Matthew Lerman stood speaking to reporters after Saturday’s second annual Orange Alumni Classic when the player he’s trying to replace strode over for a quick hello. John Galloway is no longer in the goal for the Orange, one of the many losses the team will have to absorb come spring time.

It’s the former SU goaltender Galloway’s spot, though, that has the largest pool of viable candidates. Seven goaltenders are in contention, and although Lerman started Saturday’s exhibition, there’s no guarantee that’s permanent.

‘It’s tough trying to fill his shoes,’ Lerman said of Galloway. ‘It’s going to be competitive all the way through the spring. I don’t think they want to give anyone a label yet. They want it to be competitive. They want people to try every day.’

That’s the case at virtually every position on the field for Syracuse heading into the 2012 season. The current Syracuse team beat the SU Alumni All-Stars 12-4 over five quarters, putting up an offensive display that’s somewhat meaningless in early October. But it was still the first opportunity SU head coach John Desko had to watch his current roster in a competitive game after 2 1/2 full weeks of practices, with two more still remaining.

The Orange played against members of its storied past, with players like Kenny Nims, Chris Daniello, Matt Abbott and Gary Gait representing the Alumni. Desko said some of the current players mentioned wanting to get some autographs after the game from the players who may have influenced their decision to come to Syracuse.

When this game took place last year, there were few auditions taking place. Nearly the entire starting lineup was returning, and the game was simply a glorified practice. This season, players auditioning for positions were given time to make their cases.

‘This year, you’ve got seven spots opened up,’ Desko said. ‘And not that all aren’t open, but there are a lot of guys vying for those positions in the midfield and defense and in the goal and looking for spots on attack. So there’s a lot of competition going on within practice on a daily basis, which is great.’

Lerman was in the goal for the entire first half for the Orange on Saturday, but Bobby Wardwell started the third quarter, and Ben Levy was in goal for most of the fourth. Senior Paul Dubas replaced Levy with about four minutes remaining in fourth period, and Dominic Lamolinara played the entire fifth.

‘It’s almost overwhelming to try to evaluate seven guys,’ Desko said. ‘We think we know the returning players, so we’re spending time trying to figure out who the new guys are.’

Some of the old guys on offense brought their success from the spring into Saturday.

It took SU all of 1:13 to score, when midfielder Bobby Eilers ran in toward the goal and shot into the lower left corner of the cage past Alumni goalie Jason Gebhardt.

One minute later, attack Derek Maltz took a pass from Tom Palasek, ran right around the left side of the goal and took a quick underhand shot for the score. Those two goals kicked off the offensive onslaught that had a total of 10 players put the ball in the cage.

‘It’s the first game of the season, we had some freshmen that had jitters,’ Eilers said. ‘Overall, we put points on the board, so that’s a satisfying feeling.’

At times, the Alumni’s defense knew exactly what was coming. Whenever the Orange yelled out an offensive set on the field, the more recent players recognized the play and told their defense what to expect.

And while Syracuse’s current roster provided hopeful glimpses for the spring, it also had to watch how much talent it had lost. Josh Amidon, one of the team’s leaders last season at midfield, scored twice for the Alumni. And former midfielder Jovan Miller had an assist.

‘The biggest thing that we’ve been coming through is that you realize that a lot of the team is a bunch of unknowns,’ Miller said. ‘I think that’s the best thing about their team is that they don’t have any superstars.’

It’s a team that’s going to have a very different look in the spring with the loss of so many starters, whether it’s at midfield or in the goal. And when Miller looked across to the other side of the field on a day he said was ‘awkward’ and ‘bittersweet,’ he saw exactly the type of competition all those departures have created.

Said Miller: ‘I think everybody’s really out there to prove something to each other.’

cjiseman@syr.edu

 

Published on October 9, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman