2010 Season Preview - Part II
2/4/2010 8:17:36 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Part I
This is the second installment of SUathletics.com's preview of the upcoming 2010 men's lacrosse season. Part I of 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
While Syracuse has always been known for its high-powered offense, defense has been one of the keys to the team's recent success. The Orange's defense should be a strength again in 2010 and it starts in the midfield where junior co-captain Joel White has emerged as the premier longstick middie in the nation.
A preseason first-team All-American, White was second on the team with 63 ground balls in 2009 and he also made his presence felt on offense with five goals and three assists. White's ability to lock down the opposing team's primary midfield scorer one-on-one makes it easier for the rest of the Orange defenders to focus on their assignments. He's also one of the best at manning the wing on faceoffs.
Senior Tyler Hlawati can also play the wing and will spell White at longstick middie. Hlawati played in every game last season and collected 12 ground balls. He also scored the first goal of his career in SU's NCAA quarterfinal win against Maryland.
Sophomores Joe Moore and Gairet Myers give the Orange depth at that position. Both saw action as freshmen last season with Moore playing in 14 games and Myers competing in four contests. Redshirt freshman Bryan Clegg also plays the pole.
Sophomore Kevin Drew leads the team's crew of shortstick d-middies. One of the fastest and most athletic players on the SU roster, Drew played in every game as a freshman and scored four goals. He's also an asset on clears, helping the Orange go from defense to offense quickly with his speed.
In addition to Drew, senior Joe Coulter and junior Tim Harder will see playing time in defensive situations. Coulter collected four ground balls in 16 games in 2009, and Harder was one of the team's most improved players in the fall. Harder played in 17 games last season, mostly as a faceoff specialist, and had 15 ground balls.
Junior Jovan Miller will also see action on defense, and classmate Josh Amidon could reprise his role from two years ago there, should his services be needed.
CLOSE DEFENSE
The interior of the Syracuse defense is one of the team's most experienced units. The Orange returns two of its three starting close defensemen from 2009. Junior John Lade and senior Matt Tierney started every game last year and enter 2010 as preseason All-Americans with Lade earning second-team honors and Tierney receiving honorable mention recognition. The pair, along with the departed Sid Smith, formed the backbone of an SU defense that set a school postseason record in 2009, allowing just 6.5 goals per game in the playoffs. Overall, Syracuse finished fourth nationally in scoring defense a season ago at 7.38 goals per contest.
Lade led all close defenders with 53 ground balls and Tierney improved steadily as the 2009 campaign went along.
The frontrunner to replace Smith is senior Brandon Conlin. At 6-4, Conlin is another a big body defensive coordinator Lelan Rogers can use to make it difficult for opposing teams around the crease. Conlin appeared in 13 games as a reserve last season.
Also in the mix is junior Thomas Guadagnolo, the younger brother of former SU standout defenseman Kyle Guadagnolo. The younger Guadagnolo played in 16 games a season ago and was a mainstay on the team's man-down unit.
Junior Adam Vogl and a stable of young, but talented players round out the group. Vogl is in his third season in the Orange system, while redshirt freshman David Hamlin has shown flashes of what he can do in practice.
Freshmen Joe Fazio, Brian Megill, Griffin Vehar and Kyle Carey all were included in Inside Lacrosse's breakdown of the top 100 incoming freshmen. Fazio starred in both football and lacrosse at nearby national power West Genesee. He was rated the second-best defenseman and the 10th overall prospect coming out of high school. Megill is the younger brother of former Maryland standout Ray Megill and was a U.S. Lacrosse All-American at Arthur L. Johnson High School in New Jersey. Vehar also earned U.S. Lacrosse All-America honors, and Carey was named to the Under Armour All-America Team after being named the Ohio Defensive Player of the Year.
FACEOFFS
Syracuse boasts a solid group of faceoff specialists with three of its top four faceoff men from 2009 back in the fold.
Senior Gavin Jenkinson leads the group. Jenkinson stepped up last season, pacing the squad with a .629 faceoff winning percentage. He went 61-for-97 at the X and played a key role in the team's come-from-behind win at Loyola. Jenkinson won eight faceoffs in the fourth quarter as the Orange rallied from a four-goal deficit to defeat the Greyhounds, 14-13.
Harder and classmate Josh Knight also saw plenty of the action at the faceoff stripe in 2009. Harder won 46.2 percent of his draws last season (34-71) and Knight was 34-for-71 (.479), including a career-best 13-for-18 (.722) showing against Princeton at the Inside Lacrosse Big City Classic in Giants Stadium.
Syracuse's faceoff corps will benefit from the addition of junior Jeremy Thompson, who excelled in the faceoff circle while at OCC. Thompson's offensive ability makes him a dangerous weapon if he can win draws out front.
Miller also has prior experience taking faceoffs, and Carey has been working at the X with a six-foot pole. Carey's ability to win draws with a long stick could come into play this season depending on matchups.
GOALIE
After winning the job in 2008 as a freshman, junior John Galloway cemented his position by becoming the first starting goalie in the NCAA era to win national championships as a freshman and sophomore. Galloway is the Orange's career leader in goals-against average (7.71) and he set the school single-season record in that category in 2009 (7.64).
Known as one of the best clearing goalies in the country, Galloway is a preseason third-team All-American. He made 160 saves in 17 games last year, including a career-high 19 in the Orange's win 8-5 win at Georgetown.
Syracuse is blessed with a capable backup in senior Al Cavalieri. He showed the college lacrosse world his skills during last year's playoff run, stepping in for Galloway, who was out with the flu, and stopping 14 shots to lead the Orange to an 11-6 win against Maryland in the NCAA quarterfinals in front of a nationwide audience on ESPN2 and ESPNU.
Sophomore Paul Dubas, junior walk-on Nathan Farabee and freshman Matthew Lerman provide depth for the Orange in the cage. Lerman joins the team after earning U.S. Lacrosse All-America honors at Episcopal Academy outside Philadelphia.
