Syracuse's feet firmly planted on terra firma
The Orange is so close to accomplishing something that hasn’t been seen in the lacrosse community in more than 10 years: repeating as national champions.
Syracuse is two victories away from becoming the first repeat champion since Princeton won three straight between 1996-98. But while those outside of the Orange program may be discussing such a possibility, those on the inside are not.
"No, we really haven’t been talking about that," junior defenseman Matt Tierney said. "The slate’s clean, and we don’t really talk much about what happened last year because there’s no point in doing that when every year is a new year."
Tierney is part of a defense that has not been getting enough attention but will be profiled in Thursday’s edition of The Baltimore Sun. Tierney played a pivotal role in Syracuse’s 11-6 win against Maryland in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals last Saturday, holding junior attackman Will Yeatman without a point.
Not to be outdone, senior defenseman Sid Smith did the same thing to sophomore attackman Travis Reed. Smith also collected his first assist of the season on a pass to fellow defenseman Tyler Hlawati during a critical 5-0 run in the second half.
Smith said the coaches have given the defensemen the green light to carry the ball into the offensive zone and even take a shot, but he acknowledged being surprised by how much room the Terps gave him.
"I ran by the first guy near the midfield line, and it kind of opened up for me after that," Smith said.
Asked whether he thought about taking the shot, Smith laughed before saying, "I thought about it, but Tyler was wide open on the crease. I knew he had a better shot."
