Sophomore Mike Leveille remembers having to familiarize himself with Syracuse’s offensive schemes.

As a freshman, he used the summer and fall sessions to adapt to playing for one of the biggest lacrosse programs in Division I. Though Leveille wound up posting 30 goals and 11 assists later that spring, he doesn’t think he ever gained full momentum.

‘That was one of our main concerns that we moved a little too slow last year through moving all the offenses and defenses,’ Leveille said. ‘(This year) we’re going through them quickly and trying to attack those right now.’

With Virginia transfers Joe Yevoli and Nathan Kenney, Delaware transfer John Carozza, as well as a slew of freshmen joining the Orange, SU head coach John Desko isn’t wasting any time in having his new players learn the offensive schemes.

Desko has the opportunity to see for the first time how that translates in competition when the Orange travels to Baltimore for the ‘Lacrosse for Leukemia’ Tournament on Saturday. SU plays a trio of games against Team USA, Towson and Penn State, starting at 8 a.m. at St. Paul’s School.

Desko prepared his team for the tournament and fall session by introducing his new and returning players to a new offensive system that consists of zone and motion, and will include different motions between the attack men and midfield. With a crop of new players, Desko finds it critical that they lay the fundamentals down now rather than later. He also wants to have a feel for such a deep team so he can figure out matchup possibilities.

‘It’s definitely going to create some inter-squad competition,’ Desko said. ‘I think last year, being as thin as we were, you were actually being careful with some of the drills you used because you didn’t want to get any of the players hurt.

‘One more loss and we’re thinner than we already are. This year, if there is an injury we’ll be able to replace (that player) with someone. As a result I think you go harder in practice and you do some things that maybe you didn’t do a year ago.’

And boy is Syracuse stacked with players. Senior Brett Bucktooth returns to attack as the leading scorer with 41 points. He joins Leveille and sophomore Greg Niewieroski, who also posed as a scoring threat last year. Niewieroski said he improved in the offseason in speed and shed a few pounds by running more sprints and jumping rope.

Coming off a back injury his junior season with the Cavaliers, Yevoli said he already rolled his ankle and broke his toe practicing with SU. But he said he feels like he’s adapting well and is trying to show what he can do on the offensive side even, though he’s been off for a year. Prior to his injury, Yevoli scored 49 goals his sophomore season and tallied 50 his freshman year. Meanwhile, Greg Rommel compliments the front midline and Steve Panarelli will play long-stick midfield.

Yevoli and Bucktooth said it’s possible that Kenney will play both offensive and defensive midfield. Desko hasn’t determined any lineups and won’t until he sees his players on the field. But he said he plans to shuffle and mix players in different positions based on matchups.

‘He’s showing that he can be an offensive middie,’ Yevoli said of Kenney. ‘At Virginia, he was kind of only defense and they only limited him to that. He’s trying to prove to people that he can play offense. He definitely can. He’s showing it here already.’

On the defensive end, captains Panarelli and John Wright will help stop the balls with whoever fills Jay Pfeifer’s spot in front of the cage. Desko said the position is open to redshirt freshman Casey Rotella and Peter Colluccini as well as sophomore Jake Myers.

Coming off a year in which the Orange went through a transitional phase in the post-Michael Powell era, SU looked promising but sometimes lacked consistency. The defense sometimes didn’t press up. And as Leveille mentioned, it took longer for the offense to make full strides. The effect brought some disappointing ends that the Orange couldn’t finish as well as an early first round exit in the NCAA Tournament against Massachusetts. This season, as indicative of its fast approach, Syracuse wants to be on the same page early.

‘A lot of us went home with a bitter taste in our mouth,’ Bucktooth said. ‘A lot of us did a lot of thinking about that game. We now come here with the fall ball, a lot more people are prepared mentally, so we’re just trying to have the right mindset in going into the fall ball and pull out as many positives as we can.’

Published on September 29, 2005 at 12:00 pm