Coach Desko Quotes
2009 Men's Lacrosse Media Day
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Carrier Dome/Syracuse, N.Y.
Opening Statement:
“I can’t believe we’re back. It feels like we just walked off the field in Foxboro. We’re very excited to be back. It’s kind of neat to, after having the guys in the fall, to get them back in the spring. It’s great to be here to have the full field in the Carrier Dome and to get a lot of things out of the way which would be harder to do during the school year. We’re getting some paperwork done. They have a full field and all day to think about lacrosse and practice. We’re able to get some of the full-field stuff done that maybe we can’t get in certain times of the year, so we’re getting a lot of clears and rides. We’re explaining our offense and defense so we can get some scrimmaging in during the afternoons. We’re just trying to get a lot of lacrosse in and as many things as we can on a full field that we might not be able to get at times during the spring here.
“So welcome back everyone. We’re excited to be here. We’re really looking forward to the 2009 season, especially with all the opponents we have and the little bit of BIG EAST flavor for things to come in the following years.”
On being the defending national champions:
“I think here at Syracuse, the guys like being on top so it’s a challenge either way. But to be on top and know that every game that you play, the other team is coming to beat the 2008 national champions makes it a challenge. I think the guys feed off that. I talked to the guys at practice today and said, ‘You know, a lot of people are saying that we’re here in defense of our title.’ I don’t really want to approach this year in defense of the 2008 title. The 2008 trophy is in my office and it’s going to be in the lobby with the other trophies. We’re not defending that, it’s always going to be there no matter what happens this season. I think we’re just going to look for ways to get ready for our next opponent and concentrate and focus on the 2009 season. We’ve got some great memories from 2008 and we want to make some more great memories in 2009.”
On whether the team has the same desire to win as last year:
“I think so. One of the first things one of the captains said before practice was, ‘2008 is over with. It’s 2009 and we need to focus on that.’ That’s our goal as coaches and captains and leaders of this team.”
On the difference in atmosphere between now and this time last year:
“I think it’s a little bit more normal. I think there’s guys who remember what it felt like a couple seasons ago. They understand what happens when you don’t take care of things on the team, don’t take care of things with yourself whether it be conditioning or things you do in the classroom or off the field. That message came through loud and clear. We have a whole new group of freshmen and sophomores who came in with a big class. They were part of last year and saw the focus of the seniors and juniors. We’re hoping that’s contagious. We had to work really hard to get where we’re at. We remind them that we are last year’s national champions, but if you look back we were in six one-goal games. As good as we thought we were last year, there were six games that we won by one and some overtimes in there. Nothing comes easy and I think we know that and we’re trying to get that across to the players. A lot of them have experienced that.
On having an experienced goalie:
“It’s huge for a couple reasons. It’s very unusual to have a freshman in the cage and win a national championship. I think that speaks for the leadership we had last year, two close defensemen being seniors and one a junior in Sid Smith who has come back this year. I think John [Galloway] saw one of the top schedules in the country, played against high-caliber teams every weekend, he was experienced going into the playoff games and he came out and won a national championship in front of 50,000 people. It’s great experience. I noticed in the fall that he has less hesitation. He’s out there and experienced all that and gone against great players. I think he’s stepped it up a notch."
On filling other voids left by last year’s seniors:
“We lost a couple first team all-americans, Tewaaraton Trophy winner and middie of the year in Mike Leveille and Steven Brooks. Not only were they great players, they were leaders too. We’re looking for more senior leadership and some junior leadership this year. I don’t really care what class they’re in as long as the leadership is there. What we’re going to see this year, depending on how team’s play us, is the loss of Danny Brennan. To have the top faceoff guy in the country who was close to the 70 percent mark, to have seven possessions after every 10 faceoffs, that’s pretty big when you have a team like ours offensively. In all those one-goal games, Danny really came alive at the end of a lot of those games to give us possessions and help us come back, especially against UVA in the overtime game. That could change how we play. If we’re not getting possession off the faceoff and many teams like to hold the ball against us when they’re on offense, then we’re going to have to be more patient offensively to take care of our possession and rest our defense. We haven’t figured that one out yet. We’re working on it and we worked on it all fall. We’re looking for somebody or a team of people to come up with a faceoff this season.”
On whether anyone stands out to take over faceoffs:
“Not really, but probably Jake Moulton a little bit more than the rest. We have spring now so we’ll see what happens. The good part about that is that we have some terrific wing people in Matt Abbott and Joel White. They are both very good athletes and great ground ball guys. They’re very good if we come up with the ball on offense. If we don’t, we have two of the best defensive specialists in the country. If we don’t get them, we should at least be prepared to play defense.”
On Matt Abbott:
“I think he flew under the radar for a bit because he was young. He was a player that does everything well. It’s a game of specialization where you’re forced to play that way given certain situations. I think to have a guy like Matt Abbott, other coaches see him out there and recognize the value of a guy who can play offense, defense, man-down, and gives you all those ground balls. Coaches see that he can do it all. As coaches do better than a lot of fans, they see the importance of that. It’s great to see a player like that recognized for all those things. A lot of guys get Player of the Year for doing one thing very well. I think it’s great for him and the sport to be recognized for doing all those things very well. Hopefully, other coaches will see a guy out there who’s playing offense and defense and doing all these things. I think it’s great for lacrosse to be played that way.”
