Coach Desko 2012 Men's Lacrosse Media Day Quotes
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Manley Field House – Syracuse, N.Y.
“Hi everybody, it’s good to see you again. It’s hard to believe it’s here already. We had our running test last night and our first practice this morning. We have another one this afternoon at 3:30 p.m.
"We are really excited to be back. This is a new group. The last couple of years we have talked about having guys who have been starters, kind of set in their position, for a couple of years. Some even for four years like John Galloway, he was a four-year starter. This year with seven of our 10 starters graduating a year ago, guys like Joel White and Timmy Harder at the defensive end of the field almost like two more starters at least in their positions, it’s a new group.
"The fall has been a lot of fun. A little more hop in our step. The first two weeks of fall ball with guys running around out there seeing there is a lot of starting spots and second midfield spots wide open. It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been a little bit of a learning curve for us as coaches and players trying to evaluate guys in new positions, sometimes switching positions going from attack to midfield, vice versa. Guys going from offensive midfield to the defensive midfield and trying them out there to see if they will excel in another position. It’s been a work in progress, but it has been a lot of fun. Again, I am very excited for the 2012 season. I think our guys will get better and better as the year goes on. We are going to mix and match in our positions.
"We are really excited for our schedule. We have our BIG EAST schedule this year, which has some great teams in it, the likes of Notre Dame, Georgetown, and Villanova. I think of all the BIG EAST teams, Villanova may have the most players returning and had a very successful year last year. It’s going to be a big one for us. Obviously, our traditional rivals: throwing in the Virginias, Hopkins, and Princetons of the world, into the mix, which are going to be some of the top teams in the country. Virginia will be the No. 1 team in the country to start the year off after winning a championship and they have a big group returning from last year’s championship team. They are going to be exciting to watch. We are so excited. We have a great schedule. We’re on the road a little bit too much, but I think that will make us better if we are still standing at the end of the year.
"We are excited for the new group. We think we are going to get better every day and the guys are practicing really hard.”
On where the big position battles are:
“I think all over the place. I think we return most of the guys at the attack end of the field with Tim Desko and Tommy Palasek. We got Collin Donahue back, who got a lot of time last year. Derick Maltz comes back to us, got some good time at the end of the year and did some good things for us. Billy Ward. The list goes on and on. Some of the newcomers, so we have some pretty good depth there.
"In the midfield, we return Bobby Eilers, Steve Ianzito, and Scotty Loy. Hakeem Lecky, who I thought was one of the guys last year that would have a solid midfielder in the second midfield spot. I thought we were going to start with him out there and build around him in that second midfield. Maybe even bring him up once in a while to run with that older group to give him some experience. When he got hurt last year that was disappointing because he was going to be the solid second midfielder out there and get a lot of time as a freshman. He’s out there, playing very well, and he is going to be exciting and fun to watch for Syracuse fans. We’ve got him out there with Eilers, Ianzito, and JoJo Marasco back and forth. Marasco is playing a lot in the midfield to give us some game experience. Marasco is obviously wearing No. 22 and is very explosive. He is very good out in front of the goal like he was behind the goal last year. It is not foreign to him because we used him in the midfield position last year. We’ve got some younger guys coming on. Henry Schoonmaker, out of Oregon which you normally don’t think of as a lacrosse hotbed, is a redshirt freshman, has played a lot this fall, and has done a good job. He did a very good job in the alumni scrimmage in the fall. Just to name a few in the midfield.
"Defensively, we return Brian Megill. John Lade and Thomas Guadaguolo graduated with John Galloway. We have a pretty good battle going on in the goal position. I think Matty Lerman, our returning back-up goalie from a year ago, has the nod right now. He is doing very well. There are some younger guys fighting for that position. Bobby Wardwell came in as a very highly-recruited freshman. We see him getting better as the year and the years go on. In the goal, close defense, short stick-wise, and a real battle in the midfield because we graduated the whole first midfield.
"I am feeling pretty good about where we are right now and the work ethic of these guys has been very good. Our conditioning run last night was very good. I talked to Hal Luther, who runs that for us, and he was very impressed with the guys that came in, the times they got. It showed that the guys worked hard in the offseason to get those times that we got.”
On the midfield lineup:
“We ran some stuff pretty consistently with the number of midfielders we had in the fall. Surprisingly enough, we are starting to see who is coming together, at least at this point. We do have guys like Luke Cometti, who transferred in from Albany. We were going to spend five weeks in the fall looking at him, getting him to know the offense, just figuring out who he is a midfielder and a lacrosse player, seeing what he needed to work on, and see who we could run him with. He got hurt the first week of practice and we have had literally no evaluation with him. This morning was the first time we got to see him with a stick in his hand and that is going to be an on-going process.”
On if there was any doubt Kevin Drew would be back:
“Oh yes. Big doubt. He has done quite a bit. He was not in school last semester, lost everything academically and financially. He has done quite a bit and he is going to continue to deal with the consequences. He has things that he has to do here for the team and the university."
On the loss of last year’s senior class:
“We had those guys last year; I mentioned John Galloway and Joel White that played since they were freshmen. They experienced quite a bit of learning from upperclassmen when they were young and put that to use their last couple of years.
"This year, we do not have a lot of seniors. We are relying on our captains, the guys we elected in the fall. They have been doing a good job. I am happy with them. I think the team in general with all these open spots is really starting to bond together and they have the common goal. They have not been ranked very high in the preseason. They feel they have a little bit to prove here and it shows in their work ethic.”
Manley Field House – Syracuse, N.Y.
“Hi everybody, it’s good to see you again. It’s hard to believe it’s here already. We had our running test last night and our first practice this morning. We have another one this afternoon at 3:30 p.m.
"We are really excited to be back. This is a new group. The last couple of years we have talked about having guys who have been starters, kind of set in their position, for a couple of years. Some even for four years like John Galloway, he was a four-year starter. This year with seven of our 10 starters graduating a year ago, guys like Joel White and Timmy Harder at the defensive end of the field almost like two more starters at least in their positions, it’s a new group.
"The fall has been a lot of fun. A little more hop in our step. The first two weeks of fall ball with guys running around out there seeing there is a lot of starting spots and second midfield spots wide open. It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been a little bit of a learning curve for us as coaches and players trying to evaluate guys in new positions, sometimes switching positions going from attack to midfield, vice versa. Guys going from offensive midfield to the defensive midfield and trying them out there to see if they will excel in another position. It’s been a work in progress, but it has been a lot of fun. Again, I am very excited for the 2012 season. I think our guys will get better and better as the year goes on. We are going to mix and match in our positions.
"We are really excited for our schedule. We have our BIG EAST schedule this year, which has some great teams in it, the likes of Notre Dame, Georgetown, and Villanova. I think of all the BIG EAST teams, Villanova may have the most players returning and had a very successful year last year. It’s going to be a big one for us. Obviously, our traditional rivals: throwing in the Virginias, Hopkins, and Princetons of the world, into the mix, which are going to be some of the top teams in the country. Virginia will be the No. 1 team in the country to start the year off after winning a championship and they have a big group returning from last year’s championship team. They are going to be exciting to watch. We are so excited. We have a great schedule. We’re on the road a little bit too much, but I think that will make us better if we are still standing at the end of the year.
"We are excited for the new group. We think we are going to get better every day and the guys are practicing really hard.”
On where the big position battles are:
“I think all over the place. I think we return most of the guys at the attack end of the field with Tim Desko and Tommy Palasek. We got Collin Donahue back, who got a lot of time last year. Derick Maltz comes back to us, got some good time at the end of the year and did some good things for us. Billy Ward. The list goes on and on. Some of the newcomers, so we have some pretty good depth there.
"In the midfield, we return Bobby Eilers, Steve Ianzito, and Scotty Loy. Hakeem Lecky, who I thought was one of the guys last year that would have a solid midfielder in the second midfield spot. I thought we were going to start with him out there and build around him in that second midfield. Maybe even bring him up once in a while to run with that older group to give him some experience. When he got hurt last year that was disappointing because he was going to be the solid second midfielder out there and get a lot of time as a freshman. He’s out there, playing very well, and he is going to be exciting and fun to watch for Syracuse fans. We’ve got him out there with Eilers, Ianzito, and JoJo Marasco back and forth. Marasco is playing a lot in the midfield to give us some game experience. Marasco is obviously wearing No. 22 and is very explosive. He is very good out in front of the goal like he was behind the goal last year. It is not foreign to him because we used him in the midfield position last year. We’ve got some younger guys coming on. Henry Schoonmaker, out of Oregon which you normally don’t think of as a lacrosse hotbed, is a redshirt freshman, has played a lot this fall, and has done a good job. He did a very good job in the alumni scrimmage in the fall. Just to name a few in the midfield.
"Defensively, we return Brian Megill. John Lade and Thomas Guadaguolo graduated with John Galloway. We have a pretty good battle going on in the goal position. I think Matty Lerman, our returning back-up goalie from a year ago, has the nod right now. He is doing very well. There are some younger guys fighting for that position. Bobby Wardwell came in as a very highly-recruited freshman. We see him getting better as the year and the years go on. In the goal, close defense, short stick-wise, and a real battle in the midfield because we graduated the whole first midfield.
"I am feeling pretty good about where we are right now and the work ethic of these guys has been very good. Our conditioning run last night was very good. I talked to Hal Luther, who runs that for us, and he was very impressed with the guys that came in, the times they got. It showed that the guys worked hard in the offseason to get those times that we got.”
On the midfield lineup:
“We ran some stuff pretty consistently with the number of midfielders we had in the fall. Surprisingly enough, we are starting to see who is coming together, at least at this point. We do have guys like Luke Cometti, who transferred in from Albany. We were going to spend five weeks in the fall looking at him, getting him to know the offense, just figuring out who he is a midfielder and a lacrosse player, seeing what he needed to work on, and see who we could run him with. He got hurt the first week of practice and we have had literally no evaluation with him. This morning was the first time we got to see him with a stick in his hand and that is going to be an on-going process.”
On if there was any doubt Kevin Drew would be back:
“Oh yes. Big doubt. He has done quite a bit. He was not in school last semester, lost everything academically and financially. He has done quite a bit and he is going to continue to deal with the consequences. He has things that he has to do here for the team and the university."
On the loss of last year’s senior class:
“We had those guys last year; I mentioned John Galloway and Joel White that played since they were freshmen. They experienced quite a bit of learning from upperclassmen when they were young and put that to use their last couple of years.
"This year, we do not have a lot of seniors. We are relying on our captains, the guys we elected in the fall. They have been doing a good job. I am happy with them. I think the team in general with all these open spots is really starting to bond together and they have the common goal. They have not been ranked very high in the preseason. They feel they have a little bit to prove here and it shows in their work ethic.”
