BALTIMORE – Defensive mistakes will be exploited. But offensive opportunities usually seem endless when Virginia and Syracuse match up.

Not with this year’s Orange, though. Officials scheduled a Virginia-Syracuse matchup in Inside Lacrosse’s inaugural Face-Off classic to showcase two high-powered offenses worthy of producing highlight reels. But the Orange didn’t live up to the challenge.

No. 9 Syracuse lost 11-8 to No. 5 Virginia in front of 20,180 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. It’s the third year in a row Syracuse started its season 1-2.

In the first game of the Classic’s Saturday doubleheader, Johns Hopkins beat Princeton, 7-6, in double overtime.

Syracuse’s defeat signified the first time either team scored in single digits in a matchup with each other since 2001. In that game, the Orange limited the Cavaliers to seven goals, winning 13-7.

It’s also been the second time this year that Syracuse hasn’t cracked the double-digit mark. The Orange lost on Feb. 23 to Army, 8-6.

Syracuse head coach John Desko referenced the classic 1997 22-21 SU win over UVa, joking he would’ve preferred that result instead of the one on Saturday. Virginia head coach Dom Starsia dreaded seeing it happen after both teams scored three unanswered goals early in the first quarter. He feared his inexperienced midfield wouldn’t be able to carry the offensive load the whole game.

But it didn’t have to. At that point, the Orange offense was anything but high-powered. It only scored one goal in the second half – a Kenny Nims score at the 5:35 mark in the third quarter.

‘It’s not like the shots we were taking were bad shots,’ Desko said. ‘We weren’t 18 yards out or real flat as far as how we were looking at the goal and not having an angle. It’s something we have to keep working on. Anytime you’re tired when you’re doing something, you’re not thinking right and not executing as well as you should.’

Virginia (2-1) scored three-straight goals almost a minute into the game, causing Desko to call a timeout. Syracuse didn’t answer right away; Matt Abbott’s score in the right corner of the net didn’t happen until 8:34 remained in the first quarter. Abbott’s goal capped an Orange offensive drive that continuously tried to find a crack in Virginia’s effective sliding defense but to no avail.

SU attackman Greg Nieweieroski scored two minutes later and then midfielder Greg Rommel tied up the score at the 4:54 mark when he dove toward the goal off a pass from Mike Leveille. Rommel’s goal was his 100th point in his career, and tied the game at three. Syracuse answered offensively just as quickly as the Orange allowed the offensively-powered Virginia to exploit its defensive collapses.

Later on, Niewieroski bounced the ball in the net for a 6-5 lead with 1:12 left in the first quarter, which gave Syracuse its first lead of the game. The game went into halftime tied at seven, though.

‘We’ve been in games like this before where we’ve played Virginia,’ said Rommel, who scored two goals. ‘It’s an up and down game. You can’t panic when you see a four-goal swing like that. When they got up quick like that, as soon as we saw our chances we would get back in the game.’

But then the Orange’s offensive firepower fizzled. SU was fortunate Virginia’s offense wasn’t registering goals, either. Syracuse won only 8-of-22 faceoffs, which Starsia thought became more of a factor when the tempo was slower and more predicated on possessions.

Syracuse found that even after it won a faceoff, wing play caused turnovers. For example, the Orange won the first two possessions of the game but then gave up the ball. It resulted in two quick goals.

UVa goalie Kip Turner’s 12 saves didn’t help, either. Nims acknowledged SU’s offense started to over analyze its shots.

‘When that happens to one of our guys, maybe we need to stop thinking where we need to aim the ball and just shoot it,’ Nims said. ‘It sounds kind of simple. Sometimes we aim for spots that are too small. We need to let it fly.’

That may not be the only problem. In an offense that has depth, there doesn’t seem to be too many options.

‘We’re still trying to figure ourselves out there,’ Desko said. ‘We’ve been on a half field more than usual. It’s a transition with the up and down and the conditioning that comes with getting up and down the field. We adjusted in the first half but we were tired in the second half, and as a result, made some mistakes.’

Published on March 4, 2007 at 12:00 pm