For John Desko, it’s never too late to change things up.

Facing arguably the nation’s top goalkeeper in Siena’s Brent Herbst in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the Syracuse head coach decided to combat the problem by unleashing newly cleared Cody Jamieson into the starting lineup, despite Jamieson playing less than a full quarter for SU all season.

‘We needed someone that was going to shoot well against their goaltender,’ Desko said. ‘He was able to penetrate and get closer to the goal. …I think he did a real good job for us making some important goals and finishing against what I thought was a hot goaltender.’

The coach’s gamble paid off. In by far his biggest role to date as a member of the No. 2 seed Orange, Jamieson tallied a hat trick and propelled Syracuse to an 11-4 victory over Siena in the tournament’s opening round Sunday in front of 3,122 fans at the Carrier Dome.

The Orange will face unseeded Maryland Saturday at noon in the quarterfinals on the campus of Hofstra in Hempstead, N.Y. The Terrapins upset an undefeated Notre Dame team, 7-3, Sunday afternoon.

It didn’t take long for Jamieson to prove his coach right. Pacing along the crease with seven minutes remaining in the opening period, Jamieson waited for an opportunity he would soon get on a pass from Kenny Nims coming behind the net.

Nearly parallel to the cage, Jamieson jutted his arms out and bounced in the game’s opening goal, sending the Orange into a frenzy.

‘It felt great to be out there,’ Jamieson said. ‘I got comfortable working with the guys in practice this week, and I don’t know, it just felt great to be out there.’

With his bullying presence on the field, Jamieson added an entirely new dimension to the Orange attack. Entering a three-man rotation with Tim Desko and Chris Daniello, Jamieson dominated in the early going, earning him the opportunity to play almost the entire game.

But the move did more than just open up the offense. Inserting an impact player like Jamieson into the starting lineup so late in the season made him nearly impossible to game-plan for, Herbst said.

‘We definitely didn’t know what to expect from him,’ Herbst said. ‘We hadn’t seen a whole lot of film on him and we saw a whole bunch on the rest of the guys. He’s a strong player, very aggressive, I think I would have liked to see a little more film on him.’ Even after the Saints defense got used to the exhausting 5-foot-9 200-pound attack, he was still difficult to find an answer for. And in the waning minutes of the third quarter, Jamieson struck again.

After a flurry of goals by Joel White, Stephen Keogh and Dan Hardy put the Orange on the brink of icing the game, Jamieson closed the book on Siena and ensured SU would live to play at least one more game.

With Siena attack Chris Zarins marking him tight and defender Dan Mulhall waiting on the slide, Jamieson powered straight toward the cage, backing Zarins down and scoring in the face of a ducking Mulhall.

But it wasn’t just about Jamieson’s brute scoring ability, Desko said. In a game highlighted by a tight first half, Desko was impressed with how his new attack did the little things: a hustle play to grab one of his two ground balls or drawing an extra defender and then dishing an assist.

‘It was more than the points,’ Desko said. ‘The little things off the ball – some ground balls, heading to the sideline and boxing out his guy when we could have lost possession, I mean, I thought he played well today.’

After a breakout game by Jamieson, the Orange players are salivating on what his presence can mean for the rest of the tournament. Jamieson represented a secret weapon for the Orange against Siena. And considering how little Jamieson has played, opposing teams may have a tough time figuring out how to stop him.

Goalie John Galloway could see Jamieson’s effect all the way from the other side of the field. As Syracuse continues its quest to repeat as national champions for the first time in Desko’s tenure, the goalie said the team couldn’t have picked a better time to add some more firepower.

‘Especially coming into the playoffs, you know we wish we had him the whole season, but if we were going to get him, we’re getting him at the right time,’ Galloway said. ‘People talk about Syracuse being a balanced offense with six or seven players. Well, now we got seven or eight. It’s just one of those advantages we have.’

ctorr@syr.edu

Published on May 15, 2009 at 12:00 pm