season. But in just a few short months, he sees a different player that’s picked up the defensive system with relative ease and maintains a veteran-like poise on the field.

Harris may be a backup to White now, but the way he’s played shows Desko what his defense could look like going forward. Specifically, what Syracuse could look like at the long-stick midfield position.

‘We’re very happy with his progress so far,’ Desko said. ‘I think it’s going to help us keep our defense strong in the future, too.’

Lade expected to play

Desko expects defender John Lade to play Saturday when his team plays at Princeton, said assistant director of athletic communications Mike Morrison on Tuesday. Lade exited from the Orange’s game against Duke last week in the fourth quarter and was replaced by sophomore David Hamlin.

After he came out of the game, Lade was on the sideline with ice on his left ankle and never returned to action. After the game, Desko said he hadn’t yet spoken to the trainers, but thought Lade only twisted his ankle and didn’t seem concerned about the injury.

Lade is an All-American defender and arguably Syracuse’s best at the position. Lade almost always has the responsibility of covering the most dangerous scorer of SU’s opponents. Through eight games, Lade is fourth on the team in groundballs with 17.

cjiseman@syr.edu

 

Published on April 5, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman