WEST POINT — Since he screams about as often as a monk, John Desko’s reaction at halftime of Saturday’s Syracuse men’s lacrosse game came as no surprise.

He’d watched his Orangemen fall victim to Army’s slow-down style, and he wasn’t about to do the same.

“When you play against teams who are going to hold the ball offensively and kind of stall it, they want you to get in at halftime and scream and holler,” said Desko, SU’s fifth-year head coach. “We’d be playing right into their hands.”

Desko’s calm locker-room speech, coupled with the Orangemen ditching a one-on-one offense to get their midfielders more involved, helped give SU a 15-7 win over the Black Knights at a sodden Michie Stadium.

Midfielders Sean Lindsay, Brian Crockett and Steve Vallone led the Orangemen, with four, three and two goals, respectively. Meanwhile, attackmen Mike Springer, Mike Powell and Brian Nee — who started in place of the injured Liam Banks — took a back seat, scoring one goal each.

Desko said last Wednesday he hoped for more production from his midfield unit.

“Today, they had more opportunities,” he said, “and they produced.”

Indeed, as the Black Knights focused on slowing SU’s attackmen, Lindsay, Vallone and Crockett found openings. After Army jumped out to a 4-0 lead, the midfield trio scored four of SU’s next five goals to knot the halftime score at 5.

“(Desko) wants us to take a little pressure off (the attackers),” said Lindsay, whose four goals were a career high. “We’ve really got to take advantage of those opportunities.”

Army converted its first-quarter chances and controlled the pace by dominating on faceoffs. SU faceoff specialist Chris Bickel clamped down in the second half, letting the Orangemen run their favored fast-pace offense to put the game out of reach.

“We started getting the ball possession after possession,” Vallone said. “That really changed the momentum. We kept winning (faceoffs), just taking the air out of them.”

Said SU defenseman Sol Bliss: “It breaks a team’s back when you can score, get the ball back and score again.”

Bliss and SU close defenders Donn Vidosh and Dan DiPietro had expected some of Army’s first-quarter set plays, making the 4-0 deficit extra frustrating, Desko said.

Given the chance afterward, Bliss, a co-captain, vented.

“Was it 4-0 to start the game off?” Bliss asked, his brow furrowing. “That’s awful. That kills us if we do that game in and game out like we did last year.

“We didn’t come out as intense as we should’ve. We’ve got to come out better. (Last year), we spotted teams anywhere from two to four goals every game. We don’t want to do that this year. Yet the game comes, and we fell down again.”

Despite the win, Powell seemed equally unexcited. He held a bag of ice on his right hand as he walked toward the team bus afterward and declined to address the media. When asked about his hand, Powell shrugged and walked away.

“He took a check in the first quarter,” Desko said of Powell’s hand. “It swelled a bit. I didn’t see it affecting his play.”

Powell took less of an offensive role, dishing two assists and drawing Army defenders. In the fourth quarter, Army junior Galen Terry typified the Black Knights’ efforts against Powell when he whacked Powell’s stick out of his hand and knocked him to the turf.

But while Powell drew Army’s ire and attention, the Orangemen’s midfielders converted their chances and quashed the early deficit.

“It was nice to see some points come out of the midfield,” Desko said. “If we can get those middies scoring and playing with a lot of confidence, it’s gonna help us as the year goes on.”

Published on February 22, 2003 at 12:00 pm