First came the helmet. Then the gloves and the stick.

One by one, Mike Powell chucked his equipment on the Carrier Dome turf, justifiably frustrated after the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team lost, 11-10, to Princeton in front of 8,827 fans Saturday.

The No. 7 Tigers held Powell scoreless and shut down the SU attackers, who scored two goals. While SU’s midfielders kept the game close, Princeton defender Damien Davis denied the No. 3 Orangemen’s attack unit, one of the nation’s best.

“Damien played really well on (Powell),” said SU attacker Mike Springer, who had the two goals. “We got a lot of good shots off, actually. Just not necessarily the attack. They just didn’t fall for us today.“

Springer appeared flabbergasted in the postgame press conference, fixing his eyes on the floor. SU head coach John Desko, meanwhile, managed to pin down the root of his attack unit’s woes.

With attacker Liam Banks returning from injury, Desko said, “We may have mixed it up a little too much today. We wanted to get Liam back in and ease him into a game situation. These guys need to be on the field and have a rhythm. If you mix them in and out too much, it’s hard for them to get comfortable out there.”

Poor passing also plagued Syracuse (3-2), which committed 28 turnovers. With the game tied, 8-8, in the fourth quarter, Powell threw an uncontested pass over fellow attacker Brian Nee’s head.

“We’re gonna work on that very soon,” Desko said of SU’s passing mistakes.

Midfielder Steve Vallone’s season-high four goals buoyed Syracuse’s offense. Vallone scored three of SU’s first five goals. His tally with 6:29 left in the third quarter gave the Orangemen an 8-4 lead, their biggest of the game.

After that, the Tigers (2-2) rattled off five straight goals and held SU scoreless until the 7:16 mark of the fourth quarter.

Davis’ first goal of the season, with 13:42 left in the fourth, tied the game, 8-8. The Tigers’ 6-foot-1, 210-pound defender streaked down the left side, plowed through the SU defense and buried a shot over SU goalie Jay Pfeifer’s shoulder.

Princeton and Syracuse twice traded goals before the Tigers’ Brad Dumont bounced the game-winner past Pfeifer with 2:55 left in the game.

But for all the late-game offensive theatrics — which included a disallowed goal just after the final buzzer — the Tigers relied on a persistent and pesky defense, especially against Powell. The junior attacker finished without a point for the first time in his SU career.

“We tried to stay in front of them and tried to get a little physical with them,” Davis said. “It’s hard to get a handle on them. They’re so quick.”

Said Desko: “Princeton has thrown a combination of defenses against us, and we saw a few today. We were a little anxious to make something happen at times in the second half. Sometimes, you’re just happy to get double figures against them. But today, that wasn’t enough.”

Though Desko took partial blame for his attack’s struggles, he did start Nee, who has played well in Banks’ place. Desko inserted Banks at the 11:09 mark of the second quarter and tinkered with playing midfielder Brian Crockett at attack late in the game.

Still, Powell and the attack failed to crack Princeton’s double-teams, which muscled the Orangemen to the perimeter.

“We’re not there yet,” Desko said. “We want to be further than what we are. When you lose a game and you go back and look at those mistakes, they become more glaring. Coming off a loss, you tend to learn more from your mistakes.”

Published on March 23, 2003 at 12:00 pm