Former captain leads No. 3 Loyola into the Dome
The last time Bill Dirrigl led a team into the Carrier Dome riding this kind of high, George Michael topped the charts and mullets were en vogue.
That was May 1988, and Dirrigl was a senior captain for the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team, an undefeated powerhouse – and perhaps the greatest team ever – poised to capture a national championship on its home turf.
Almost 14 years later – though Michael and mullets went the way of Tiffany and tank tops – Dirrigl’s still every bit the fierce competitor former teammates and coaches remember. And as head coach of Loyola, he’s got an unbeaten team once again.
Dirrigl (pronounced DUR-gull) and No. 3 Loyola (7-0) meet No. 2 Syracuse (7-1) in a 4 p.m. game Saturday at the Dome.
‘You have mixed emotions with it,’ SU head coach John Desko said. ‘Bill’s done such a great job as an assistant coach and now as a head coach. You want them to do well; yet you don’t want them to do well against the Orangemen on Saturday.’
Dirrigl visited SU last year as the head coach of Rutgers and lost, 13-8. But in his first year as Loyola’s head man (he was a Greyhounds assistant from 1988-90 and from 1994-2000) Dirrigl returns with a more talented team and a better shot at a victory.
Though the Dome should be packed for the top 5 showdown, don’t expect anything close to May 30, 1988, when what was then the largest crowd in lacrosse history (20,007) watched a Syracuse team that Dirrigl said ‘just snuck up on people’ finish an undefeated season with a 13-8 win over Cornell in the national title game.
That title was Dirrigl’s first. He played faceoff specialist – with a .697 percentage that, back then, was the best in school history – and specialized in motivation.
‘He was an inspirational leader,’ said Gary Gait, Dirrigl’s former teammate and one of the best players in lacrosse history.
‘He wasn’t going to stand for it if there were others around him who weren’t working very hard,’ said Desko, then an SU assistant.
Dirrigl insists he enjoys practice just as much from the sideline as he did on the field. And while he may have mellowed with age, he’s still prone to a holler or two.
‘I wasn’t the best player on the team, and I wasn’t the most talented,’ Dirrigl said. ‘I got by because I was willing to pay the price. When you’re willing to do the little things, I guess some people call that intense. I just call it who I am. And I haven’t changed.
‘I never watch my tongue with anybody. I know who I am and everybody understands. I think that’s part of why we’re 7-0 right now.’
Desko can take solace knowing that Loyola, while unblemished, hasn’t faced a team of SU’s caliber this season. The Greyhounds beat then-No.3 Duke, 11-9, on March 9, but the Blue Devils lost two of their next three to drop to No. 8 in the STX/USILA poll. A week after the Duke game, Loyola inched past 3-5 Notre Dame, 7-6, in double overtime.
‘I’m sure that if we beat Loyola this week, we should be back at No. 1,’ SU attackman Mike Powell said. ‘That’s where we belong, and a lot of us have been talking about stuff like that. We want to prove to the rest of the country that we are the No. 1 team in the country and that we deserve it.’
The Orangemen are No. 1 in the STX/USILA coaches’ poll, which slots the Greyhounds at No. 3.
‘I go by my poll,’ Powell said. ‘I think we’re No. 1 in the country. They’re right around my No. 3 pick.’
Last season, Syracuse lost at Loyola, 14-13, in overtime, a defeat that during practice is, in Powell’s words, ‘the first thing in the back of our minds.’
Dirrigl’s Greyhounds boast a potent attack of Stephen Brundage (29 points), Michael Sullivan (24) and Chris Summers (18).
Sullivan, who switched from midfield to attack after two knee surgeries last summer, has dissected the Syracuse defense in the past and scored the game-winner last year.
Loyola counters the Syracuse attack of Powell (37 points), Josh Coffman (32) and Mike Springer (23) with John Brasko, one of the best close defenders in the country and goaltender Mark Bloomquist, who is fourth nationally in both goals against average (6.76) and save percentage (.643).
As far as Loyola’s junior netminder playing before what could be the most boisterous Dome crowd for SU’s biggest home game to date, Powell said, ‘It should be interesting to see how he’s going to react.’
Dirrigl knows Bloomquist runs a tougher gauntlet every afternoon.
‘If Bloomquist can make it through one of our practices,’ Dirrigl said, ‘he’s going to be just fine at the Dome.’
