WASHINGTON, D.C.-Steven Brooks felt the positive atmosphere all week. The Syracuse midfielder knew the Orange would win against Georgetown.

SU head coach John Desko had his offense work on varying their shots at the cage. The Orange also devoted more time to extra man-down drills.

Goalie Pete Coluccini stayed an extra half hour of practice each day. He changed with his style concentrating on playing in front of the goal instead of playing out. Coluccini focused more on ball movement rather than player movement.

Finally, attackman Mike MacDonald put together a mix tape to pump up SU’s spirits on the team bus.

The positive atmosphere provided the right ingredients for a 14-9 victory against the No. 2 Hoyas in front of 2,613 at GU’s Multi-Sport Field. The win prevented the Orange from falling 1-3 for the third consecutive year. Coluccini stopped the ball 15 times – a far improvement from the five saves he made last week against Virginia. SU (2-2) also held Georgetown (2-1) to 0-of-9 on man-down opportunities.

Syracuse’s offense cracked the double-digit mark for the first time since its first game. And the Orange’s offense effort finally matched the hype that it was given.

Brooks led SU with four goals while Dan Hardy tallied his second hat trick of the year. A brief look at the goals and assists in the box score shows that every member of the starting attack and midfield was involved with the offense.

‘We weren’t disappointed with the opportunities. We just weren’t scoring,’ Desko said. ‘Today we found the back of the net and we’re shooting better. We’re seeing one another. I’m not sure how much it has changed except that now we’ve been able to put the ball in the goal.’

SU displayed its fast-paced offense late in the second quarter. Midfielder Matt Abbott marched toward midfield and then above the crease with little resistance. He fed Greg Niewieroski, who tossed the ball into the cage for the 8-5 lead with 2:05 remaining.

Syracuse wasn’t finished, though. Brooks fired one of his many long-distance cannons. Off the faceoff, attackman Mike Leveille made a behind- the-back pass to Hardy, who then found the open net. The Orange strung three goals in a little more than two minutes.

GU, meanwhile struggled to score. The Hoyas hit an offensive dry spell for eight minutes and 17 seconds in the first quarter, only ending with two goals in the frame. The Hoyas tried to make up for the lapses in the second quarter. when midfielder Garrett Wilson sidewinded a goal at the 12:18 mark. Soon after, attackman Brendan Cannon scored with 11:49 remaining, reducing SU’s lead to 5-4.

But GU worked hard for that second goal. Before the score, GU tried exploiting the lower left corner of the cage with midfielder Andrew Branncacio failing to shoot two 18-yard shots. Wilson also tried for the lower left corner, although unsuccessful, by bouncing the ball in the cage.

‘They probably should’ve shot a lot of high shots,’ Coluccini said. ‘At the end they started shooting low. A couple of them went in the corner and they were well placed shots. The other ones I tried to get to them and luckily a couple of them hit wide. A couple of them hit my stick.’

Even with SU carrying a 10-5 halftime lead, Desko feared the offense would fizzle out. Before Saturday’s game, SU has scored 11 first-quarter goals, which eclipses the ten goals it has scored in the second half. He told his team to think it was 0-0.

After Abbott’s goal at the 12:06 mark, SU didn’t find the cage until Leveille’s score with 1:14 left. GU still tried to chip away but only could limit SU’s lead to as few as four goals. Syracuse closed out the last four minutes of the game with two goals, showing its offense seems to be in full-season form.

‘It’s about time we started clicking,’ Brooks said. ‘The first couple games we started off a little rusty. We came out here against one of the top teams and clicked very well. We have to continue it throughout the season.’

Published on March 11, 2007 at 12:00 pm