AMHERST, Mass. – Cody Jamieson got a view from just about every angle of the Syracuse bench on Saturday. The highly touted transfer from Onondaga Community College was cleared to play by the NCAA Thursday and awaited his first collegiate minutes in an Orange uniform.

He started on the far end of the bench, then stood behind assistant coach Roy Simmons III, resting his arm on the water cooler before finally getting in with a little over four minutes to play.

‘Its great,’ defensemen and former OCC teammate Sid Smith said. ‘I’m really proud of him, really proud of the way he stuck it out with the whole process. I’m just glad that he’s finally able to play.’

Jamieson, who was not made available for interviews after the game, took two runs at the cage from the attack spot. His first, a powerful drive toward the net ended when Jamieson tripped and fell, dishing it off to attack Chris Daniello.

Minutes later, Jamieson put a back spin move on his defender, Massachusetts’ Tom Celentani, causing him to fall while Jamieson sprinted toward the goal, netting a diving score before referees waved it off.

‘He’s going to score a lot of goals,’ Smith said. ‘I’m not too worried about his goals, he don’t worry about scoring so it’s just good for him to get out there and get a feel.’

SU head coach John Desko said he liked what he saw from Jamieson although getting him into the game almost didn’t happen.

‘We were so focused on the game, we really weren’t thinking about substituting,’ Desko said. ‘But I looked up and thought, ‘You know, it would be a good time to get Cody in.’ It was a good time because I wanted to get Cody’s feet wet.’

Syracuse plays in front of record crowd

Combine a sunny, 80-degree day and what could potentially be the last regular season game between Syracuse and UMass, and you have the recipe for the largest lacrosse crowd in McGuirk Alumni Stadium lacrosse history.

The 13,722 on hand was the 24th-largest crowd in collegiate lacrosse history, as the massive Minutemen fan base came out in full force Saturday. All week, the Minutemen promoted the game with a ‘Break the Record!’ slogan and even switched the game from their normal home field of Garber Field to the much larger McGuirk Alumni Stadium.

‘The crowd was great, the fans were awesome,’ Smith said.

Although it was good enough to make the all-time collegiate list, the attendance is still only the third-highest total for the Orange this season. The team played in front of 22,308 in a 12-8 loss to Princeton in the Faceoff Classic at Giants Stadium and a crowd of 16,595 for its 14-13 loss to Virginia at the Carrier Dome on Feb. 27.

SU-UMass rivalry comes to an end

Syracuse and UMass have been battling since 1976, with 36 matches including the inception game of the rivalry, a 20-13 UMass win on April 3, 1976. Saturday’s 10-3 Orange victory is the last regular-season contest between the two.

Due to the creation of the Big East, Syracuse has to drop some of its non-conference opponents next season and UMass is one of those squads. Syracuse will end the series with a 28-8 advantage, having won the last two.

Desko spoke about the meaning of the rivalry after the game.

‘It’s been a long rivalry and there’s been a lot of great games at both places,’ Desko said. ‘And it goes back to the upper field is named after Coach Garber and I played against Coach Garber, and coached against him as an assistant coach. Lot of good games and a lot of history here between the two schools.’

mrehalt@syr.edu

ctorr@syr.edu

Published on April 25, 2009 at 12:00 pm