When the Syracuse defense watched film of Cornell’s offense, one player stood out more than any other. Rob Pannell’s all-around abilities were so evident that the question of how to stop him had no easy answer.

In so many ways — scoring, dodging or passing — he can beat a defense. And to SU defender Brian Megill, Pannell as a player is nearly ‘flawless.’

‘His IQ of the game, it’s phenomenal,’ Megill said. ‘The way he dodges with his eyes up, the way he can work into a transition game or fastbreak. … His all-around game is almost flawless.’

No. 1 Syracuse (9-0, 2-0 Big East) will attempt to stop Pannell and the rest of the Big Red attack Tuesday when it takes on No. 5 Cornell (8-2, 4-0 Ivy) at the Carrier Dome at 7 p.m. Pannell is the catalyst of the Big Red’s high-scoring attack, as every other Cornell scorer waits to take one of his passes to have the chance to put the ball in the cage. That’s how Pannell has racked up 28 assists on the year, and he also has 27 goals to match.

Syracuse’s defense has been challenged all season and forced to shut down other teams’ offenses while the Orange struggles to score. When it goes up against Cornell, that’ll be no different.

The Big Red averages 13 goals per game on the season and 14 in its last five games. Pannell is the team leader in goals, and attack Steve Mock is right behind him with 21. But most of the focus will fall on Pannell because if SU can shut him down, then it has a better chance of shutting down Cornell’s entire offense.

The junior is first in the nation in points per game with 5.5 and second in the nation in assists. Syracuse’s defenders said they are going to look to keep their sticks in on Pannell’s hands, not letting him make any easy passes.

But that still leaves his dodging ability. Unfortunately for the Orange, it can’t take away both his efficient passing and dodging at the same time.

‘Over the past couple of years, he’s turned into a very good dodger, so it’s a double-edged sword,’ SU head coach John Desko said. ‘You can’t just play him as a feeder. You can’t just play him as a dodger. So he’s got a very complete game.’

One of the things that makes Pannell such a good dodger is that he keeps his head up and his eyes focused on exactly where he plans on moving. With such good vision of his destination, he’s able to get around most of his defenders with relative ease.

When asked how to stop Pannell, Megill didn’t have to think too hard before giving a quick answer: John Lade. But that’s assuming Lade can play. It’s no guarantee, as the defender is still recovering from an ankle injury he suffered in SU’s game against Duke last week. Desko made a game-time decision to keep him out of the lineup against Princeton on Saturday.

Desko said it will come down to another game-time decision Tuesday.

‘We pretty much left it up to John,’ Desko said of the Princeton game. ‘We’re a little miffed that he still had some swelling in there. We expect him to play in the game.’

If Lade’s out, then the Orange will have to adjust early to look for other ways to contain Pannell. That could mean sliding to cover him, but Megill said SU won’t call for a double team because of the other goal scorers Cornell features. With Pannell, Mock or midfielder David Lau, who has 18 goals, the Big Red has a proficient scoring trio.

If Lade does play, something even he isn’t sure about, then Syracuse can look forward to having arguably its best defender cover Pannell. Lade said Cornell, unlike most teams this season, won’t slow down its tempo against the Orange. Instead, the Big Red will simply look for its best opportunities to score.

‘They know they have a very strong nucleus with Rob Pannell,’ Lade said. ‘I think they look for him to spark the offense. I think they’re not really going to slow the offense down that much, they’re going to wait for their opportunity, they’re going to see it and they’re going to have it.’

Similarly, Desko said Cornell will have enough confidence in its game plan to believe it’s good enough to take down the Orange.

With a quick turnaround from Saturday’s game to Tuesday, Syracuse only had one day to watch film. That’s all it needed, though, to see where it needs to put most of its attention. It all comes down to stopping Pannell.

‘He’s doing unbelievable. We have to watch out for him,’ Megill said. ‘He’s a threat scoring, feeding, and the list goes on from there.’

cjiseman@syr.edu

Published on April 11, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman