Given the circumstances, John Desko said it best when he said the final play that resulted in Syracuse’s 14-13 overtime win against Albany involved the ‘two better hands.’

Brett Bucktooth and Joe Yevoli. They come from different backgrounds. One is a senior, and the other is a graduate student. Bucktooth is a four-year starter, while Yevoli has just established himself this year with the Orange after transferring from Virginia, whom he helped lead to the 2003 national championship.

With a team that has had to overcome the learning curve with injuries and inexperience, the attack line consisting of Yevoli, Bucktooth and Mike Leveille has offered consistency even when the rest of the team struggled.

The trio has made up 52 of Syracuse’s 98 goals all season. But unlike Leveille, Yevoli and Bucktooth have the full four years under their belts.

‘I definitely think the seniors on this time – not just me and Brett – the seniors as a whole tried to make sure at the beginning of the season when we weren’t playing so well to keep our heads up,’ Yevoli said. ‘We kept trying as hard as we can. Now I think it’s the underclassmen setting an example as well.’

But fittingly enough, the Yevoli-Bucktooth duo scored nine of the team’s 14 goals and was part of the game-winning play. Yevoli found Bucktooth slide past his defender near the goal. Yevoli then quickly dished the ball to Bucktooth for the score.

Afterward Bucktooth mostly made references to Yevoli regarding the final play, deflecting any sort of praise Bucktooth could’ve easily heaped on himself.

‘I think Joe had a great game all day,’ Bucktooth said. ‘He was good handling the ball and making good decisions. He made a great charge to the net. He made a pretty good pass and made my job easy. I just had to put it in the net. Joe had proved himself and he had a great pass. Joe is a hero in my eyes.’

But in Yevoli’s eyes, he sees Bucktooth as more of a hero for helping him learn the ropes of the Syracuse offense. On one hand, Yevoli talks about how he tries to set an example as being a leader of the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team.

In another instance, he talks about how he is still learning and improving as the season progresses.

‘I’m a freshman,’ Yevoli said. ‘I might be a fifth-year player, but I’m basically a freshman.’

But indicative of his four-goal performance on Friday, he’s shedding away more and more that ‘freshman’ image. Not that he really is a freshman anyway. He just had to re-learn an entirely new team concept all for just one year.

On Friday night, Yevoli recorded his 100th goal during his collegiate career, which served as a reminder he is loaded with game experience. Bucktooth recorded his 50th career goal, which suggests mostly the same.

Yevoli said Friday’s game showed the best way the attack are capable of playing and joked it came now because they decided to like each other. But they also realized that by being leaders, it doesn’t mean dominating the box score, although they have had a tendency of doing that.

It’s more about trying to train the next breed of Syracuse lacrosse players, like Kenny Nims, Pat Perritt and Dan Hardy, so that they can pose a threat. Perritt has recently with the game-winning goal against Cornell on April 11. Nims showcased his potential with a two-goal contribution against Rutgers on April 15.

But then again, they can also show the younger players what needs to be done by taking matters into their own hands like against Albany.

‘It doesn’t have to be a goal. It can be a hustle play or groundball,’ Bucktooth said. ‘It’s really showing leadership by character. We want to make the right decisions on the field and provide an example for the younger guys. So when we get in a sticky situation, we know how to battle it out, take control of the ball and go to the net. In the end, things got hectic, but again character showed up in the end.’

Published on April 22, 2006 at 12:00 pm