Men's Lacrosse Signs Hardy, Nims and Perritt
12/1/2004 3:20:16 PM | Men's Lacrosse
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The defending national champion Syracuse University men’s lacrosse team signed three highly sought-after recruits during the November signing period. Head coach John Desko announced that high school seniors Dan Hardy (Tully, N.Y./Tully H.S.), Kenny Nims (Watertown, N.Y./Watertown H.S.) and Pat Perritt (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East H.S.) have signed National Letters of Intent to play for the Orange beginning in the fall of 2005.
All three players have family ties to the program. Hardy’s father, Bill, played for SU in the early 1980’s, while his brother, Tom, a midfielder, played from 1999-2002. Tom Hardy left an indelible mark on the program with his performance in the 2002 NCAA Championship when he scored the game-tying and game-winning goals against Virginia in the national semifinals. The Orange went on to win the title that year and Tom Hardy was named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team.
Nims’ father, Tom, was a member of SU’s first NCAA Championship squad in 1983. He was later named an All-America goalie for the Orange.
Perritt is the younger brother of Bill Perritt, who played for Syracuse from 2000-2003 and helped the Orange to national championships in 2000 and 2002 as a midfielder.
Dan Hardy is a 6-5 attackman/midfielder who scored 53 goals for Tully in 2004. He is a stand-out three-sport athlete who recently recorded his 1,000th point on the basketball court. The last two years, Hardy has helped the Central Team to the gold medal at the Empire State Games. He was a third-team All-CNY midfielder last season and scored a season-high nine points (six goals, three assists) in a game against Jordan-Elbridge.
Nims is a shifty attackman who played with Hardy on the last two Empire State Games championship teams. Two years ago, Nims scored the game-winning goal in overtime to beat Long Island for the gold. He was a first-team All-CNY selection in 2004 and finished 10th in Section III in points with 97 (57 goals, 40 assists) and sixth in the Frontier League in total points.
Perritt, a midfielder, is looking to have a great senior year after having to miss most of his junior season at Sachem because of injury. He made it back in time to help the Long Island Empire Team to a silver medal at the 2004 games. It was his third time making the prestigious Long Island Empire Team. As a freshman, Perritt recorded 32 goals and 21 assists. He followed that up with a 39-goal, 22-assist performance in 2003.
The Syracuse men’s lacrosse team played in front of an NCAA-record crowd of 43,898 at the 2004 NCAA Championship game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The Orange defeated Navy, 14-13, for the program’s ninth NCAA Championship. SU boasts more NCAA championship titles than any other school and owns the best tournament winning percentage of any team with a 51-16 record (.761). The Orange owns an unprecedented streak of 22 consecutive appearances in the NCAA men’s lacrosse final four. SU led the nation in total attendance (162,361) and average attendance (9,551) in 2004, which are both NCAA single-season records. Syracuse Lacrosse holds 12 of the NCAA’s top 15 single-season average and total attendance figures all-time.
