2015 Season Preview: Part II

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

1/28/2015 8:47:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse

Brandon Mullins anchors defense, Bobby Wardwell experienced in the cage

This is the second installment of Cuse.com's preview of the upcoming 2015 men's lacrosse season. Part I focused on the attack and midfield. Part II features an overview of the team's defensive midfield, close defense, faceoff specialists and goalies.

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELD
Long-stick midfield might be the deepest position on the team. Orange defensive coordinator Lelan Rogers has three poles with Division I game experience at his disposal, including redshirt senior Peter Macartney who took over as Syracuse's top option at that spot early in 2014. Macartney climbed the depth chart last season when Matt Harris moved down to close defense and responded by collecting a career-high 41 ground balls, the most on the team by a non-faceoff specialist.

Sophomore Scott Firman and senior Niko Manning both cut their teeth at the Division I level last season. Firman appeared in 13 games as a rookie and was third on the squad with 10 caused turnovers. Against Johns Hopkins, Firman forced a crucial turnover late in the fourth quarter to help secure the Orange's 12-10 victory. Manning played in five games a year ago after transferring from OCC and brought a high level of physicality to the defense.

Redshirt freshman Josh Pulver is a swing player who can play both LSM and close defense, but will most likely compete for time at pole. True freshman Austin Fusco is a highly-touted defender who led Yorktown High School (N.Y.) to an 18-5 record and the 2014 New York State Class B Championship.

Redshirt junior Tom Grimm and senior Mike Messina return to lead Syracuse's corps of short sticks. Both were integral to the Orange defense last season. Grimm emerged as an excellent player in transition and was voted by his teammates as one of this year's captains. Messina played in a career-high 15 games last season and picked up 13 ground balls.

The unit should receive a boost from the return of Paolo Ciferri from injury. Cifferi appeared in the first three games of 2014 before missing the rest of the season. Junior Joe Gillis, redshirt freshman Spencer Schmitt and true freshman Luke Schwasnick could also see time as defensive midfielders.

CLOSE DEFENSE
Syracuse enters 2015 much the way it did last season on close defense – with two established starters and several players competing for the third first-string spot.

Redshirt junior Brandon Mullins blossomed into a star last year, earning USILA Second Team All-America honors. Mullins' raw lacrosse skills caught up with exceptional athletic ability and he won head-to-head battles with some of the top attackmen in the game, including Cornell's Matt Donovan and North Carolina's Joey Sankey. Mullins is sixth all-time at Syracuse with 31 caused turnovers and he was named a 2015 Inside Lacrosse Preseason First Team All-American.

Senior Sean Young is a steady presence who has started 32 straight games over the last two seasons. Not flashy, Young is an excellent off-ball defenseman who gained notoriety after shutting down Denver All-American Wes Berg in the 2013 national semifinals.

While Mullins and Young are known commodities, who will step up and claim the third starting spot is not. The most likely candidates are juniors Jay McDermott, Ryan Palasek and redshirt junior Bobby Tait. All three players made at least one start last season. McDermott played in 13 games and made a first-string appearance at Virginia. Palasek received a starting nod versus St. John's and saw action in five games. Tait started the first three games of 2014 and was a mainstay on the man-down unit.

After beginning his collegiate career at Syracuse in 2012, junior Ralph D'Agostino is back in an Orange uniform. D'Agostino played in 13 games and picked up 17 ground balls for the Orange that year before heading south and spending the 2014 campaign at Furman. D'Agostino started seven games last season for the Paladins and forced a team-high 10 turnovers.

Junior Chris Swanson and redshirt freshmen Jimmy Wyrick and Winston Wenham are also in the mix, while true freshmen Marcus Cunningham, Laz Chavez and Conner Phillips round out the unit. Cunningham (Glen Ridge) and Phillips (Rumson-Fair Haven) were two of New Jersey's most prominent scholastic defenders a year ago, and Chavez was a two-time all-section player at Rye High School in New York.

FACEOFFS
The most highly-scrutinized position group the last few seasons has been the Orange faceoff specialists.

After struggling to start last year, Chris Daddio turned the X into a position of strength by winning nearly 55 percent of his attempts in the second half of 2014. Daddio, who finished his career fourth in school history with 433 faceoff wins, is gone so the coaching staff will look to a host of players to replace him as the team's top drawman.

Chief among Daddio's potential successors are sophomore transfers Ben Williams and Zack Vehar. Williams joined the Orange after spending his first season at Holy Cross, while Vehar played his rookie year at Quinnipiac. Both players posted nearly identical numbers. Williams won 53.1 percent (186-350) of his attempts and Vehar won 53.5 percent (159-297). Vehar has Orange ties. His brother, Griffin, played for Syracuse from 2010-13 and his sister Mallory is currently on the SU women's lacrosse roster.

Senior Mike Iacono, junior Austin Wentworth, redshirt sophomore Cal Paduda and true sophomore Joe DeMarco have all taken draws for Syracuse. Iacono, Wentworth and DeMarco were used sparingly last season. Paduda missed the 2014 campaign with an injury, but attempted 111 faceoffs as a freshman in 2013 and set the SU single-game rookie record by winning 20 faceoffs against Hobart.

In addition to those with college experience, Syracuse also brought in a pair of freshmen faceoff men – Nate Farrell and Max Parker. Farrell was a two-time captain at Whitesboro High School (N.Y.), while Parker starred at Florida's Lake Highland Prep where he was named the state's Mr. Lacrosse by the Florida Dairy Farmers.

GOALIE
As with most positions, there is a healthy competition for the starting spot in the cage. The two frontrunners for the job are senior Bobby Wardwell, who split time with Dominic Lamolinara last season, and OCC import Warren Hill.

Wardwell played the second half of most games in 2014 and posted a 6-1 record. Lauded by Desko for his improved communication and command of the defense, Wardwell has logged time in 32 career games and owns a 9.53 career goals-against average.

Hill joined the Orange in the fall after two impressive seasons at OCC and a turn as the Iroquois starting goaltender at the 2014 FIL World Championship. The two-time NJCAA Defensive Player of the Year, Hill powered the Lazers to consecutive junior college national championships and led the nation in both goals-against average (4.33) and save percentage (.733) in 2014.

Parker Ferrigan is pushing the pair for reps after redshirting last season. The Orange also brings back redshirt sophomores Tyler Avallone and Evan Molloy. Molloy mopped up in two games last season, while Avallone made his college debut late in the fourth quarter of last year's win against Colgate.

In addition to those five, the coaching staff brought in Nolan Callahan, a 6-foot-3 freshman who started for three years at Avon Old Farms School (Conn.) and was a two-time All-Western New England performer.