2015 lacrosse season preview

2015 LACROSSE SEASON PREVIEW

attack

t h e i n d e p e n d e n t s t u d e n t n e w s p a p e r o f s y r a c u s e , n e w y o r k

MARA

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2 / 2015 lacrosse season preview

Dear readers,

The Daily Orange's 2015 Lacrosse Preview presents an extensive look at the Syracuse men's and wom-en's teams’ upcoming season. See what makes Kevin Rice the perfect facilitator for SU’s lethal attack, how prepared Randy Staats is for his second go-round at SU, what transfer Tim Barber brings to the offense and how two-time captain Hakeem Lecky developed into the leader he is. Check out a feature on Kayla Treanor, who could be the best player in the country and the first to lead SU to a women’s team national title. Enjoy and thank you for reading.

Sincerely,Phil D'Abbraccio, sports editor

2015 lacrosse season preview \ 3

By Jesse Dougherty staff writer

very day at 3 p.m., Kevin Rice rode with his father Steve and sister Stephanie to Skaneateles (New York) High School girls’ varsity lacrosse practice. Stephanie was on the team as an eighth-grader and Steve was its

head coach. Rice, a fourth-grader, warmed up the goalies, peppered the wall next to the field and hopped on the team bus for every away game.

“Poor kid probably watched more women’s lacrosse than any young boy probably ever should,” Stephanie said. “But he loved it. I’d turn around and he’d be scoring on the goalies while warming them up. Varsity goalies and a little kid. That’s just how Kevin was.”

At the time, Rice wasn’t necessarily infatuated with the lacrosse. Had it been Stephanie and Steve’s basketball team, he would have been sneaking into layup lines and keeping the scorebook. Had it been soccer, the 8-year-old would have carried the ball bag and dribbled around until the daylight ran out.

He went on to play all three sports in high school, and was behind in college lacrosse recruiting when he finally zeroed in on the sport after his junior year. But what turned many colleges away — the fact that Rice played three sports while most aspiring lacrosse players were frequenting showcases and travel tournaments — piqued Syracuse’s interest and landed the 5-foot-10 senior attack 20 miles from where he grew up.

Now it’s a blend of Rice’s soccer, basketball and lacrosse expe-rience that makes him the perfect puppeteer of the No. 4 Orange’s no-nonsense attack, a unit that includes Rice, Dylan Donahue and Randy Staats, and makes Syracuse a surefire contender for the national championship this season.

It would be the first title in six years for a team that’s won one every 3.2 seasons since its first in 1983. It would keep the seniors from being the third straight SU class to leave empty-handed. And it would turn Rice’s career accomplishments from irreplaceable to indelible.

“You come to Syracuse to win championships and there have

Rice heads into final chance at NCAA title, rides multi-sport experience to guide SU offense

I THINK THAT THE THREE SPORTS I PLAYED HAVE A HUGE HAND IN THE KIND OF LACROSSE PLAYER I AM. SOME GUYS PLAY THREE SPORTS BECAUSE THEY ARE GREAT ATHLETES, BUT I’M NOT A GREAT ATHLETE IN THE SENSE OF SPEED AND SIZE.

Kevin Ricesu attack

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frankie prijatel photo editor

see rice page 4


been so many local guys, like me, that have been able to do that,” Rice said. “The thought of me not being one of them isn’t something I like to think about. You just have to leave it on the field.”

Rice has always operated from the X attack spot behind the opposing team’s net.

That’s where Skaneateles head coach Ron Doctor knew Rice would be most effective, and that’s where he’s built his profile at Syracuse, dodging toward the cage with an awareness that keeps all options on the table.

Pass to a cutting midfielder. Find a fellow attack across the crease. Dive to the net look-ing for a shot. Pull it back and try the other side. Drive the defense up a wall.

“There’s probably only one person in the coun-try that would say that Kevin isn’t the best dodging X attack in the country, and that’s him,” said Derek Maltz, who played with Rice for three seasons before graduating from SU in May. “What he does changes a whole offense and a whole game.”

Rice’s development into a dominant attack, as well as a preseason first-team All-American and 23rd overall pick in the Major League Lacrosse draft in January, has many layers.

For starters, he’s the son of a coach and grew up with lacrosse in his family. That meant talking strategies and nuances during car rides and trailing Stephanie, who went on

to play at Hofstra, all over central New York. It also meant holding a lacrosse stick around the same time he was learning to hold a pencil, then learning that he could use that stick to compete with other kids.

That’s the other key factor in Rice’s devel-opment — the thirst for competition. When he got to Skaneateles, a small public school, he knew he could play a role on the varsity soccer, basketball and lacrosse teams.

And by not focusing solely on lacrosse, he was indirectly molding his lacrosse game.

“I think that the three sports I played have a huge hand in the kind of lacrosse player I am,” Rice said. “Some guys play three sports because they are great athletes, but I’m not a great athlete in the sense of speed and size. I had to think the games and that helped me.”

When Rice was a sophomore, he volun-teered to play defense as a way to get onto the varsity soccer field. Skaneateles had a talent-ed offense and Rice learned to see the field from the back, distributing to the strikers and watching offensive sequences unfold. Eventu-ally Rice shimmied his way onto the offense and proved to have a knack for scoring goals, leading the 2010 Lakers to a 22-0 season and Class B state championship.

In basketball, he balanced scoring with point-guard play, much like he does from behind the cage in lacrosse. Rice says he was a good ball-handler that could score from the perimeter, but also focused on finding his teammates for open shots.

He and his classmates played football in gym class, and Tim Green — their teacher and

Skaneateles’ head football coach at the time — wanted Rice to be his quarterback. Linda Rice would have never let her son put on pads. There also wasn’t much time for a fourth sport.

“Playing three sports helped him see the field and visualize how plays unfolded in all of them,” Steve Rice said. “It was hectic in high school but it’s paid off in lacrosse.”

As a junior, Rice was even leaning toward basketball when Steve sat him down. Rice wasn’t tall enough. To show him this, Steve printed out the statistics of Division I and II players of simi-lar size. Most weren’t even seeing the court and those that were weren’t doing much else.

After that, Rice started focusing on lacrosse and the recruiting process, which started slow, but sped up with a single text message.

It was from SU assistant coach Lelan Rogers and asked Rice to come in and talk about playing for the Orange. When Rice spoke with head coach John Desko — who liked that he was a coach’s son who played three sports — offers from Loyola Maryland, Jacksonville and other lower-profile programs were immediately pushed aside.

“I told him, ‘You can go to Florida or some-where else and just be a player and start fresh. At Syracuse people are going to know you and there are going to be expectations,’” Steve said.

“He wanted that. He embraced it.”To this point Rice has blown by expecta-

tions, finishing second on the team in points (55) and assists (32) as a sophomore. He tallied a team-high 80 points last year before being named an All-ACC team member, a Tewaara-ton Award nominee and a second-team All-American by the United States Intercolle-giate Lacrosse Association-Index.

Syracuse is returning 75 percent of its scor-ing for the 2015 season after averaging the fourth most goals per game in the country last year. It’s also bringing back all three of its starting attacks, with Staats providing his Canadian box skills around the net and Dona-hue coming off a year in which he scored on 53 percent of his shots, making him the third most efficient scorer in the nation.

Rice will press the buttons and navigate the offense through the Orange’s stiff Atlantic Coast Conference schedule, and Donahue’s confident in that formula.

“Teams will try and zone up or throw dif-ferent looks at us, but Kevin makes that hard,” Donahue said. “He makes us all better and hard to defend as a team with the way he passes and moves. You look at what he’s accomplished and it says it all.”

But Rice defines his success by his team’s. The Orange fell in the national championship game against Duke in his sophomore season and wilted in a 10-9, first-round tournament loss to Bryant last year.

So despite all the statistics, accolades and defenders he’s made miss, Rice still feels unfulfilled.

“I got one shot left to get this team a champi-onship,” Rice said with less than a month before the Orange’s opener against Siena. “You’re going to see a much hungrier team this year.”

Standing next to the Syracuse lacrosse wall of fame in the lobby of Manley Field House, Rice paused and glanced at the program’s history as he weighed his and his class’ legacy. The Powell brothers, Cody Jamieson, Dan Hardy and other SU greats looked down at a player itching for their tangible success. A trophy. Closure.

Rice grinned. “And you’re going to see a much hungrier

me, too.” [email protected] | @dougherty_jesse

from page 3

rice

Points tallied by Kevin Rice in 2014, good for first at SU and tied for fifth in the country

80Games in which Rice totaled at least five points9

by the numbers


FITTING IN

By Sam Blum asst. sports editor

andy Staats stood in a group of team-mates joking around at Syracuse’s Media Day on Jan. 5. He posed for photos,

smiled and answered questions about his role on the attack. He did everything, that just a year ago, he could not.

Last season, Staats wasn’t at Media Day, because he wasn’t even enrolled at the univer-sity — less than one month before the season was set to start.

And when he did arrive to play for the Orange after finishing his classes at Onondaga Community College, he had just weeks to inte-grate himself into an offense that seemed just

fine without him.“I was so new,” Staats said. “I didn’t really

know the offense to a tee. I didn’t know where to be and what spots to be in. It was everything, even little things.”

After not starting in the beginning of the season and missing two games in the middle, Staats eventually was able to make himself a staple of the Syracuse attack. It showed on April 8 when he scored five goals at Cornell, continued with five more at Hobart 11 days later and finished up with five goals against Notre Dame in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship.

He took over as the third attack for Derek Maltz, and found a niche scoring against oppo-nents’ second- or third-best defenders. Staats

played in 14 of SU’s 16 games and started in just nine, but was second on the team with 56 points. And now, a season after coming in with only a prodigious reputation, he’s expected to be an anchor for one of the toughest attacks in the nation to defend.

“If he’s going against their third guy, he’s going to beat their third guy pretty much every time,” attack Kevin Rice said. “It’s a nice option for us to have, and then if they start to respect him more than the rest of us, then we start to get opportunities.”

OCC head coach Chuck Wilbur said his team’s up-tempo, pass-heavy offense some-times takes players months to get a grasp of. Staats, he said, grasped the concept within a few days.

When Staats got to Syracuse, he spent hours of his free time in the offices of SU head coach John Desko and assistant coach Kevin Dona-hue. Several times a week, they met and the coaches drew out aspects of the offense like clearing, riding and man-up situations.

“I think what helped get him on the field so quickly last year was how well he picked things up,” Desko said. “He’s really a quick study. And I think that helped him get out there and be so productive early on.”

Rice said that Staats changed the dynamic of what Syracuse was capable of last year on offense since he offered more scoring options than Maltz, who was more of a crease attacker.

Staats, on the other hand, could finish in close, and could also dodge and distribute.

Coming from a box lacrosse background, Staats is more adept at playing tight around the net on an actual field. He’s able to slow the game down more easily from the drop in tempo and has larger nets to shoot at.

After starting the season as a bench player and midfielder, he developed into a reliable and well-rounded attack who forced himself to stand apart from the rest last season.

“You can’t just come onto a team and expect to play like you’ve played with them your whole life,” Staats said. “It takes time. Like anything it’s practice. We got our practice done.”

This season, there will be no difficult transi-tion to make. There won’t be a sense of urgency to learn an offense in a matter of weeks. And there won’t be a need to spend hours every week in the coaches’ offices.

This season isn’t about Staats redefining the offense. It’s about executing what it’s already established. Now, he comes in with a full sea-son, a fall of practice under his belt and a trio of attacks in himself, Rice and Dylan Donahue that made up for more than half of the team’s goals last season.

“It’s unreal,” Staats said. “It’s unreal to be a part of it because there’s so many different things that we’re good at. It balances us out and makes us a stronger attack.”

[email protected] | @SamBlum3

Playmaker Staats begins 2nd season with refined chemistry, understanding of Syracuse offense

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Randy Staats came alive in the sec-ond half of the season. In SU’s first nine games he totaled 24 points. In the final seven, he had 32 points.

LIVE STAATS


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2014 SEASON

GOALS


SAM BLUM projected w-l: 11-1

projected ncaa tournament finish: national champions

The storyline of the season is basically begging for

an SU national title. Its seniors have come so close to

winning it all, but have yet to despite having the talent that warrants

it. The script that seems destined will finally play out as it should. Ben

Williams will fill the hole at the faceoff X that has plagued the Orange.

Bobby Wardwell and Warren Hill will combine to do a good enough job

in goal. And SU’s attack, one of the best in the nation, will do the rest.

CHRIS LIBONATI projected w-l: 17-2

projected ncaa tournament finish: loss in national championship

SU is replacing most of its defense, midfield and Alys-

sa Murray, so there could be some rough outings early in the season

while players assimilate into the system. The Orange should pick it up

late though and can contend for an Atlantic Coast Conference title and

a fourth consecutive final four run.

CONNOR GROSSMAN projected w-l: 10-2


There’s little doubt that SU has the all-around talent

to make a charge toward an 11th national title. With its “Big Three”

of Dylan Donahue, Kevin Rice and Randy Staats, SU will have one of

the most potent offenses in the country. Not to mention that 75 per-

cent of the goal-scoring from last year’s team will be returning to this

year’s squad. SU’s highly touted group of veterans bring all the expe-

rience and leadership head coach John Desko could ask for, but SU

ultimately will fall just short as the country’s second-best team.

PAUL SCHWEDELSON projected w-l: 16-3

projected ncaa tournament finish: loss in final four

Kayla Treanor will carry the load as arguably the

country’s best attack, but with the graduation of

offensive weapons Murray and Katie Webster, Syracuse has a lot

to replace, including almost its entire defense. Kempney, Taylor

Poplawski and Devon Collins will likely have increased roles on offense,

but there are too many newcomers for the Orange as it falls two wins

short of its elusive first national championship.

MATT SCHNEIDMAN projected w-l: 10-2

projected ncaa tournament finish: loss in final four

Yes, Syracuse probably has the best attack in the

country in Rice, Staats and Donahue and it’s good

enough to win the Orange a national championship. SU’s midfield,

Tim Barber said, can go four lines deep without having a drop-off in

performance. But the two areas that will determine SU’s fate are in

the net and at the faceoff X. Desko seems to have given the nods to

Williams at the X and Wardwell in net, but neither spot is a definite

strong suit and that will prevent SU from giving this year’s senior

class its first national title.

JON METTUS projected w-l: 17-2


Syracuse lost its second- and third-best scorers

and top three defenders to graduation last year, but Kayla Treanor,

Kailah Kempney and freshman Riley Donahue will be able to fill

the scoring void. The new defensive group will take time to adjust,

but will work out the kinks early in the season. Ultimately, history

will repeat itself and Syracuse will lose to Maryland in the national

championship game.

men’s beat writer predictions women’s beat writer predictions

Follow @DOsports on Twitter


By Matt Schneidmanasst. sports editor

hen Tim Barber committed to Syra-cuse three weeks before the fall semes-ter, John Desko posed one question.“We had so many guys back and

almost questioned him coming in,” Desko, the SU head coach, said. “You know, where was he going to fit?”

The reigning junior college offensive player of the year didn’t have a place in a Syracuse offense that was already returning 75 percent of its scoring from the year before.

With attacks Kevin Rice, Randy Staats and Dylan Donahue all sliding right back into their starting spots, Barber — who totaled 91 points last year, 11 more than any SU player — would no longer be the go-to weapon on offense he was at Onondaga Community College. He probably wouldn’t be the second option for SU. And maybe not even the third.

That may still be the case, but Barber’s preseason exploits have given Desko a much better idea of where he’ll fit. He may even find himself on the first line of a jam-packed mid-field unit, Desko has hinted. Though he won’t be the primary option to produce goals, Barber has found himself a prominent spot that was once far from solidified.

“The way he’s picked up the offense so quick-ly,” Rice said. “… He was only here for a couple of weeks before he really had a hang of our offense and it’s kind of complex with all the off-ball movement. I thought he fit in seamlessly.”

Though he committed to SU before the start of fall 2014 semester, Barber had no issue becoming acclimated.

Desko said it was unusual how quickly Barber picked up the offense, something his high lacrosse IQ enabled him to do. He’s meshed with the trio he’ll be linking up with, which has been aided by a cohesiveness that’s been years in the works.

Barber first met Donahue in sixth grade, when the two would play catch at their brothers’ high school games in nearby Camillus, New York. Rice, another local product, has seen Barber play, and vice versa. And Staats, a fellow OCC transfer, played with Barber for a full year before transfer-ring to SU himself before the 2014 season.

It’s those three that have relegated Barber into a lesser role than he’s used to, but also those three that will enable him to be that much more effective.

“Being out of the spotlight and not as high expectations is definitely easier,” Barber said. “Just going out there and knowing there’s guys

OCC standout Barber settles into new role in loaded Orange offense after transfer

see barber page 14

Syracuse midfielder Tim Barber, who was the NJCAA offensive player of the year last season, put up staggering numbers that Onondaga Community College’s opponents couldn’t keep up with.

91 90

36

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all the buzz

TIM BARBER

OCC OPPONENTS COMBINED

Where Barber would’ve ranked on SU last year:

Goals (55): 1stAssists (36): 2ndPoints (91): 1st

POINTS ASSISTS

IN THE MIDDLE

BEING OUT OF THE SPOTLIGHT AND NOT AS HIGH EXPECTATIONS IS DEFINITELY EASIER.

Tim Barbersu midfielder

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FINAL SCORE

A year ago, Weston was surprisingly the only freshman to appear in all of Syracuse’s regular-season games. He netted just two goals on 13 shots, but now the Orange will need his calm demeanor to carry over into his sophomore campaign as he takes on more responsibility as a reserve midfielder.

#20 nick weston

5-9 / 168 / SOPHOMORE / MIDFIELDER

#12 derek dejoeFollowing attack Matt Walters’ departure, the distinction of “team’s hardest shot” likely falls into DeJoe’s hands. SU only really uses DeJoe in man-up situations, but with not as deep of an offense this season, perhaps SU presents him with more opportunities to fire his high-octane shot.

6-0 / 204 / JUNIOR / MIDFIELDER

The Watertown, New York product scored 142 goals in his high school career, capped off by a 57-goal senior campaign. Ranked the No. 60 freshman in the country in September by Inside Lacrosse, McKinney figures to be the Orange’s most potent offensive threat in its freshman class.

#7 brad mckinney

6-1 / 192 / FRESHMAN / MIDFIELDER

#8 hakeem leckyLecky has made a difference in SU’s locker room, but the midfielder has yet to produce eye-popping numbers. His 28.3 shooting percentage was worst among SU shooters who got off at least 15 shots last year, but now he’ll get more chances to mesh his speed with the upside of his often-erratic shot.

5-10 / 179 / SENIOR / MIDFIELDER

The Oregon product returns alongside Lecky to start in the Orange’s midfield. Last year, Schoonmaker started all 15 games he appeared in and tallied five multiple-goal games. Now a team captain, he’ll have the opportunity to help replace the void left by departed midfielder Scott Loy.

#77 henry schoonmaker


The dramatic music that played following Evans’ first career goal last year was a misleading start to the top prospect’s career. Battling injury, Evans played in 11 of 16 games and had just two points. But now his role should be more meaningful, and it could be his next step to fulfilling the legacy of No. 22.

#22 jordan evans

5-9 / 174 / SOPHOMORE / MIDFIELDER

#5 nicky galassoGalasso has one more year to replicate the younger, more explosive version of himself. The top recruit in the Class of 2010 and then the ACC freshman of the year at North Car-olina, Galasso will likely see more time at attack, his natural position, than he did in his first full season with the Orange.


The Onondaga Community College transfer may jump right into Syracuse’s starting lineup, taking Loy’s spot. Barber, the reigning NJCAA offensive player of the year, figures to be one of SU’s most impactful newcomers on all ends of the field — or at least one who’ll receive the most chances to be one.

#9 tim barber

5-10 / 192 / JUNIOR / MIDFIELDER

THE SUPPORTING CAST

RANDY STAATS boasts as unique a skill set as Syracuse has had in recent memory. His knack for playmaking, coupled with his creativity around the crease — all while keeping the stick strictly to his strong side — makes him a lethal threat for SU’s offense. If he can stay healthy, expect the midseason chemistry he found with his teammates last year to flow seamlessly from start to finish this time around.

GOALS: 33 / ASSISTS: 23 / POINTS: 56 / SHOT %: 47.1 / 5-GOAL GAMES: 4

6-2 / 202 / SENIOR / ATTACK

#45 randy staats

#2 kevin rice

#17 dylan donahue

DYLAN DONAHUE rounds out the Orange’s starting attack, complementing Rice and Staats. He led the nation in shooting percentage eight games into last year and finished third. To counter his once-undersized frame, Donahue beefed up before last season, developed into a very selective shooter, then established himself as an efficient scorer. With the attention defenses will allot to his fellow attacks, Donahue will surely find his opportunities — and will keep waiting until he finds the perfect one.

GOALS: 37 / ASSISTS: 17 / POINTS: 54 / SHOT %: 52.9 / 3-GOAL GAMES: 7

5-9 / 173 / JUNIOR / ATTACK

KEVIN RICE, coming o! a season in which he finished fifth in the nation in both points and assists per game, is the one who pulls all of the Orange’s pieces together. Fusing together his high school experiences of basketball and soccer, Rice views the lacrosse field better than most distributors and now he has the same two starters on attack surrounding him. If Syracuse is going to have the top arsenal in the country, it’ll need Rice to tie all the strings together one more year.

GOALS: 36 / ASSISTS: 44 / POINTS: 80 / SHOT %: 35 / 5-POINT GAMES: 9

5-10 / 177 / SENIOR / ATTACK


By Connor Grossmanasst. copy editor

n his drive back from work, Hakeem Lecky’s grandfather, Nelson, would pull over his Cadillac about halfway home to let 6-year-old Hakeem sit on his lap and

steer the rest of the way home.Years of observing from the passenger’s seat

and watching Nelson make the trip home made Lecky feel like he already knew what to do when he finally got his shot.

Just sitting, and watching.“Everything I was being taught, I was just

sucking it in like a sponge,” Lecky said.Growing up for the first eight years of his

life in Port Antonio, Jamaica, Lecky found his childhood role model in Nelson while his mother worked nearly every day and his father separated from the family.

Seventeen years later, the roles have been reversed with Lecky, a redshirt senior, being fol-lowed and observed by underclassmen studying the makeup of the 25th two-time captain in the 99-year history of the Syracuse lacrosse program.

The 5-foot-10 midfielder has never been the fundamental piece to what Lecky calls the best attack in college lacrosse, but he couples his exceptional speed with an arsenal of deceptive moves and jukes he’s picked up by watching.

“It was incredible how fast he picked up the moves,” Lecky’s guardian, Kevin Martin, said. “I could never do it, but he could watch Kyle Harrison do a split dodge into a roll and go out and do it three times and he’s got it.”

Before he got to split dodges, Martin said Lecky learned to catch and throw within one practice. And before he was catching and throwing, Lecky applied his watch-and-learn act to sports as a young basketball player.

Not having played sports while in Jamaica, Lecky learned to pick up basketball by watch-ing videos of Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant play basketball and simply tried to do what they did.

“If I was really interested in something I would always try to establish someone who is good at whatever I’m trying to do, and mimic it,” Lecky said.

Eventually that morphed into Lecky starting to watch Major League Lacrosse stars Paul Rabil and Mikey Powell videos on repeat, then going outside for a few tries to get their moves down.

Lecky spent his first few lacrosse practic-es on the sideline by himself, watching what everyone else was doing while practicing han-dling the ball. In his first real practice, hav-ing already watched the team’s dodging drill, Martin said he was amazed how effortlessly he stagger-stepped and rolled off to the side with

Midfielder Lecky draws from past inspirations, enters 2nd season as Syracuse captain

see lecky page 12

IMITATION GAME

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By Paul Schwedelsonasst. copy editor

veryone on Syracuse knew about Kayla Treanor before she knew about them. Gary Gait, the head coach, bragged about her before she graduated high school. He

talked about her stick skills. He talked about how she could fit into SU’s offense. He talked about how great of a player she could be.

But before she had to play a significant role for the Orange as an attack, it was just talk.

“She came in and had that swagger like, ‘I’m a freshman, but I’m going to play with these people in D-I lacrosse,’” former SU attack Michelle Tumolo said. “… You’d never know if she was a freshman or a senior.

“She just plays her heart out.”When Tumolo tore her ACL in April 2013,

Treanor, a freshman at the time, filled in at the left attack position and was forced to use her left hand as effectively as her naturally dominant right hand. All Treanor had were expectations then, but nothing tangible.

But this year, there’s a reputation for her to uphold. There is no Tumolo, and there is no Alyssa Murray. Treanor is the centerpiece of the No. 4 SU offense and if Syracuse were to win its first national title in a women’s sport, it would likely be because of her. Treanor’s 117 points last season led the country and her 79 goals ranked second nationwide.

Treanor developed her stick skills, the strongest point of her game, by receiving feed-back from Gait. Treanor says Gait, a former SU lacrosse player, has the best stick skills of any player she’s ever seen. In previous seasons, Treanor could also learn from dynamic attacks

like Tumolo and Murray on an everyday basis and model her own game after them.

“Now it’s her opportunity to lead the offense,” Gait said, “and I think the experience she’s gained by playing on attack is valuable and you’re going to see the results of it this year.”

The day before Syracuse’s final four game against Maryland in 2013, Gait mentioned a move to Treanor during a walk-through that he thought she could be successful with. The next day, Treanor scored twice with that exact move, coming from behind the goal, running toward one side of the net, reversing direction behind the crease, attacking the opposite side and scoring with a clinical dip-and-dunk over the goalie.

“I use (that move) all the time now,” Tre-anor said.

Because Treanor’s ambidextrous, defenders

Weight of Syracuse’s title hopes falls on Treanor’s shoulders as one of country’s top attacks

see treanor page 14

SHE’S SO DOMINANT BECAUSE YOU LITERALLY DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO COME NEXT.

Michelle Tumolosu attack, 2010 - 2013

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women’s roster

TWICE AS NICE

the stick in one hand. “My mom always told me I was a follower,”

Lecky said laughing. “But I told her I don’t follow, I just mimic people to my benefit.”

But now as one of the elders for SU, Lecky finds himself as someone who’s being looked up to or mimicked. The whole team quite literally mirrors his movements as he and his fellow captains lead stretches before practice and games, with Lecky announcing each new stretch.

More than a year into his captaincy, he’s estab-lished himself as the same go-to guy he sought out to follow when he was a freshman five years ago.

“He definitely likes to look out for his broth-ers on the team,” midfielder Jordan Evans said. “When it’s his time to step up and be the guy

everyone looks to, he does what’s necessary to do that. I like to say that I look up to him.”

Following SU’s first-round loss to Bryant last season, Lecky emailed his teammates. Know-ing he was the only captain that would return for another year, he said everyone needed to do something to prepare themselves over summer to come back next season, and win. A few teammates showed their respect by responding with a simple, “Thanks 8,” referring to his uniform number.

Lecky’s spent nearly his entire athletic career watching and replicating. But in his fifth year as a part of the Orange, he’s done watching split dodges and rolls, and wants it to be him that’s viewed as the leader of a championship team.

“I treated last year as my last year, and we came up short,” Lecky said. “You just have to make sure that doesn’t happen this year.”

[email protected] | @connorgrossman

0 Kaeli O’Connor So. Defense2 Amanda Wheeler Jr. Defense3 Kailah Kempney Sr. Attack4 Erica Bodt Jr. Midfield5 Haley McDonnell So. Defense6 Ella Hogan Fr. Defense7 Brenna Rainone Jr. Defense8 Hailey Dobbins Fr. Defense9 Madeleine Walton Jr. Defense10 Ella Thorpe Sr. Attack11 Devon Parker So. Midfield12 Loren Ziegler Sr. Midfield13 Mallory Vehar Sr. Defense14 Abby Connor So. Defense 15 Kelsey Richardson Sr. Goalkeeper16 Paige Savia Sr. Attack17 Caroline Webster Jr. Defense18 Neena Merola Fr. Midfield19 Taylor Poplawski So. Midfield20 Gabby Jaquith Sr. Midfield21 Kayla Treanor Jr. Attack 22 Taylor Gait Jr. Midfield 23 Brittany Kearns Jr. Defense 24 Bridget Chakey Fr. Midfield25 Brittany Worstell So. Midfield

26 Kelzi Van Atta Fr. Midfield27 Kelly Cross Jr. Midfield28 Grace Donohue Jr. Defense 29 Carly Randall So. Attack 30 Bri Barratt Fr. Midfield31 Tori Wehner So. Midfield33 Paige Rogers So. Defense 34 Addy Tauro Jr. Defense35 Kathy Rudkin Fr. Defnse36 Mary Claire Dachille Fr. Defense37 Halle Majorana Jr. Attack 39 Kristiana Ferguson Sr. Goalkeeper40 Jen Reininger Fr. Midfield 41 Caroline Grosso Sr. Defense 42 Kelsey Youmell So. Defense43 Mia DiBello Fr. Defense44 Devon Collins Sr. Attack45 Erin Francis So. Attack 47 Riley Donahue Fr. Attack55 Chelsea Mapes Fr. Attack77 Maddy Huegel Jr. Defense88 Lisa Rogers Jr. Midfield 91 Zoe Recchion Fr. Attack99 Melina Woon Avery Fr. Goalkeeper

1910S 1920S 1930S 1940S 1950S 1960S 1970S 1980S 1990S 2000S 2010S

from page 10

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Midfielder Hakeem Lecky is the 25th two-time captain in Syracuse program history. Here’s a look at the distribution of SU’s two-time captains throughout its 99-year history.


By Jon Mettusstaff writer

yles Jones is intimidating on the lacrosse field. At 6 feet, 4 inches and 240 pounds, he towers over defenders and has his way with opposing defenses.

But as he runs down the field, Jones is often smiling and laughing. When it hap-pened in high school, opponents thought he was taunting them.

“I would say to the other coach, ‘He’s not insulting anybody. He’s just having a great time out there,’” said Bob Howell, Jones’ lacrosse coach at Walt Whitman (New York) High School.

For Jones, any sport was an option, but lacrosse was his favorite. He had Division I basketball offers and the size, speed and hands to be an NFL tight end, his former coaches say. He learned lacrosse last, but his athleticism and experience in basketball and football allowed him to excel at it quickly.

Jones, a Duke midfielder, will be a key play-er as the Blue Devils aim to become the first team to pull off a third consecutive national championship since Princeton did in 1998.

“He has a phenomenal athletic IQ, which is a result of playing multiple sports in high school,” Duke head coach John Danowski said. “… He listens to everything, he absorbs everything and that makes him get the most out of who he is.”

Jones’ style of lacrosse is a hybrid between his basketball and football playing days. A stutter step in the open field emulates his scrambling as a quarterback. He can post up defenders in front of the net and takes either alley to the cage — strong or off hand — that defenders give him, like driving to a basket-ball hoop.

His lacrosse IQ comes from reading zone defenses in basketball.

Recently, Danowski tried to stage a defen-sive drill, but Jones knew exactly where to attack. Danowski looked at the junior mid-fielder and said, “Myles, come on.”

Learning Duke’s offense has never been difficult for Jones, not even on his first day with the team.

“It was just basically going back to basics, but it was stuff I was doing since I was 9 years old,” Jones said.

At 7 years old, Jones was already bigger than most kids his age and had a habit of running over smaller girls in his co-ed soccer league. His father moved him into a more

suitable sport: football.He starred in football and basketball, until

a teammate’s parent told him to play lacrosse, a sport he had never heard of.

His weekends were spent playing a football game on Saturday morning on Long Island, and

traveling to New Jersey and Philadelphia to play in lacrosse and basketball tournaments.

“(I) kind of just decided to get in the car and drive to all these places with my parents and teammates and have a good time,” Jones said. “… It was just my lifestyle at the time.”

On the football field, he could throw the ball, but was like a running back coming out of the pocket. On the basketball court, he could drive inside or shoot from the perimeter. On the lacrosse field, his combination of speed and size were unmatched.

In eighth grade, he made it onto the fresh-man basketball team and the junior varsity

lacrosse team. A year later, he grew from 5 feet, 10 inches to his now 6-foot-4 frame and played varsity in all sports, drawing college coaches’ interest.

“He’s the kind of kid, no matter whatever sport he played he would be the best kid on the team,” Howell said. “It’s every coach’s dream.”

Jones made it clear to college coaches that he was going to play only lacrosse.

After committing to Duke, Jones spent a postgraduate year at Salisbury School, a preparatory school, at the recommendation of Duke’s coaches.

He refined his shooting and worked on playing with his off hand. In high school, he could dodge multiple defenders, but Salisbury coach Bobby Wynne taught Jones to play in team-style offense.

While playing basketball at Salisbury, Jones played with teammates who went on to play D-I. Coaches that came to watch Jones’ team-mates saw him finish second in scoring and first in rebounds, despite coming off the bench.

“Bull in a china shop, (a) runaway train,” Jeff Ruskin, Salisbury’s head basketball coach, said. “ … He was just tough for kids to guard inside.”

D-I basketball teams offered Jones. Duke’s basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski, was interested in Jones as a walk-on.

After talking with his dad, coaches at Salisbury and Danowski, Jones stuck with Duke and lacrosse because it was the sport he enjoyed more.

In football, there was too much wear and tear on his body. Basketball burned him out.

But lacrosse offered him aspects of both, and a game he loved to play.

As a freshman at Duke, Jones scored 16 goals, including one in the national champi-onship win over Syracuse. As a sophomore, Jones earned All-Atlantic Coast Confer-ence and second team All-American honors

accompanied by another national champion-ship win.

This season, Jones and Duke can win its third national championship in a row, a goal that Jones thinks is possible.

But with such a young team, Jones can’t try to do it all, Danowski said. Even if his role is to shoulder the load, he needs to be the same player that seemingly mocks his opponents just by smiling at them.

Said Danowski: “He’s best when he just has fun and is loose and relaxed.”

[email protected]

THE NATURAL

MYLES JONES is one of college lacrosse’s most imposing threats. In high school, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound midfielder also starred in football and basketball, but now will be a centerpiece of Duke’s offense in its push for a third straight NCAA title. courtesy of duke athletics

Midfielder Jones provides freak athleticism, lethal threat for Blue Devils as team attempts to seize 3rd straight national championship

Here’s comparison of Myles Jones’ size to the ACC’s top 10 points leaders last year.

Jordan Wolf Duke 5’9”, 170

Kevin Rice Syracuse 5’10”, 170

Matt Kavanagh Notre Dame 5’8”, 170

Mark Cockerton Virginia 5’10”, 185

Joey Sankey North Carolina 5’5”, 160

Mike Chanenchuk Maryland 5’11”, 180

Dylan Donahue Syracuse 5’9”, 173

Randy Staats Syracuse 6’2”, 202

Deemer Class Duke 5’11”, 190

Myles Jones Duke 6’4”, 240

size mattersHE HAS A PHENOMENAL ATHLETIC IQ, WHICH IS A RESULT OF PLAYING MULTIPLE SPORTS IN HIGH SCHOOL... HE LISTENS TO EVERYTHING, HE ABSORBS EVERYTHING AND THAT MAKES HIM GET THE MOST OUT OF WHO HE IS.

John Danowskiduke head coach

M


don’t know which hand to defend. When she charges toward one side, they don’t know if she’ll continue that way or reverse into the opposite direction.

On the rare occasion that defenders do slow Treanor down, she’ll throw a behind-the-back pass — something Gait made a career out of — or maybe even fake the fancy play and keep running. In high school, she would throw passes to teammates who weren’t even ready to catch. Treanor has even made a habit of scoring while standing behind goal line extended and curving the ball in.

“She’s so dominant because you literally don’t know what’s going to come next,” Tumolo said. “… It’s really almost impossible to shut her down.”

Before she got to college, Treanor played midfield. And though it’s common for college coaches to recruit high school midfielders

and move them around the field, Treanor spent more time focusing on the endurance needed to play on both sides of the field.

At Syracuse, she’s dedicated all of her time to the attack position, which is centered more on controlling the offense with the ball in her stick and taking on defenders one-on-one.

While Treanor also has an uncanny abil-ity to pass, too — her 38 assists last season

tied her for 14th best in the country — it’s her killer instinct to take over games that separates her.

The summer before her sophomore year of high school, the goalie on Albany Elite, her travel team, couldn’t play in the second half of a game during a tournament and there was

no backup. With no one in goal, Treanor won the first eight draw controls after halftime and each time, Albany Elite scored in the eventual blowout win.

“It was just like bing, bing, bing, bing,” said Peter Melito, Treanor’s travel coach and varsity coach at Niskayuna (New York) High School. “… That to me was just like wow. It was unheard of.”

And though Melito says Treanor put on performances like this game after game, she was never satisfied. Treanor played soccer and basketball for most of her life and only picked up lacrosse in seventh grade, so she felt she had to make up for the missed time by working even harder.

After practices in high school, she would go home and play wall ball against the bounce-back net in her front yard. During this past Winter Break, Treanor would work out up to three times a day.

“You never want to stay the same, you never want to plateau,” Treanor said. “So I have so much to work on.”

In the fall of her junior year of high school, Treanor tore the ligaments in her left ankle and felt the pain for the rest of the school year.

But it didn’t stop her. She played through her soccer, basketball and lacrosse seasons with the injury.

“I just love sports so much, you don’t even think about it,” Treanor said.

She grew up idolizing athletes like Bo Jack-son — a former professional football and base-ball player — whose documentary she watched as a child.

But now the roles have shifted. She’s the idol. She’s a frontrunner for this year’s Tewaaraton Award, which is given to college lacrosse’s best player.

She’s a product of centerpiece players that have come before her. But Treanor is looking to do something that no one else has done before: lead Syracuse to a national championship.

Said Treanor: “The hope is the better I am, the better our team will be.”

[email protected] | @pschweds

around you who can perform just as well makes it more comfortable out there on the field.”

At West Genesee (New York) High School, Barber played both midfield and attack, his father, Don Barber, said. OCC head coach Chuck Wilbur also noted that while Barber was mainly a midfielder for the Lazers, he played a little bit up front as well.

As an attacking midfielder, Barber can inte-grate aspects of both positions. In the midfield, he can showcase the dodging ability and skill

with both hands that Desko said he possesses. When in the attack, he can create opportunities.

“He’s good at picking and choosing when to go to the goal,” said Ryan Barber, his brother and an SU midfielder from 2009-13. “That’s definitely beneficial to him whether he’s play-ing midfield or attack.”

In an exhibition against Hofstra on Jan. 24, Barber carried a defender on his left shoulder as he dashed toward the goal. Instead of mak-ing his own attempt on net, he passed across his body to an open Rice, who put the ball home from the doorstep.

The play was a microcosm of the new role

Barber has adapted to already, one in which he has the freedom to create chances on goal but also All-American options to distribute to so he doesn’t have to carry the load himsel

Barber said Desko has given him somewhat of a green light to attack.

“But at the same time you have three guys on attack in Rice, Donahue and Staats that are more so taking the ball to the cage,” Barber said.

Staats used the word “lethal” to describe the effect Barber will have. Wilbur said his former star has come out “gangbusters” with the Orange. The words used to describe Bar-

ber’s game haven’t changed, even though his jersey has.

He still possesses the same explosiveness he did a year ago, although it may not always be on display in the form of goals and assists on the Carrier Dome scoreboard.

And though his role is different and the spotlight won’t be shining as bright, Barber has set himself up to be an integral piece of the machine that is the Syracuse offense.

“There’s no need for me to be the prime guy to attack from the midfield,” Barber said. “That’s fine with me.”

[email protected] | @matt_schneidman

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treanor

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barber

The amount of points Kayla Treanor totaled in 2014, which led the country

117number one


Interchangeable Denver offense relies on box lacrosse principles for strategy

WESLEY BERG is an attack for a Denver offense that has established itself among the nation’s best. It’s replicated its style on the indoor box lacrosse game. In the offense, the attacks and the midfielders have interchangable roles. At Denver, the box lacrosse style is more free-flowing and focused on cuts and setting screens. courtesy of denver athletics

THE BOXBy Chris Libonatistaff writer

enver associate head coach Matt Brown tinkers with a complicated jigsaw puz-zle. Instead of cardboard pieces, Brown has a midfield and attack that have inter-

changeable roles. Switch pieces as he pleases, and the finished product remains the same.

Brown concocted an offense on the foundation of box lacrosse and laid a framework for his parts to fit inside. To find offensive pieces, Denver has looked beyond the West Coast, designing one of the most volatile offenses in the country. Only having lost one starting midfielder from last sea-son’s potent offense, the Pioneers were ranked No. 1 in the Inside Lacrosse preseason poll.

“I’m sure there are no coaches out there playing the violin, feeling bad about us having that consid-ered our challenge,” DU head coach Bill Tierney said of having a variety of offensive options.

Brown’s newfangled offense is steeped in box lacrosse, the dominant game in Canada.

Box lacrosse is played with six players on each team on an ice hockey rink covered with turf, smaller nets and a 30-second shot clock. Field lacrosse is played with 11 players on each team, on a field slightly larger than a football field, with larger nets and no shot clock at the college level — just a stall warning.

Brown’s offense draws on box lacrosse’s ball movement, player movement and picks, bringing a free-flowing element to the offense. Brown com-pares it to the Princeton offense in basketball, with

a focus on cutting and setting screens off of passes.“Everybody can play each position,” said Teddy

Jenner, a former National Lacrosse League player, about Denver’s offense, “… whether it’s an attack-man or a middie, they all have to know the spot that they’re in, what that role is.”

DU has set plays, but rather than X’s and O’s Brown gives his players parameters to play within, attack Jack Bobzien said. Players don’t have set positions, but their roles in a set are dependent on where they are on the field.

An offense like Denver’s requires more passing than most, exposing it to more poten-tial errors, Brown said. When it comes to recruiting, DU highly values skill. Sean Can-nizzaro, now a key midfielder, was undersized and under-recruited because of his 5-foot-6, 135-pound stature, but he had the skill for Brown’s offense.

“We don’t care if a guy is 5-7, 145 or 6-7, 245,” Tierney said, “as long as he can execute the skills that are needed for our program to get a piece of the jigsaw puzzle.”

Brown has picked up pieces from The Hill Academy — which helps transition box lacrosse players to the field game — like Zach Miller, last season’s Inside Lacrosse Freshman of the Year. The Hill Academy’s coach, Brodie Merrill, is a friend of Brown’s. They have known each other since they competed at the junior level. Now there are three Hill Academy players on DU’s roster.

While Brown’s personal roots are in Canada, Denver’s offense and Brown’s involvement in Canada’s national lacrosse program have drawn Canadian talent like attack Wesley Berg, who is proficient in box lacrosse, to Denver. An IL pre-

season first-team All-American, Berg is perhaps Denver’s most lethal offensive player.

DU’s threats complement one another: Bobzien is the distributor, Miller is the do-it-all type with a vacuum for a stick, Cannizzaro is the “engine” of DU’s offense, as Brown put it, and Connor Cannizzaro described Berg as the “banger” on the team. Throw in Tyler Pace and Erik Adamson, who combined for 91 points last year, and there’s seven pieces for a six-man picture.

Brown toyed a bit with his jigsaw in a scrim-mage against Johns Hopkins this season, moving Berg to the midfield and relegating Cannizzaro to the second midfield.

Despite making three final fours in four years, a national championship appearance has eluded Denver. With what could be Brown’s best attack, the Pioneers may be able finally break through. Until then, Brown will keep tinkering.

Said Brown: “The job’s not done here until we hoist that first trophy.”

[email protected]

Out of the top five scoring offenses in the country, Denver is bringing back the most goal-scoring from last season.

COMEBACKERS

ALBANY 47.4%

DUKE

DENVER

SYRACUSE

NORTH CAROLINA

52.9%

89.6%

75%

79.5%

D


WOMEN’S TEAM

DATE OPPONENT TIMESaturday, Feb. 7 Denver 12 p.m.Saturday, Feb. 7 Canisius 7:30 p.m.Sunday, Feb. 15 Canisius 12 p.m.Sunday, Feb. 15 Presbyterian 7:30 p.m.Monday, Feb. 23 Virginia 6 p.m.Wednesday, Feb. 25 Connecticut 6 p.m.Saturday, Feb. 28 Boston College 12 p.m.Saturday, March 7 at Maryland 12 p.m.Tuesday, March 10 at Florida 6:30 p.m.Saturday, March 14 Harvard 7 p.m.Tuesday, March 17 Cornell 6 p.m.Sunday, March 22 at Northwestern 1 p.m.Saturday, March 28 at Duke 1 p.m.Friday, April 3 Virginia Tech 6 p.m.Tuesday, April 7 Notre Dame 7 p.m.Saturday, April 11 at North Carolina TBAThursday, April 16 at Louisville 2 p.m.Sunday, April 19 Albany 1 p.m.Saturday, May 2 at Loyola 1 p.m.

MEN’S TEAM

DATE OPPONENT TIMESaturday, Feb. 7 Siena 4 p.m.Sunday, Feb. 15 Cornell 4 p.m.Sunday, Feb. 22 Army 7 p.m.Sunday, March 1 Virginia 12 p.m.Saturday, March 7 St. John’s (in Georgia) 1 p.m.Saturday, March 14 Johns Hopkins 2 p.m.Sunday, March 22 Duke 12:30 p.m.Saturday, March 28 at Notre Dame 12 p.m.Thursday, April 2 Albany 7 p.m.Saturday, April 11 at North Carolina 4 p.m.Tuesday, April 14 Hobart 7 p.m.Saturday, May 2 at Colgate 3:30 p.m.

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