Postgame Quotes
Syracuse vs. Binghamton
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Carrier Dome/Syracuse, N.Y.
Coach John Desko
Opening Statement:
“I think your worst fear coming off a win a week earlier is running into an excited lacrosse team and you coming out a little flat, and seeing a good goaltender. I thought we had plenty of that, especially earlier in the game. I think we fought to work our way out of it and made some big plays to put some points up on the board. Overall, I’m a little disappointed in our play, but my hat's off to Binghamton. I thought their goalie did a nice job and I thought their defense was a little stingy in the first half. I thought as far as controlling the tempo and taking the crowd out of it, I thought they did a pretty good job with that. It’s a good win and now we have to refocus and get ready for the [Hobart] Statesmen coming in to play for the Kraus-Simmons Trophy on Tuesday night.”
On Binghamton’s strengths in the first half:
“I think it was a combination. I thought they had some good matchups and they shorted some people down low. I know they tried to deny [Stephen] Keogh the ball with the short stick early in the game, but its things that we’ve seen all along. Their goalie made some good saves, I think he had six or seven saves in the first half. He’s very solid and he was tested a little bit. He’s come to play most games. I think if you talk to Coach [Ed] Stephenson, he’s been the strength of their defense. They made us work for shots and I thought he did a good job today.”
On what SU’s defense did right:
“I thought they played pretty good. Strangely enough, I thought we were somewhat tentative early on. I think in the second half, we were more aggressive and pressed out a little more. We created some turnovers just by some poke checks on the bottom hand of some of their offensive players. That was the game plan going in, I think we finally settled down and came to play more in the second half.”
On the offensive balance:
“I think one of the things you tend to do coming into a team like Binghamton - they don’t have a lot of wins under their belt, you could come in over-confident and start to play as individuals and do a lot more on your own. I think offensively we had some turnovers, but when we got things going, we were quick to share the ball and move the ball around. A lot of guys passed up some shots that they might take in another game to find an open man with a little better shot. I think that’s a good thing with our offense. It didn’t seem like anybody had too big of an ego and had to have so many points at the end of the day. We say team and we want to play like a team offensively and defensively.”
Kenny Nims, Sr., Attack
On the rough start:
“We came out extremely flat. Myself, being a captain of the team, I take responsibility for that. We didn’t come out the way we wanted to this week. We knew we couldn’t overlook them, and we probably could have had a better week of practice. Like Coach said, Thank God we have a short week. We’re just going to move ahead to Hobart.”
On the short week:
“We went through it last year, so we know what it’s like. It’s tough to keep everyone healthy, but like Coach said we have to stay sharp in practice, we have to play hard every day, and we can’t overlook anyone. We have three games this week, and in a couple weeks, we have to do the same thing. We just have to go hard in practice every day and focus on each opponent.”
On the team being unselfish:
“At halftime we were talking about how we were finally faced with adversity. We were at a place we didn’t want to be. We thought we’d have a comfortable lead at halftime, but we didn’t, so instead of putting our heads down we came together and we did something about it. We’re just excited to come out with a win today."
Scott Kahoe, Sr., Midfield
On playing hard in the second half:
“I think a lot of teams that are playing against us, they don’t want Kenny [Nims] or guys like Stephen Keogh to get it inside; they want to keep them from scoring. I think they were sacrificing the 10- to 15-yard shot. Last time we had a little bit of trouble with Hopkins. This week, we just tried to play very unselfish, we tried to move the ball around, and we tried to get into rhythm. Like Kenny [Nims] said before, we came out flat, especially in the first half. We banded everyone together in the locker room and said, ‘Let’s play Syracuse lacrosse and get back on track here.’ It started with every lose ball and every little thing contributed to this victory today."
Sid Smith, Sr., Defense
On the change in the defense in the second half:
‘We weren’t as aggressive as we would have liked to be in the first half. We made adjustments at halftime and came out a lot stronger in the second half. We pressed out more and got a little more aggressive. We got down on their hands. We didn’t let them sit back as much as they were in the first.'
John Galloway, So., Goalie
On playing a local team:
“I think part of it was them coming out so excited to play in the first half, going along with us coming out flat. A lot of these guys have always wanted to play in the Dome and they get a chance to come in here. They’ve had a rough season so far, but a game like this could be their championship game. I think they were excited to play, guys like Brian Donahue, who I have played with for such a long time scored the first goal of the game. Ben Waldron is going to be a stud for them. A lot of those guys from Corcoran, Binghamton, and a lot of the local schools are excited to play in the Dome. I think they did a good job today, but we’re going to have to really pick up this week. Hobart’s going to be a good team and they’re going to be excited to play in here too.”
