Syracuse’s lingering problem during the first five games of the season roots more to consistency than talent. It’s a matter of being able to fine tune its offense and defense, keeping it sharp the whole game.

When the No. 15 Orange finally showcased its consistency, it resulted in an easy 12-6 win over No. 19 Loyola in front of 3,518 fans at the Carrier Dome on Saturday. SU (2-4) halted a four-game losing streak and alleviated its worst start since 1975.

‘Offensively we were more patient,’ Syracuse head coach John Desko said. ‘We got stopped early on a few shots, but we adjusted our shooting today, which we didn’t do in the last game. Defensively, communication was very good. Even with only two days to prepare, our defense did a good job of recognizing some of their plays and getting there before they did or getting there before the ball did.’

Offensively, the Orange received balanced help from its attack and midfield lines. While Mike Leveille led with a team-high four goals, midfielders Dan Hardy and Pat Perritt contributed with two apiece. Though Hardy posted a two-goal outing against Virginia and Perritt did the same against Hobart, this was the first time this happened as a unit.

Freshman Matt Abbott also contributed a goal with Brian Crockett, who recorded the 100th goal in his career. The midfield collectively scored six goals while the attack recorded five. This all came about due to Loyola’s tendency to focus on Syracuse’s more experienced attack, including Leveille, Joe Yevoli and Brett Bucktooth.

That left much of the midfield untouched. In the second quarter, SU’s midfield scored four quick goals in little more than three minutes to make the score 7-2. Crockett assisted one of the goals to Hardy, but the others were unassisted. Loyola can hardly be put at fault, considering Syracuse’s inexperience at the midfield line. But this time around, it blossomed.

‘I thought we clamped down on their attackmen a little bit, but it certainly opened some things up for their middies,’ Loyola head coach Charley Toomey said. ‘You look at every game and wonder if there is an attackman you can short stick and try to two-pole some middies.’

All season, Desko has tinkered with his midfield by balancing between Crockett sharing time with the underclassmen and allowing the underclassmen to play on their own.

But on Saturday, Desko put more faith on how his underclassmen are developing. In the beginning of the second quarter, Abbott and Brendan Loftus started the first midline. Then Crockett and Perritt subbed in for them. Crockett pointed out that the overall strategy is to mix everyone interchangeably in the first and second line so that everyone plays comfortably together.

‘I think it was time for the freshmen not to play like freshmen anymore,’ Perritt said. ‘We need to play like sophomores and step up. It’s all right to say you’re playing like freshmen the first two or three games. But now we have five games under our belt.’

Defensively, Syracuse made the stops when it needed to. Aside from Loyola’s two goals on man-up situations, Syracuse never budged. Against Georgetown, the Hoyas exploited SU’s defense off transition. The next week, Syracuse didn’t have to worry about that as much because it faced a much slower-paced Johns Hopkins. But the Blue Jays often ran past the Orange defenders off a single dodge.

But this time, SU communicated and made the necessary slides. Evan Brady particularly impressed Desko, whom the head coach thought did well communicating and becoming more familiar with SU’s defensive schemes. Goalie Pete Coluccini had arguably his best outing so far with 15 saves. Coluccini’s confidence increased partly because of the strong defense, which did a much better job preventing Loyola attackers from penetrating toward the cage.

‘Finally for the first time in four quarters we played pretty well,’ junior defenseman Steve Panarelli said. ‘The thing is I still don’t think we played as well as we can. We can still get better and there are a ton of things we need to work on, but that is good to get a win and still not play as well as you can.’

Published on April 2, 2006 at 12:00 pm