It’s just a scrimmage. SU head coach John Desko made trips onto the field, in the middle of action. SU huddled with opposite jersey colors after quarters’ end. Injured players hung out by the Gatorade coolers. The Orange had only practiced for three weeks prior.

But Saturday marked the first look at Syracuse’s 2019 lacrosse group, as the Orange competed in an intra-squad scrimmage between players in blue and white Syracuse jerseys.

Here are three takeaways from the game, which the White team won over the Blue, 15-9.

No. 1 an option?

Bradley Voigt started for the Blue jerseys on offense and made the most of his limited chances. With under four minutes remaining in the third quarter, Voigt snagged a pass right outside of the Syracuse crease to the left side of Willie Klan III, who was in goal for Syracuse White at the time. Earlier in the game, last year’s points leader Stephen Rehfuss caught the ball in the same spot and beat Drake Porter with a behind the head strike, hardly moving from a stable position. When Voigt caught the ball, he tried a similar move behind his back. The shot, though not as smooth as Rehfuss’, bounced around a bit as Klan III dove to the ground to locate it.

“I looked at Stephen afterwards and started laughing at him,” Voigt said.

Rehfuss and Voigt routinely play wall ball together before and after SU practices. In it, the two try 50 behind-the-back shots and 50 around-the-world shots to hone the trick shot. It’s become a routine for Rehfuss (Porter said SU is rarely surprised when he takes and makes the shot), and the possible replacement in the attack role after Brendan Bomberry’s departure has followed suit.

Voigt said he’s not sure of his role, but SU has preached to him that they want an understanding of the offense from him when he’s on the field.

“Got to be talking to guys out there,” Voigt said. “They want me to be a big communicator when I’m out there on the field.”

New faces contributing?

While the attack role is open for Voigt, the strong play of freshman Griffin Cook has been strongly considered, Desko said. The freshman was the No. 25 recruit in the country and SU’s highest-ranked newcomer. On Saturday, he showed some of the talent that had him noticed early on, scoring two goals on four shots for Syracuse White. His goal was the first score for the White squad that featured Rehfuss. Desko noted that three of SU’s four attack from last year have returned, but the Orange have been impressed with Cook’s play in the early going.

“If I had to bet, he’s going to be on the field for us this year,” Desko said.

Leader in goal?

Drake Porter started for the SU Blue team on Saturday opposite redshirt sophomore Luke Strang, who suited up for the White jerseys. “Make of that what you will,” he said, but the junior has been starting since the Orange opened up its scrimmages and (though he doesn’t have his mind on the depth chart) has his eye on the starting spot for SU.

Porter had a few strong moments, despite a lot of goals from both sides which he said were “growing pains.” In the second quarter, Porter dove to his right to make a save on a Syracuse White strike. He bounced up, and on the next shot, he knocked away a bouncer fired at his feet. After one play, when David Lipka scored the Syracuse White team its 10th goal, Porter dropped his stick and stretched his arms. He settled back in net and shook his head fast as if he was trying to reconfigure himself. He wasn’t mad, just annoyed.

He said him and Lipka go “50-50” on shots down the alley, but this time Lipka got the best of him.

“I sort of turned around and was like, ‘Screw you, Lipka. I can’t believe you put that in,’” Porter said. “That’s the fun part of playing intra-squad. We know these guys.”

Desko said the goalkeeper competition is “all pretty close right now” and many of the SU goalkeepers had good moments when they were out on the field.

Published on October 6, 2018 at 5:09 pm

Contact Michael: mmcclear@syr.edu | @MikeJMcCleary