Greg Rommel looked disgusted. The Syracuse midfielder was running errands with fellow midfielder Stephen Brooks when Rommel opened the glove compartment in Brooks’ car. A photo popped out.

The picture showed a twisted knee. The knee was buckled in, revealing the bloody gash Brooks has had since the junior midfielder suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury when the Orange hosted Army on Feb. 25, 2006.

Rommel turned toward Brooks and asked jokingly if he needs any psychiatric help. But Brooks thought the picture looked cool. He’s used it for motivation by pinning the photo on his locker, making sure he never forgot what kept him off the field in his daily workouts.

‘I looked at it and thought, ‘I have to get better,” Brooks said. ‘I can never let this happen to me (again). Every day our trainer helped me and worked me as hard as I possibly could.’

Rommel and sophomore attackman Greg Niewieroski took the opposite approach and tried to forget about their lost season. Rommel broke his right thumb when SU visited Virginia on March 4, 2006. Niewieroski returned to the field less than a week later against Georgetown after suffering a preseason ankle injury. That night, he was involved in an incident at a campus nightspot resulting in skull and facial injuries that required surgery.

Rommel and Brooks faced another hurdle on their return to fall ball. Both nearly lost their medical waivers due to a contradicting interpretation from the Atlantic Coast Conference stating schools should count scrimmages in calculating total games played. The NCAA later ruled that only regular season games counted and upheld their medical waivers.

With the injured players returning, an interesting dynamic has emerged. Rommel and Brooks, who scored 25 and 17 goals, respectively, in 2005, reclaim their midfield spots with sophomore Pat Perritt. Dan Hardy and Kenny Nims, who played attack in high school, will switch from midfield – where they played in place of Brooks and Rommel – to the attack line alongside junior standout Mike Leveille.

Niewieroski, who heads the second attack line, will often see playing tine with Hardy and Nims, a trio that has played together since the Empire State Games in 2003.

The return of the injured players has not threatened the sophomores’ development. It’s simply a shift in strategy that Hardy and Nims actually prefer.

‘We’re probably going to have more depth and experience than we did a year ago,’ SU head coach John Desko said. ‘Anybody will tell you that no matter how talented the players are, it’s the game experience that makes the difference. The younger guys got a whole year of experience against quality opponents. The guys coming back with even more experience is pretty big, too.’

The absence of Rommel, Brooks and Niewieroski partly contributed to SU’s 1-4 start last spring. But Perritt and Hardy developed at midfield with help from former midfielder Brian Crockett. Nims shifted between midfield and attack lines. Perritt, Hardy and Nims combined for 37 goals and 18 assists. SU won its last seven regular games and first two postseason games to reach the final four.

Leveille argues the departure of attackmen Brett Bucktooth and Joe Yevoli, who combined for 61 goals last year, would leave most offenses scrambling. But not SU’s. As much as Rommel, Brooks and Niewieroski hate to admit, they acknowledge their injuries indirectly benefited Syracuse this year by forcing Nims, Hardy and Perritt to adjust immediately.

‘The injuries hurt us a lot, but it gave those freshmen playing time and a lot of experience,’ Brooks said. ‘It gives them more confidence to go to the cage and not be as hesitant as they were last year. It’ll all come together as one. Our offense is going to be unstoppable this season.’

But it’s been a long year for Rommel, Brooks and Niewieroski standing on the sideline. Rommel stopped pursuing biomedical engineering schools and opted to go to graduate school at SU so he could have another shot on the field.

Due to his thumb injury, Rommel couldn’t lift or use his stick except while playing wall ball. But he tried to keep himself in shape by constantly running around the track in Manley Field House.

Brooks also felt limited. He stayed out of contact drills in the fall but participated in stick drills and conditioning. Brooks lost 15 pounds from 190 to 175 when he went through surgery but regained that weight in muscle with a strict workout regime.

Brooks included leg presses and leg extensions in his daily routine, particularly for his hamstrings and quadriceps to keep his knee stable. Brooks also ran the stairs because his play is based around his speed. Although Brooks said he’s not as fast as he wants to be, Brooks feels quicker and stronger than before he suffered the ACL injury. Brooks wears a knee brace but Desko doesn’t see it as a hindrance.

All that progress came to a halt when SU traveled to Baltimore for the Lacrosse for Leukemia scrimmages in September. Desko approached Rommel and Brooks on the team bus with a solemn expression. They heard the NCAA might count their participation in preseason scrimmages, thus revoking their medical waiver.

‘(Desko) had this look on his face that he was the bearer of bad news,’ Rommel said. ‘And it was pretty bad news. I definitely didn’t want to hear that. We were just dealing with our injuries and just got past it. We were looking forward to playing again and to hear that was tough.’

Brooks felt frustrated but he felt worse for Rommel, considering it would have ended his career. Other players and Desko had trouble knowing what to say to Rommel.

‘Just seeing it in his face, you realized when he heard that how much this has really meant to him,’ Perritt said of Rommel. ‘It means a lot to the guys around him when you see that. It puts things into perspective. We put a lot of time into this to try to win a national championship. Losing a guy like that would’ve killed us and would’ve brought us down a little bit. Seeing how much it meant to him made us realize how important (this season) means to us.’

But the NCAA upheld Rommel and Brooks’ medical waiver. Niewieroski didn’t have to stay in limbo during fall ball. But as Niewieroski noted, ‘there really wasn’t a recovery process.’ That’s because Niewieroski couldn’t rehabilitate or go through any workouts.

‘His skull had a fracture so it was a healing process,’ Desko said. ‘He had to make sure everything as far as his nerves and eye sight was all working properly. That was rest for him.’

As soon as Niewieroski stepped on the field, Desko thought he saw the hardest working player on his team step on as well. Every time Desko instructs an order to Niewieroski, the redshirt sophomore simply responds in a ‘yes sir’ mantra.

Teammates said Niewieroski showed in fall ball he’s not afraid of physical play, despite the surgery that repaired severe damage on his skull. Rommel can’t recall many players who stay in the crease and willingly take a hit. But that physical play has made Hardy and Nims label Niewieroski the best finisher for SU.

‘I just catch it and put it in the back of the net,’ Niewieroski said. ‘There’s not a science to it. I don’t try to think about it too much. I just try to finish. When you try to think about where you want to put the ball more, a lot of times you’ll hesitate a little. Then the goalie can get a cheap save too.’

There’s not much of a science behind Nims, Hardy and Niewieroski’s chemistry, either. Nims and Hardy notice the trio makes passes they wouldn’t normally make to other teammates. But they’ve reached that comfort level in which the three know when each other is open a few steps before they are. It’s something Hardy sees the mix between Leveille and Nims eventually reaching that point.

When Brooks tried to find Perritt, he couldn’t. Known for his quickness and dodging abilities, Brooks felt Perritt was all over the place. But Brooks reached a comfort level and now Perritt feels he knows where he is at all times. The chemistry is now set and makes for an interesting mix with Rommel’s and Perritt’s sharp-shooting and Brooks and Perritt’s speed. It makes Rommel joke that he hopes his linemates will do all the work while all he has to do is fire away.

It makes Rommel excited about the offense’s structure. But he’d like to forget that last year’s injuries have made this year’s offense more experiences. That’s why Rommel couldn’t stand looking at Brooks’ picture in the car.

‘I didn’t like to think about it,’ Rommel said. ‘I didn’t like the fact that Steve was thinking about it that much. It felt kind of weird. But he liked to keep it around.’

Published on February 13, 2007 at 12:00 pm