Just 225 days ago, Syracuse defeated Navy, 14-13, to win its ninth men’s lacrosse national championship.

On Saturday, the two finalists from a year ago will meet at the Carrier Dome in a 3 p.m. scrimmage and show the lacrosse world just how much has changed in a span of seven months.

Syracuse lost 82 percent of its offense to graduation and Saturday’s scrimmage will give fans a glimpse at the new-look Orange. Coupled with a scrimmage against Maryland next weekend, it will also offer SU head coach John Desko a chance to sort out the lineup prior to an intense start to the regular season.

After playing host to Army on Feb. 26 to begin the season, Syracuse plays Virginia, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and Princeton.

‘It will be a cool thing for the fans to come out and watch Navy play Syracuse again,’ Desko said.

Plus, with the way Navy lost starting goalie Matt Russell to an injury in the last ten minutes of the title game, Syracuse senior Andrew Boyle said, the Midshipmen are sure to want to enact a little bit of revenge.

‘We have to be ready,’ Boyle said. ‘It’s a really good way for them to prove themselves. We have a lot of new players so we have to be ready.’

Syracuse’s biggest loss – and its biggest concern to sort out – is on offense. The Orange lost six of its top seven goal scorers, including the program’s greatest scorer – Michael Powell. Syracuse also lost its entire first-team middie unit.

Junior Brian Crockett will replace Powell at the top of SU’s attack depth chart. Crockett, a second-team preseason Inside Lacrosse All-American pick, scored 39 goals and recorded 15 assists for SU last year, second to only Powell. Hot-shot freshman Mike Leveille will start along with Crockett, but the third attack spot is still uncertain.

Junior Brett Bucktooth, a middie last season, played a lot at attack during the fall, but continues to practice at both midfield and attack. Where he plays depends on the development of the rest of SU’s younger players, but given the uncertainty, it’s expected Bucktooth will see substantial time on attack to begin the year.

Senior Zack Wallace, junior Timmy Raschdorf and freshmen Greg Niewieroski and Chris Greenman should see a lot of time in the scrimmages and how they play might determine where Bucktooth ends up.

‘We’ve got a lot of young athletes,’ fifth-year senior goalie Jay Pfeifer said. ‘Mike Leveille’s doing really well at attack. We’ve got some middies out there who’ve been stepping it up the past few practices. We’ve lost a lot of fire power so we need to have them step up.’

Navy, likewise, has seen changes to its roster, but the biggest – and possibly most devastating – didn’t come via graduation.

Navy dismissed junior All-American attackman Ian Dingman on Jan. 5, reportedly for academic problems.

He’s enrolled at Jefferson Community College near his hometown of Defariet, according to The Capital. He told the newspaper he hopes to return to Navy if he gets his grades sorted out and the school will let him back. Rumors speculated that Dingman would enroll at SU, but he told The Capital he has no plans to do so.

Last year when Syracuse and Navy scrimmaged, Dingman led the Midshipmen with six goals. He added four goals in the national championship game, and without a doubt, is one of the most dangerous goal scorers in the country.

Without his presence, Navy will rely in large part on its junior goalie, Russell, the winner of the 2004 Kelly Award, given to the country’s top goalie, and senior defender Mitch Hendler. Hendler, like Russell, is a preseason first-team All-American by Inside Lacrosse.

Syracuse’s new offense, without the glamour of a Powell and the tenacity of a Brian Nee, will have its hands full against a stellar defense. Scrimmages are usually to sort out lineup questions and see how players perform in game situations. But one can’t overlook that just seven months ago, Navy and Syracuse meet up in the national championship.

It won’t be an ordinary scrimmage.

‘Especially with the loss of Dingman they’re going to want to prove something,’ Boyle said. ‘They want to prove with a healthy team they can compete with us.’

Published on February 9, 2005 at 12:00 pm