PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Rutgers, like plenty of other well-meaning opponents, drew up a logical strategy for slowing the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team’s breakneck attack.

On offense, it worked like this: Hold the ball, pass, kill time, pass more, pick the perfect shot. On defense: Just hold on for dear life.

The guerilla game plan worked perfectly on Saturday afternoon — for three and a half minutes.

After that, the Scarlet Knights’ defense went into hold-on-for-dear-life mode and ended up slipping more often than gripping in an Orangemen pummeling, 13-4, in front of 1,080 at Yurcak Field.

‘We had a whole week, and we knew exactly what we wanted to do,’ Rutgers attackman Ken Springer said. ‘Then we got out there and just didn’t do it. When you get outplayed, that’s one thing. But we just didn’t even do what we were planning on doing.’

Rutgers abandoned the slow-down strategy after an opening possession in which it took no shots, even in a man-up situation. The Scarlet Knights delayed for those three-and-a-half minutes before the SU defense, in the words of goaltender Jay Pfeifer, ‘just clamped down like, ‘Forget this, this is not going to happen any more.’ ‘

The Scarlet Knights attempted just three shots in the first quarter and, at halftime, trailed 20-8 in the shot column.

Ironically, after ditching its strategy, Rutgers jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a broken play with 11:16 left in the first quarter. Tim White, the Scarlet Knights’ leading scorer, ducked under the stick of defender John Glatzel. While Glaztel’s stick swung like a guillotine and almost lopped White’s helmet off, White leaned forward from 10 yards out and slipped the ball past Pfeifer.

‘We got it for three minutes,’ Springer said. ‘And then everyone got too into the game and caught up in the moment.’

Said Rutgers goalie Chris Kenyon: ‘I don’t think we were nervous. But maybe we were thinking about them being Syracuse. That hurts. It will make you in awe, kind of afraid almost, of who you are playing.

‘I’d like to say we got tranquilizers or something, but apparently they weren’t available.’

Syracuse took advantage and exploited the inexperienced Rutgers defense, rattling off six straight goals and holding the Scarlet Knights scoreless until the 9:42 mark of the second quarter.

After SU knotted the game, 1-1, on an over-the-shoulder goal by Mike Springer (Ken’s brother), the Orangemen tallied five goals over the next 7:57. Josh Coffman scored his first of three goals with 4:49 left in the first quarter and Brian Nee scored 14 seconds later.

Within a two-minute, 18-second span of the second quarter, SU got goals from Powell, Nee and Springer to go up 6-1, and it was good night for the Scarlet Knights.

‘Once you start to get the lead,’ SU head coach John Desko said, ‘it’s kind of difficult (for them) to get too patient with it.’

SU’s defense, powered by ferocious hits from Sol Bliss, disrupted the Rutgers attack by consistently keeping the Scarlet Knights 10 yards away from the net, a position from which they simply could not score.

‘It’s purely a difference right now in athletic ability,’ Rutgers head coach Jim Stagnitta said.

The Orangemen never relented on offense, even after going up 7-2 with 1:56 left in the first half on Zack Wallace’s second goal of the season. With eight seconds left in the half, Desko called timeout and diagrammed a play.

The sequence, of course, worked to perfection. Powell, with the Rutgers defense drawn to him, threw cross-field to a wide-open Coffman, who buried the ball into the left side of the cage with two seconds to spare.

By the end of the third quarter, Desko had called off the dogs, removing most of his starters, including Pfeifer, who gave way to Nick Donatelli and later Alex Mummolo.

As first-stringers lounged on the bench — Pfeifer wiping off Springer’s eye black and Spencer Wright with his arm draped over Nee’s shoulder — the Orangemen began to regain a bit of that trademark Syracuse swagger.

As easy as Saturday’s win seemed, it served as a boost after Tuesday’s upset loss at Cornell. Pfeifer, who had a nightmarish outing in that game, was credited for just two saves against Rutgers but insisted he’s ready for the season’s final three games, in which SU plays Pennsylvania (8-3), Massachusetts (8-2) and Georgetown (9-0).

‘We were all fired up after that loss,’ Pfeifer said, ‘And we could’ve played anybody today and had the same outcome.’

Published on April 14, 2002 at 12:00 pm