The chip on the shoulder of every member of the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team drives their intensity. It’s there to ensure they never have to experience the way they felt after last season’s early postseason exit at the hands of Army.

So when SU takes the field this weekend for two exhibition games, the Orange isn’t going to view them as only practice. It’s much more than that.

It’s the first step toward redemption.

‘I think all of us, and all the seniors this year, really have a chip on our shoulders,’ senior midfielder Jeff Gilbert said. ‘We want to get out there and get off to a good start, even in exhibition games.’

The Orange gets its first chance to release that chip on another team on Saturday, when it hosts Hofstra and LeMoyne in the first set of games in its preseason schedule. Despite neither game meaning anything for SU’s season, they give the Orange an opportunity to see where it stands right now on its mission to a championship.

It’ll also be the first time Syracuse, ranked No. 1 in the Inside Lacrosse Preseason Poll, can gauge how much more focused this year’s team really is. The bad taste in the mouths of everyone who experienced last season’s loss has manifested itself in tougher practices with harder hits and extra attention to detail this preseason, to ensure they reach as close to perfection as possible.

‘Kids in practice are going a lot harder, the coaches in practice are drilling us a lot harder,’ sophomore defenseman Brian Megill said. ‘No one’s taking it lightly. … It’s intense.’

And no one’s taking either exhibition game lightly either.

Saturday is still about preparation for the regular season. Syracuse will run some different offensive sets, see how its defense matches up against both teams and figure out what issues it needs to correct before its regular-season debut on Feb. 20 against Denver.

There aren’t many teams that would give SU a better opportunity to test itself than Hofstra, a team that is ranked No. 10 in the Inside Lacrosse Preseason Poll. And LeMoyne isn’t a pushover, finishing last season at 15-2, with a 10-0 record in the Division II Northeast-10 Conference. Both games will test the Orange.

‘LeMoyne is an amazing team, one of the best teams in their division,’ Gilbert said. ‘Hofstra has some really, really great players. We’re going to take these games seriously and use these games to make us better when the regular season comes around.’

As far as head coach John Desko is concerned, these games allow the players in competition for playing time to prove themselves in a game situation. With spots still open, decisions could be made as far as who can be a contributor in backing up the starters during the season.

On Wednesday, Desko said he was still deciding which true freshmen would see some playing time and which wouldn’t. But he said in all likelihood there will be some on the field during the scrimmages.

‘As coaches, we know that what we see in games is going to be different than what we see in practice,’ Desko said. ‘The guys that go out there in the scrimmage, in the game situation, that step up, I think are going to have a better chance at playing time than the guys who don’t.’

For Syracuse, this is the start of the season. These two exhibitions are the start of another run to the postseason, with the goal of a championship clearly embedded in the minds of every player. Each fueled by the thought of walking off the field the loser in 2010.

This weekend carries more weight and more meaning than practice. It’s the start of a new mission.

‘The intensity we have in practice is going to carry over into even scrimmages,’ Gilbert said. ‘Everyone’s going to give it their all.’

cjiseman@syr.edu

Published on February 3, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman