2014 LACROSSE SEASON PREVIEW
Dear readers,
The 2014 Lacrosse Preview provides a comprehensive look at the upcoming season for the Syracuse men’s and women’s team. We hope you enjoy our centerpiece on highly touted freshman Jordan Evans, who is preparing to continue the tradition of wearing No. 22 at SU, a story on prolific OCC transfer Randy Staats and a piece on incoming faceoff specialist Mike Iacono. You can also find a story on Alyssa Murray and her bond through lacrosse with her father, a look at the historic talent in this year’s ACC, a check-in with reigning national champion Duke and an examination of the importance of faceoffs in collegiate lacrosse. Thank you for reading and enjoy.
Sincerely,
Stephen Bailey, Sports Editor
Casey Fabris
Feelin’ 22
Evans prepares to wear the most storied number in Syracuse history. page 8
Domination Station
Syracuse is now part of the ACC, the best conference in college lacrosse. page 4
Another shot
Mike Iacono has his act together after a tough stretch and may be able to help Syracuse at the faceoff X. page 5
Chase Gaewski
Pathway to success
Junior transfer Staats arrives at Syracuse after long journey filled with loss, injury, growth
By David Wilson staff writer
each time Randy Staats dresses before a game, he’s greeted with the reminders of what turned him into this player.
On his right shin is a winged No. 45 tattoo — a permanent reminder of a friend and the reason he wears the number.
On his left leg, a bit higher up, is a scar on his knee — the remnants of a pair of surgeries that made him more than just raw talent.
And the lacrosse stick that he holds in his hand — which used to be all that mattered for Syracuse’s newest star — is now just what matters most.
Those are all part of why he’s just now arriving at Syracuse. Any player who ends up going through the junior college ranks to get to the Division I level, as Staats did for the past two seasons at Onondaga Community College, has a story. For some it may be grades, personal issues or size.
For Staats, it’s maturity. He didn’t work hard, but for a while he didn’t have to. Add in a pair of knee surgeries and a friend’s tragic death, and he’s had to grow up fast to finally join No. 2 Syracuse this season.
“I just did everything in my power to be who I am right now,” Staats said.
Just like it always had for former Syracuse star and cousin Cody Jamieson, lacrosse came easy for Staats. Like any
other Iroquois boy, he had a miniature wooden lacrosse stick in his crib and started playing when he was 2 years old.
Staats’ dad, Marty, a former box lacrosse player, introduced him to the game, but Jamieson quickly became his idol.
Jamieson was 6 years older than Staats and was the best player in town. He always wore No. 88 — so Staats did, too.
Without professional stars to look up to, the best kid in town becomes iconic. Jamieson wore it because a talented kid a handful of years older wore it. It wasn’t much longer before Staats was one of those.
He made his way off the Six Nations reservation in Ontario for his freshman year of high school at The Hill Academy, a boarding school in Vaughan, Ontario. That was where he started to turn heads.
There was plenty of talent at The Hill — Denver midfielder Jeremy Noble and Georgetown’s Travis Comeau played there, too — but Staats had something special.
“A lot of players, even though he was younger, kind of looked up to Randy because he played at such a high level,” Hill Academy head coach Brodie Merrill said.
His roommate, Jamieson Kuhlmann, couldn’t have been more different. Staats has an outgoing personality and an infectious smile, but also brings a certain swagger to the field. The game came so easy, so why shouldn’t he be confident?
Kuhlmann, on the other hand, was one of the less experienced players at The Hill. A bit more shy and reserved, Merrill said.
SEE STAATS PAGE 11
overcome
and
RANDY STAATS had to
two ACL surgeries, maturity issues
the death of his roommate and teammate to become a star at OCC and earn a large role at SU. photo illustration drew osumi staff photographer
That good
By Josh Hyber staff writer
syracuse players packed into the basement of team manager Sam Evans’ New Jersey home. They scattered on couches, sat in chairs and sprawled across the floor. The Orange had just defeated Notre Dame at MetLife Stadium, and needed a place to watch that day’s other main lacrosse showcase.
SU players tuned into ESPN’s coverage of the 2013 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals between Duke and North Carolina — a thrilling 18-17 Tar Heels victory in which Duke erased a nine-goal deficit and still lost. For non-graduating players, the game was a preview of a conference they would soon join.
“It was a shootout,” SU goalkeeper Dominic Lamolinara recalled. “So it was a lot of fun to watch, and I’m going to remember that for a while.”
As conference realignment continues to change the landscape of collegiate athletics, most attention has been given to football and basketball — the moneymakers. When Syracuse announced it would join the ACC, most talk was about an ensuing basketball rivalry with Duke and how the football team would fare.
“When you’re younger you want to get the opportunity to play the best college lacrosse you can. Now that we’re in the ACC, there’s no room for breathing.
NICKY GALASSO
Little attention was given to lacrosse and what has the potential to be the greatest conference ever — in any sport.
“It’s definitely going to be the best conference in college lacrosse this year,” said Lamolinara, who played at Maryland as a freshman. “…This is definitely going to be an iconic year for ACC lacrosse.” No. 2 Syracuse is one of six ACC teams in
With SU’s ACC move, it may be completing the best conference in sports history
Inside Lacrosse’s Top 10, and will play No. 1 Duke, No. 3 North Carolina, No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 6 Maryland and No. 8 Virginia.
“I’m very excited for the 2013-14 season and very much looking forward to playing in the ACC,” Syracuse head coach John Desko said.
Several factors play into why this ACC lacrosse alignment could surpass Southeastern Conference football and mid-1980s Big East basketball as the greatest conference ever assembled.
It’s the tradition
The six ACC teams have won a combined 23 national titles. The last time a current member wasn’t in the NCAA championship game was 1987.
But while current ACC teams have met in three of the last four national title games, Syracuse isn’t as familiar with its new conference foes. The Orange last played North Carolina in 1996.
For Nicky Galasso — a Syracuse attackmidfielder who played two years at North Carolina and won the 2011 ACC Freshman of the Year award — one thing teams like Syracuse, Notre Dame, Duke, North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia have in common is a strive for excellence.
“Powerhouses that just do anything to win,”
he said.
Some of the game’s most legendary coaches have coached at these ACC schools including Hall of Famers like Syracuse’s Roy Simmons Jr. and current Virginia head coach Dom Starsia. Some of the greatest lacrosse players have coached at ACC schools, like Maryland’s Richie Moran and Bud Beardmore, both Hall of Famers, and current North Carolina coach Joe Breschi.
“I think one of the greatest experiences student-athletes can have is going up to the Carrier Dome,” Breschi said. “I think it’s an awesome addition, for all of the athletics that Syracuse brings, but certainly from a lacrosse standpoint.”
For Desko, traveling to Duke’s Koskinen Stadium and Virginia’s Klöckner Stadium will be just as exciting.
“We’ve all played each other, certainly over the years, and they’ve all been great games,” Breschi said. “I think it really comes down to making plays in the end. And everybody has athletes to make those plays to potentially get a win.”
It’s the talent
In the 13 years the Tewaaraton Trophy has been awarded to college lacrosse’s best male and female players, eight times the male recipient
has been from a school currently in the ACC.
“When you’re younger you want to get the opportunity to play the best college lacrosse you can,” Galasso said. “Now that we’re in the ACC, there’s no room for breathing.”
Five of the last six national champions are current conference members, and of the 15 coaches who have won national championships in the 42 years of the NCAA, three are active in the ACC.
“It speaks volumes for the strength and the athleticism and the athletes that are playing and the coaches that are in it,” Breschi said.
It’s the future
Forty-two of the top-100 freshmen in the country this year attend ACC schools. Maryland has the No. 1 class in the country, and Syracuse’s Jordan Evans was the No. 1 recruit in the nation.
“You never know who you’re going to play, so it’s not like we can really look back at the film from last year with these ACC teams and really know who they are,” Lamolinara said. “The bottom line is it’s just going to be a bunch of athletes, a bunch of tough guys, big guys.”
It’s the here and now
Syracuse and Duke met in the national championship game last May. Both teams headline a stacked Atlantic Coast Conference that has all six of its teams ranked in the Top 10. The league has the potential to be one of the best ever. spencer bodian staff photographer
New face
Transfer Iacono’s academic struggles send him on journey to being SU’s potential answer at the X
Phil D’Abbraccio
a national championship was falling further and further away from Syracuse with every faceoff that Duke won.
And there was nothing that Mike Iacono, a faceoff specialist himself, could do about it. He was in his living room 150 miles away, watching on television as his future team collapsed.
“Even before the Duke game, I knew they needed help at the X,” Iacono said. “After they called me, I just pretty much locked my phone up and said, ‘I’m going there.’”
It took longer than Iacono had hoped, but he’s set to wear orange this season. A twotime All-American at Nassau Community
College on Long Island, the midfielder has transferred to Syracuse this semester to try to resolve the Orange’s issues at the faceoff X. The 6-foot-5 Iacono offers potential mismatches at the X, where he looks to overpower midfielders who line up opposite him.
He also brings championship experience to SU. In both of his two years playing at Nassau, the Lions reached the National Junior College Athletic Association championship game, but lost to Onondaga Community College each time. At Smithtown (N.Y.) High School West, the Bulls reached the Suffolk County Championship twice during Iacono’s career, but also fell short both times.
“I’ve been in four championships since I’ve been playing, so it’s time for me to get one” Iacono said, before looking out at his new teammates. “And it’s time for these guys to get one.”
Iacono was raised in Smithtown — the lacrosse hotbed that is Long Island. He wasn’t
MIKE IACONO opted to play two years at Nassau Community College out of high school. He joins the Orange this year as a faceoff specialist. photo illustration sam maller photo editor
Common interest
After honing craft with her father, Murray has last chance at an NCAA title
By Sam Blum asst. copy editor
all alyssa murray wanted to do was play. She was six years younger than most of the kids in her father’s West Babylon (N.Y.) youth lacrosse league, but that didn’t stop her from pestering him to give her a chance.
When the harassment from his kindergarten daughter became too much, Ray Murray finally relented and let her play. She wasn’t as good or as experienced as the other players, but he didn’t see that as a reason to keep her on the sideline.
“She really wanted to play so I told her she had to go after the other guy that was coaching,” Ray Murray said. “And his answer was anybody that wants to play that bad should be on the team.
“She pretty much begged her way on.”
Murray hasn’t put down the lacrosse stick yet. Now a senior for No. 3 Syracuse, she’s had one of the most storied careers in program history. She led the country in points as a sophomore, and has been a pivotal player on a team that has reached the final four the last two seasons. This year, she’s a team captain. And she credits a lot of her success
to her father.
“Lacrosse was a great way to get to know each other even better and just share a great bond,” Murray said. “It’s been my whole life that we’ve been able to share that.”
When she was a kid, the two would drive across Long Island watching girl’s high school lacrosse games. When she got a little
“I think there’s even more of a chip on my shoulder that this is the last year that I’ll be able to be a part of it at Syracuse. I think that’s definitely a little bit of a motivation for me.
watched. Then they would go to the turf field a block away from their house and work on her game, just the two of them.
“It really became something that we would just work on and work on and work on,” Murray said. “He would show me some different moves or point something out in the game that I could do better.”
Most of the time, Murray would take his advice. And it has paid off. Murray has now taken on the same leadership role with her teammates as her father did with her when she was younger.
She’s not afraid to pull players aside and give them advice. Sometimes her father would do that during games and she’d get frustrated. She’d be wrapped up in the competition. But it made her better, and she wants to help her team do the same.
“She plays attack and I play goalie,” said her teammate and roommate Alyssa Costantino. “We’re on opposite sides, and we definitely help each other out. I’ll be like, ‘This is a better shot for you to shoot.’ And she’ll be like, ‘This is how you can save that.’”
vs. canisius
Feb. 16, 1 p.m. at virginia
Feb. 23, 1 p.m. at boston college
Feb. 26, 2 p.m.
vs. towson
March 2, 1 p.m.
vs. maryland
March 10, 7 p.m.
vs. florida
March 15, 12 p.m.
vs. harvard
March 18, 7 p.m.
vs. northwestern
March 23, 1 p.m.
vs. duke
March 29, 3 p.m.
vs. albany
April 1, 6 p.m. at virginia tech
April 5, 1 p.m.
vs. north carolina
April 12, 3 p.m. at cornell
April 15, 7 p.m. at notre dame
April 19, 3 p.m.
vs. loyola
May 3, 1 p.m.
beat writer predictions
15-1
Syracuse head coach Gary Gait has compiled a pretty impressive resume in his six seasons at Syracuse, including final four appearances in SU’s last two seasons. He’s done everything —except win a national championship. On the backs of a strong attack featuring Alyssa Murray and Kayla Treanor, it will finally be the Orange’s season.
older, Ray, who was a college lacrosse player for Adelphi, would take her to watch the Hofstra women’s team play.
He would point things out to her as they
This is Murray’s last chance to win a national championship, and with Syracuse one of the top ranked teams in the country, obtaining a title is not out of the question. It has never happened in the history of the women’s lacrosse program, or ever for a women’s sport at Syracuse.
“I think there’s even more of a chip on
TYLER PICCOTTI
RECORD: 14-2 NCAA TOURNAMENT: Finals loss
Syracuse will have one of the most lethal offenses in the country, spearheaded by Murray and Treanor. However, an extremely tough schedule will eventually take its toll on Gait’s squad. The Orange will make a valiant run to championship weekend, but ultimately comes up one win short of the title.
ALYSSA MURRAY developed a love for lacrosse through her father and she’s become one of the top players in the country. She was a finalist for the Tewaaraton Award last season and now has one more shot at a national title at SU. spencer bodian staff photographer
ALYSSA MURRAY SU ATTACK
Keeping face
35 years after a 1-year break from the faceoff, the value of the X is still debated
By Trevor Hass asst. sports editor
the year was 1978. Johns Hopkins had just won the national championship after Ned Radebaugh controlled 20-of-22 faceoffs, and officials knew a change needed to be made.
By 1979, the faceoff was eliminated from the college game. Instead, the opposing team took over at midfield following a goal. But that didn’t bode well with college coaches.
The very next year, the rules were switched back to the way they were before, and that’s the
way it’s been ever since.
At a meeting this year, Syracuse head coach John Desko and other coaches discussed the status of the faceoff position going forward. Desko has repeatedly voiced his displeasure with the current system and the use of FOGOs (faceoff, get off).
His opinion on the matter has remained steady over the years. And last May, his team lost to Duke in the national championship game 16-10 after corralling just 9-of-30 faceoffs.
“We looked at the faceoff, and I don’t mean it as a knock,” Desko said, “but you probably have the team’s worst lacrosse player being the most important on the field and that’s the faceoff.”
But coaches and players around the Atlantic Coast Conference don’t necessarily agree with Desko’s stance on the divisive issue.
Virginia head coach Dom Starsia was an
assistant coach at Brown in 1979, which is the year faceoffs didn’t exist. After nearly every restart at the midline, one of his players would scurry all the way downfield and try to score.
It wasn’t the game he was used to. Something so dramatic requires time, Starsia said. The entire dynamic of the sport couldn’t shift that much in one year without some dissatisfaction.
“It was just so dramatically different for everybody,” Starsia said, “that lacrosse fans everywhere kind of freaked out and there was an uproar and so it got changed right back.”
Starsia says he can’t see anything similar taking place nowadays in college lacrosse. For Duke coach John Danowski, the faceoff is all he’s known since he started playing the game in seventh grade.
“It’s the only thing I’m familiar with,”
owski said.
Desko’s championship teams in 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2009 all won more than 50 percent of their faceoffs, so the 35-year head coach has had many teams thrive at the X. But last year, Syracuse won just 42.8 percent
Dan-
BRENDAN FOWLER dominated SU at the X in the national championship game in 2013. Syracuse has struggled on faceoffs the past three seasons. spencer bodian staff photographer
22 JORDAN EVANS
BACK
“It’s just the guy that everyone is looking at.”
JAMIE ARCHER
“Twenty-two, there’s a ton of pressure there.”
BILLY WARD
SU ATTACK/MIDFIELDER
“By putting on the number, it’s not going to make you fly around the Dome. It’s not going to make you have superpowers. It just feels great to know you’re a part of that legacy that Gary started.”
CODY JAMIESON NO. 22, 2010
“It takes a player that has to be willing to want to be the best and work at it every day.”
GARY GAIT NO. 22, 1988-1990
“I was fortunate to wear the same number as some of the best players to ever play the game. It was an honor and a great opportunity.”
JOJO MARASCO NO. 22, 2011-13
Freshman Evans becomes next Syracuse player to wear storied No. 22, looks to lead Orange back to national championship
By Jesse Dougherty asst. sports editor
mike fiacco visited his old school at the perfect time. Had he not, who knows what would have happened.
The Hamilton College freshman was home for winter break when he returned to Jamesville-DeWitt (N.Y.) High School to work out.
That’s when he saw the J-D lacrosse players picking their numbers for the coming season. A thought immediately popped into his head: I want someone to wear my number. I want someone to wear No. 22.
The number was important to Fiacco. He’d grown up a Syracuse lacrosse fan — where the number has long held great historical significance — and had success wearing it in his four years with the Red Rams.
So Fiacco picked out Jordan Evans, a freshman he always
He had grown up wearing the No. 22 as a lacrosse star in British Columbia, but when he got to Syracuse as a freshman in 1987, it was being worn by senior Chris Baduini and Gait wore No. 38.
So when Baduini graduated and head coach Roy Simmons Jr. gave out numbers a year later, Gait reverted back to his old figure.
A tradition was born.
“I had a lot of success at Syracuse and with that number,” Gait said. “And when I finished, coach Simmons challenged Charlie Lockwood to step up and be the next 22 and fill that number.
“It was a challenge to be the next star and the next AllAmerican, and he did that, and then it just got passed on and on.”
Starting with Gait, now Syracuse’s women’s lacrosse coach, the No. 22 has taken on a mythical significance in the last 25 years. It’s not worn by Syracuse’s best player — that would be too objective. The No. 22 is handed to a player whose on-field dominance is only rivaled by the rest of his makeup, and who possesses the physical and mental toughness to lead a program with 10 national championships to its name.
After Gait it was Lockwood, followed by brothers Casey, Ryan and Mike Powell, Dan Hardy, Cody Jamieson and JoJo Marasco, who graduated last spring.
And now Evans will be the first freshman to wear the number since 2006, after joining the Orange as the No. 1 recruit in the nation.
“Anybody that comes in with the No. 22, I think has to have a good head on their shoulders.”
DEREK MALTZ
SU ATTACK
First asked him if he knew what he was getting himself into, When he said ‘Yes,’ I told him, ‘No matter how much success you have people will always think you could have done more.’
“It’s just a number here,” Evans said. “Obviously there are all these great players, but it still is just a jersey.”
Yet it’s a number that demands excellence while fasttracking players into Syracuse lacrosse folklore.
Gait won three championships with the Orange and then captured a title at every level of professional lacrosse. Mike Powell won two championships and has the most points of any player in program history. Last spring, Marasco graduated as the only player of the seven to not win an NCAA championship.
Jamie Archer — an All-American who played at Syracuse from 1990–93 — coached Evans in high school and gave him fair warning of what the number entails.
knew to be a gifted athlete. The kind of kid who could step onto any playing field and immediately find success.
And, most importantly, play the game of lacrosse.
“I wanted to make sure 22 went to one of our top players, and asked him if he would take it,” Fiacco said. “Jordan was one of the best lacrosse players I’ve seen go through J-D, so he was an obvious choice to ask to wear my number.”
Fast forward two years and the same offer is on the table.
This time Evans is sitting across from John Desko in the Syracuse head coach’s office, his mom Wendi on his right, the collegiate lacrosse world at his feet.
“I think we’d like to have you wear No. 22 here at Syracuse,” Desko said over his desk.
Again, Evans accepted.
“When Coach Desko offered that to me,” Evans said, “that’s when it was pretty much sealed that I was coming here.”
••• All Gary Gait did was raise his hand.
“First I asked him if he knew what he was getting himself into,” Archer said. “When he said ‘Yes,’ I told him, ‘No matter how much success you have people will always think you could have done more.’” •••
The recreational basketball league that Evans played in growing up balanced talent across all teams.
That usually left him — one of the league’s best players — on a team with kids who had barely ever played. It allowed him to shine, and after games parents would ask Doug and Wendi Evans how their kid was so athletic.
“We never really had an answer to that one,” Wendi Evans said. “We looked at each other often, and wondered how he got so nice.”
One game, when Evans was in sixth grade, one of his inexperienced teammates was the only player on the team not to score. Evans passed him the ball before physically moving the defender out of the way to open a clear path to the hoop.
“It made that kid’s day,” Wendi said, “I’ll never forget
Coming back for more
Defending national champion Duke returns 6 starters for 2014 including leading scorer Wolf
By Tyler Piccotti staff writer
a little more than eight months removed from their triumph over Syracuse in the national championship game, the Duke Blue Devils appear to have the necessary components of a championship team.
They return top-scorer Jordan Wolf, NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player Brendan Fowler and four other players selected in the 2014 Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft. As a result, Inside Lacrosse pegged the Blue Devils as the country’s best team in its preseason poll.
But according to head coach John Danowski, that first glance can be deceiving.
“I don’t even have us in the top 20 teams,” Danowski said bluntly. “We’re a young team with a rookie midfield. We’ve got a long way to go.”
It’s hard to question Danowski, who has built Duke into a national juggernaut since
taking over the program in 2007. In addition to producing a pair of Tewaaraton Trophy winners, he has led the Blue Devils to championship weekend during each of his seven seasons at the helm. Two of those have resulted in national titles.
However, a lack of depth could put the team’s impressive streak in jeopardy this season.
“ I want to win it all again and share that feeling at the very end with everyone.
JORDAN WOLF DUKE ATTACK
“You lose 25 percent of your team, and you replace those guys with another 25 percent of students who’ve never played in college,” Danowski said. “So now, you’re never certain if guys are able to step up, accept new roles.” No position was hit harder than midfielder. First-team All-Americans David Lawson,
Jake Tripucka and Josh Offit accounted for 149 total points during their final seasons in Durham. Their departures are a big blow to the Blue Devils’ offensive attack and an equally important loss in their on-field leadership.
Danowski said Ethan Powley, Jack Bruckner and Thomas Zenker are three newcomers who can make immediate contributions at midfield. However, there’s still plenty of pressure on returning starters at all positions, including Fowler.
The senior set an NCAA record with 339 victories at the faceoff X last season, including 20 in the championship game against the Orange. However, he only chipped in three goals during the season. In addition to bringing the youngsters up to speed, Fowler said he’s trying to prove that there are multiple elements to his game.
“For me, I can help a little more on the offensive end, besides just the X this year,“ he said. “Some of our D-middies can contribute a little more on offense and try to help those guys.”
Meanwhile, Wolf is ready to fill in the leadership gap.
The senior attacker, who finally tasted tournament victory only minutes away from his hometown of Wynnewood, Pa., said the experience of winning a championship has only motivated him to work harder. He understands that he needs to take charge on the field, and his fellow upperclassmen do as well.
“Our senior class has played a lot of
top dogs
Duke sits atop college lacrosse’s rankings, while Syracuse occupies the second spot.
WARRIOR DIVISION
JORDAN WOLF takes on a Notre Dame defender. The senior scored 57 goals to go with 28 assists to lead the Blue Devils to a national championship victory over Syracuse last year and is back for more this season. Wolf and faceoff specialist Brendan Fowler return to a Blue Devils program that starts the year No. 1 in the rankings. courtesy of duke photography
STAATS
Staats helped Kulhmann come out of his shell. He gave him the nickname, “Jammer,” and helped him become part of the tight-knit group that the first Hill Academy team was.
“I think (Kuhlmann) really progressed and grew as a player and as a person through that experience,” Merrill said.
That spring, The Hill traveled to Baltimore to face future Tewaaraton-winner Steele Stanwick and Loyola Blakefield, the No. 1 team in the nation. Merrill said Staats was the best player on the field.
But it couldn’t last. The Hill was a bit too rigid for Staats. He was becoming a transcendent player, but he still had plenty of room to grow as a person.
Before the next season began, he returned to Six Nations where he would play for McKinnon Park Secondary School in Caledonia, Ontario.
“It became not fun for me anymore, so I went back home,” he said. “If I went there as a junior I’m sure I would’ve excelled, but I was just pretty immature at the time.”
It didn’t get any easier for Staats that summer, when he lost his friend.
After The Hill Academy’s first season, Kuhlmann was playing for the Toronto Beaches in the Ontario Junior A Lacrosse League, when an on-field collision knocked him unconscious on the field and into a coma.
He died two days later.
Staats honors him with the tattoo on his right shin and the No. 45 jersey he will wear for SU.
“All the guys were really tight, so it was a devastating loss,” Merrill said. “They kind of came to The Hill to maybe get away from some of the stuff that was happening at home and to choose a different path, so there was a unique
connection for all of the guys.”
Back in Six Nations, box lacrosse was the game of choice.
Even in the deeply talented community, Staats was one of the best.
“His skill level was there,” Jamieson said. “His maturity level wasn’t.”
He was always bigger and stronger than most kids his age, and he definitely had some good genes. His dad was a great box lacrosse player and coached the Canadian Lacrosse League’s Iroquois Ironmen.
The star, though, was Jamieson. He was the one who put up ridiculous numbers at OCC, and the one who had just scored the national championship-winning goal in overtime for Syracuse. All during his first season, and only his sixth game. SU hasn’t won a title since.
But in 2008, Staats was just a 15-year-old like any other 15-year-old in Six Nations. He loved lacrosse. He wanted to make his own name, but he idolized the star in town, which just happened to be his cousin.
Jamieson had become one of the biggest names in lacrosse, so his opinion carried a lot of weight within the Six Nations Arrows of the Ontario Junior A Lacrosse League. His word was enough to get Staats onto the team.
Staats couldn’t wear No. 88 anymore, though — he was finally Jamieson’s teammate. He chose No. 83 because it was similar, but different enough to be his own.
“Now kids are looking up to Randy and wear No. 83 and that’s awesome,” Jamieson said.
There were times when he was as dominant as he was against kids his age, but he spent that summer growing. It was that same summer that he became one of three 15-year-olds to join the Iroquois Nationals under-19 team.
Along with Lyle Thompson and Warren Hill,
Staats helped lead the Nationals to a third-place finish at the Under-19 World Lacrosse Championships. Staats and Thompson played on the first line together and Hill was the team’s top goaltender.
When Staats returned to the Arrows just in time for postseason play, he was a different player. He wasn’t as shy on the field and in Game 6 of the championship series he scored an overtime goal to extend the season.
“It became not fun for me anymore, so I went back home. If I went there as a junior I’m sure I would’ve excelled, but I was just pretty immature at the time.
SU ATTACK ON PLAYING AT THE HILL ACADEMY
“That was probably my biggest junior career goal,” Staats said. “One of them, anyway.”
So his swagger was understandable. He’d made a shot bigger than most people will make in their lives as a 15-year-old. He was playing competitive lacrosse with some of the sport’s biggest superstars. It was only a matter of time until he was one of the biggest names himself.
In January 2010, though, that came crashing down. He was playing in a tournament down in Florida. He tried a dodge and tore his ACL. That injury kept him out for a year. After
returning the next fall, he tore his ACL again.
Two full seasons without lacrosse. He missed both the 2010 and 2011 OLA seasons. Division I stardom was once a certainty. Now he’d need a pit stop at OCC.
But it made him grow up. He never had to work this hard on a lacrosse field before.
“I kind of just thought that lacrosse would always be there for me,” Staats said. “I kind of just took it for granted, and once it left me for two years I was pretty lonely and I was pretty desperate.
“I just never wanted to feel like that ever again.” He didn’t have the same explosiveness that he did before the injuries, but everything else was improved. His knowledge of the game was still there and he’d continued to improve his shooting, passing and stick skills.
He didn’t waste any time putting himself back on the map at OCC. He broke Jamieson’s singleseason scoring record in 2013 and helped the Lazers to back-to-back national championships.
“On the field, I couldn’t stand him,” said SU faceoff specialist Mike Iacono, who played against Staats in the 2012 and 2013 JUCO national championship. “Every time he gets the ball he scores. What the hell kind of crap is this?”
Unlike most JUCO transfers, Staats wasn’t able to get on the field during the fall. It was a final hurdle to cross in his long journey to Syracuse. He wasn’t always a lock to be in orange — he was close to 50-50 between Maryland and SU — but it’s a perfect fit. His cousin won the last national championship for SU, and the school has a rich tradition of Native American players. He’s always had the talent to succeed at Syracuse. Now he has the maturity, too.
“I’m just excited to play for Syracuse,” Staats said. “I’ve been waiting a while to step on the field with all these guys.”
dbwilson@syr.edu | @DBWilson2
FROM PAGE 4
Five teams in the ACC this season made the 16-team NCAA tournament field last May, the most of any conference.
“I’m not sure there’s a better league or conference or sport that has that kind of depth,” Breschi said.
But after this season, Maryland will most likely join another conference. Seniors will graduate. And there’s always a possibility of new schools joining the conference.
“The ACC’s never going to be as big as it is this year. If we can get out 5-0 this year, it’s going to be something that no other team can ever match.
The window to become the greatest conference of all time is small. But for one year at least, the ACC will be special. With SU and Notre Dame joining Duke, UNC, UMD and Virginia, the groundwork is laid for some of the best lacrosse ever. Said Lamolinara: “The ACC’s never going to be as big as it is this year. If we can get out 5-0 this year, it’s going to be something that no other team can ever match.”
jmhyber@syr.edu
RANDY STAATS
KEVIN RICE manuevers around the cage during a win over Virginia last season. Syracuse joins a loaded Atlantic Coast Conference that has a combined 23 national titles among its current members. SU has accounted for 10 of those. spencer bodian staff photographer
DOMINIC LAMOLINARA SU GOALIE
IACONO
always a lacrosse player, though.
He wrestled from seventh to 11th grade, which has influenced the physical, low-to-theground approach he takes to the X. He played ice hockey, too — until his mother Lisa forced him to decide between hockey and lacrosse when he was in second grade.
The thought of continuing to wake up at 5 a.m. for hockey didn’t thrill Iacono. Lacrosse it was. He developed into a competent midfielder, until he nonchalantly gave faceoffs a shot in middle school and loved it. He honed his technique in high school, where he won 57.5 percent of his faceoffs as a senior and all-county selection.
But his grades weren’t up to par. He received inquiries from Ivy League schools, but knew he had no shot of getting into them. Hofstra, Stony Brook and Drexel expressed interest, but his academics didn’t cut it there either.
“He kind of had high hopes in high school, but things didn’t work out because he’s not strong academically,” Lisa Iacono said. “So he went to Nassau, and I wouldn’t consider it a high point, but I’d have to say it was probably the best thing that could’ve happened for him.”
The midfielder, disappointed not to be playing at the Division I level, was nearly on the verge of quitting, his mother said. But Nassau head coach George Powers helped Iacono straighten himself out.
The head coach motivated Iacono to stick with it, and both of their persistence paid off. As Nassau’s primary faceoff specialist, he earned the NJCAA Region XV MVP in 2013 and won 78 percent of his faceoffs that were recorded as he led the Lions to a national title game appearance for the second straight year.
“He was the heart and soul of the team for
two years,” Powers said. “The way we played was predicated on him getting us the ball.”
One phone call was all it took for Iacono to be sold on committing to the Orange. But before he could get his Division I career started, he needed more credits before he could officially transfer to SU.
Iacono took four classes online in the fall, and said he hated every minute he spent sitting in his room. He’d practice faceoffs, but had no one to go up against — and he’s seeing the repercussions of that now.
But he took it upon himself to stay in shape, even if it meant going to the gym by himself.
He’d go four times a week, running a mile each trip until he got his time down to 6:30. He primed himself for the highest level of competition he’s ever faced. Competition he’ll embrace, like he always has.
“If you don’t win faceoffs and you don’t have the ball, you’re not going to win the game,” Iacono said. “For that split second it’s just you, and then your team.”
The whistle blows, and Iacono goes to work.
The hardest part, he said, is getting the ball. He goes with the motorcycle grip, his palms facing down. Unlike the other Syracuse faceoff specialists, Iacono never drops to his knees — he stands tall on his two legs throughout the whole battle.
“I can’t remember him being out-hustled or out-leveraged off the ball, with him being so high above his opponent,” Powers said.
Once Iacono controls the ball, he pops it out ahead to himself. By not leaving his feet, he allows himself to pounce on the ground ball, and suddenly he’s a foot ahead of the opposing midfielder.
A couple of long strides later, he’s 5-feet-ahead. And with his experience as a midfielder, he said, he has the vision to move the ball downfield, start the fast break and make the right pass.
“In the past, we haven’t made good decisions as far as picking the ball up and knowing where to find the open man,” SU head coach John Desko said. “We’d like him to be the one getting to the ball first and getting it out first.
“…But we need him to step up and start winning the faceoff himself right now, instead of reacting to somebody.”
Iacono is the No. 2 faceoff option for SU behind Chris Daddio going into this year, but he’s not worried. He’s lined up against Division I-caliber faceoff specialists in his past summer leagues, and just needs the time to prove his own strengths and separate himself from Syracuse’s other faceoff specialists.
Then his ride will be complete.
“I just have to start showing the coaches the difference between what happens when I get the ball from when they get the ball,” Iacono said. “The decisions I make from what they make, and how fast I get the ball and how fast I get it out.
“Every day I wake up, I’m ready to go. There’s no stopping me now.”
pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb
MIKE IACONO brings strength and offensive prowess to the faceoff X for Syracuse. While the rest of the Orange’s faceoff specialists drop to the ground to win balls, the Nassau Community College transfer scoops and starts the fast break. spencer bodian staff photographer
EVANS
that, and it’s just the kind of kid that Jordan is. Putting others first, always himself last.”
Evans has always found modesty where it could easily be lost. Away from the lacrosse field he excelled as a quarterback and won a New York state basketball championship alongside current SU center DaJuan Coleman.
And when he decided to zero in on lacrosse, his athletic pedigree somehow swelled.
“He came to a camp of mine when he was in the eighth grade and I knew he was special, just really special,” Archer said. “I knew the kind of player it would take to play in college and he was already it.”
Unlike most kids growing up in Central
“There came a point when I was younger that I felt like I had already been at Syracuse for a while.
JORDAN
EVANS SU MIDFIELDER/ATTACK
New York, Evans didn’t watch Syracuse basketball or football. He did watch Syracuse lacrosse on TV, from start to finish, and started going to games at the Carrier Dome with his
dad when he was 6 years old.
It wasn’t so much of a Syracuse dream as it was fate.
“There came a point when I was younger,” Evans said, “that I felt like I had already been at Syracuse for a while.”
But when Evans and his mother visited after his freshman season, it didn’t feel right. The weather was bad, the tour was underwhelming and it didn’t seem like they wanted Evans any more than the average high school prospect.
So Archer started molding Evans into the confident star Syracuse would not only want, but need after the departure of Marasco.
At the end of his sophomore season, J-D needed one overtime goal to clinch a secondstraight state championship. Archer looked around the huddle at his seniors, then his juniors, then at the player who the team knew would get the ball along.
“Jordan’s not the kind to get nervous,” said Scott Firman, who played with Evans at J-D and is a freshman defender at Syracuse. “State championship on the line and a sophomore is getting the ball. That doesn’t happen often.”
Evans ate some clock before charging down the field, making the opposing goalie fall and putting in the winning score. The entire team piled on top of him.
“That’s one I’ll always remember,” Evans said.
The next time Evans visited Syracuse, the mood was different. He was about to travel to the Washington, D.C. area with a travel team and Desko told him to keep his options open for the schools in that area.
Yet the coach had already given Evans an offer he couldn’t pass up.
“This whole 22 thing,” Wendi Evans said, “it’s like he was made for it. He barely even mentions it and probably doesn’t think about it too much.
“That’s just who he is.”
Two weeks ago Evans stood in the lobby of Manley Field House with his white No. 22 jersey on.
He had just been asked about wearing the number yet again and he rattled off answers that now seem ingrained in his everyday speech. Then he posed for pictures and talked in front of a video camera — again, about the figure on his back.
But when the hoard of reporters in the lobby huddled around Desko, Evans drifted into the backdrop and next to the Syracuse lacrosse wall of fame, which hangs like a mural behind a crowd of national championship trophies.
Evans positioned himself in front of the
‘90s and ‘00s sections, where pictures of all the former No. 22s dotted the canvas.
There was Gait doing his patented jump shot. Ryan Powell hoisting a championship trophy. Casey Powell finishing a goal. Hardy staring stone-faced into the camera and Marasco charging down the field.
He stood there for a while with his lacrosse stick behind his head, his fingers barely gripping it while he cradled an imaginary ball.
Then — when his gaze finally broke off the timeline — the smallest smile peaked on both sides of his mouth.
Maybe he’ll be next.
jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse
JORDAN EVANS takes in the lore of the Syracuse lacrosse wall of fame located in the Manley Field House Hall of Champions lobby. The jersey No. 22 is a valued tradition in SU history, and the freshman has accepted the challenge of donning it next. luke rafferty video editor
FACEOFFS
of its faceoffs. JoJo Marasco, Brian Megill and Co. carried the Orange to the championship \\ game, but that’s when the problem finally came back to bite the Orange.
The FOGO has become a trend in college lacrosse. Bryant’s Kevin Massa torched Syracuse in the NCAA tournament, nearly guiding the Bulldogs to what would have been a stunning upset in the opening round.
Massa won 22 faceoffs. Syracuse won just one.
“Now you have a guy who doesn’t play offense or doesn’t play defense,” Desko said, “but might have the most effect on the outcome of a game.”
In the championship game, that player was Brendan Fowler, who served as Duke’s FOGO. Whenever Duke scored, they’d get the ball right back more often than not. Desko said Syracuse was handcuffed and had to watch Duke play offense most of the game.
Fowler and UVA faceoff man Mick Parks, who come from the other end of the faceoff spectrum, are in favor of keeping the system as is. Fowler said it helped Duke get back in games. Parks said it brings out the toughness in a team.
“I obviously like taking faceoffs,” Fowler said. “It’s what I do.”
But Chris Daddio, Cal Paduda and the rest of Desko’s attempts couldn’t generate any success against Fowler or Parks.
Faceoffs were the reason Syracuse didn’t win the national championship.
However, a recent study by LaxPower.com found that success at the faceoff X does not necessarily correlate to success overall. The study said good faceoff teams garner 4.4 more possessions per game than the bad teams, which averages out to a one-goal difference.
Teams with really good faceoff units contribute about one win per year, and teams with bad units lead to one loss, according to the study.
In fact, Duke won the first five faceoffs against Syracuse, but still trailed 5-0 early on before staging a comeback.
Starsia believes that’s not nearly enough of an effect to change the entire landscape of lacrosse. He doesn’t see the committee altering the rules like it did in 1978. There was too much negative feedback then and he could never see it happening now.
It’s all college lacrosse has ever known except the one year, and Starsia said the key is to work with what you have, even though some years are better than others.
“We’ve won championships when we’ve been very good facing off,” Starsia said. “We’ve won championships when we’ve been only OK facing off. You do the best with what you’ve got.”
tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass
CHRIS DADDIO (TOP) AND CAL PADUDA (BOTTOM) scrap at the X for faceoffs last season. Despite struggles at the faceoff X, Syracuse managed to reach the NCAA championship in 2013. top photo by keegan
my shoulder that this is the last year that I’ll be able to be a part of it at Syracuse,” Murray said. “I think that’s definitely a little bit of a motivation for me.”
Not only will it be her last year at Syracuse, it’ll likely be her last season playing competitive lacrosse. She’s been playing since that day in kindergarten that her father caved and handed her a lacrosse stick. But with no professional league, the only path in lacrosse after this season might be as a coach.
“Coaching the sport that we love to play would be a great fit for her,” said former teammate Michelle Tumolo, who is now an assistant coach at Florida. “She’s very smart, she’d be a great coach. So obviously, it might be the end of the road, but there’s always other options.”
Murray’s longest-tenured coach has always been her father. And even though his advice may no longer have any bearing for her performance on the field after her senior season concludes, it will help her in whatever way she decides to stay in the game.
“It’s a typical lacrosse scenario,” SU head coach Gary Gait said. “In a lot of cases where a father’s for playing lacrosse and has a daughter and develops that relationship by teaching her how to play. Certainly it has helped her success.”
Despite living hours away, Ray and his wife Lisa make the trip to Syracuse for virtually every home game. And just because Murray is one of the greatest players in the sport doesn’t mean she’s fazed out her father’s words.
A week before she came back to Syracuse during winter vacation, Murray and her dad went back out to the field a block from her home and shot just like they would during her childhood.
Now Ray is just a spectator. He’s watching as Murray takes one last crack at a national championship. Both of their playing days may soon come to a close, but it was the sport that helped them
DUKE
lacrosse and guys have started since their freshman year,” Wolf said. “We have guys like Chris Hipps, Luke Duprey and Henry Lobb on defense. We have a lot of strength and athleticism all over the field.”
They’re going to need all of it during ACC play.
Danowski said the ACC was already the toughest conference in the country. Throw in Syracuse and Notre Dame, and the Blue Devils can feasibly go winless in conference play. He said it’s crucial to start strong during the opening weeks of the season against Denver, Stony Brook and other non-conference opponents.
“If you go 0-5 in the conference and you play in the five-six game, the toilet bowl game, then you better have a couple of good wins somewhere,” Danowski said. ““It’s really hard to make it (to the postseason). Only 16 teams do, so you better be ready.”
But if the Blue Devils have proven one thing the last seven seasons, it’s their resilient nature. A prime example was the 2013 national title game, as they overcame an early five-goal deficit and cruised to victory against the Orange.
That’s why Fowler and Wolf aren’t too worried about the team this year. Even on a second or third glance, they still see a championship-caliber bunch.
“We’ll be young in spots, but we’re just working hard and trying to listen to our coaches as much as possible,” Wolf said. “It’s a process and a long journey, and we’re just trying to get better every day.
“I want to win it all again and share that feeling at the very end with everyone.”
tfpiccot@syr.edu
form a bond.
“We always had a common interest in lacrosse,” Ray Murray said. “That was able to
The Duke lacrosse team celebrates during a game against Loyola Maryland. The Blue Devils defeated Syracuse by a score of 16-10 in the national title game last season and are ranked the No. 1 team by Inside Lacrosse to start this season. courtesy of duke photography
ALYSSA MURRAY (back row, second from left) poses with the West Babylon youth center team in 2001. Her father Ray, (back right), played at Division II Adelphi and helped his daughter develop her skills and understanding of the game. courtesy of ray murray
MEN’S LACROSSE SCHEDULE
vs. siena
vs. albany
Feb. 16, 4 p.m., TWCS
vs. maryland
Feb. 22, 1 p.m., TWCS
at virginia
Mar. 1, 7:30 p.m., ESPN3
vs. st. john’s
Mar. 8, 4 p.m., (Cobb County Lacrosse Classic)
at johns hopkins
Mar. 15, 12 p.m., ESPNU
at duke
Mar. 23, 12:30 p.m., ESPNU
W 19-7
A year ago, the Great Danes came to the Carrier Dome and shocked the Orange in double overtime. The Thompson family went for 10 goals that night and will be back for more.
The Terrapins hauled in the No. 1 recruiting class and Syracuse’s Jordan Evans is the top prospect of SU’s class, which ranks No. 2 in the country. This matchup will be an early indication of which freshman class might have the edge.
Last season, Syracuse blew a two-goal lead twice against UVA, including a fourth-quarter breakdown, but SU still escaped with a 9-8 upset win in overtime. This time around, the Orange ventures south to Virginia for the rematch.
The old Big East rivals meet for the first time in Syracuse’s Atlantic Coast Conference era. They travel down to Georgia and for the second straight year, they’ll square off on a neutral site.
In last year’s game at the Carrier Dome, the No. 11 Orange upset the No. 4 Blue Jays, 13-8. SU jumped out to a 6-1 lead after the first quarter and held off a Johns Hopkins comeback attempt in the second half.
Battle royale. It’s a rematch of the last year’s title game, in which Duke erased a 5-0 deficit and triumphed past SU. Brendan Fowler owned the faceoff X as the Blue Devils dominated possession and cruised to a 16-10 victory.
vs. notre dame
Mar. 23, 7 p.m., TWCS
vs. binghamton
April 2, 7 p.m., TWCS
at cornell
April 8, 7 p.m.
vs. north carolina
April 12, 6 p.m., ESPNU
at hobart
April. 19, 3 p.m., TWCS
vs. colgate
May 3, 4 p.m., TWCS
These old Big East foes played each other twice in a span of a week last year — both on neutral sites — and SU outscored the Irish by a total of 19-7.
The Orange takes a breather from ACC play and host a Bearcats squad that finished 5-9 last season, including 1-4 in America East Conference play.
This Central New York rivalry might not be the same without Cornell’s Rob Pannell, last year’s Tewaaraton Award winner. The Big Red is a top-20 team, but without Pannell it may not be the top-five team it was a year ago.
The Orange and Tar Heels, two of the more storied programs in college lacrosse history, haven’t played each other since 1996. Keep an eye out for Nicky Galasso and if he has any extra motivation playing against his former team.
Last April, the Statesmen came into the Carrier Dome and knocked off No. 5 Syracuse, 13-12. Hobart netted four straight goals over the last 7:17 to pull off the upset. This April, SU travels an hour west for revenge.
This Upstate New York matchup comes a week after the ACC tournament, offering the Orange a final tune-up opportunity before the NCAA tournament kicks off. Colgate and Syracuse last played in 2009, when No. 1 SU rolled No. 19 Colgate, 13-7.
lacrosse beat writer predictions
PHIL D’ABBRACCIO
RECORD: 10-3
NCAA TOURNAMENT: SEMIFINALS LOSS
Between Syracuse’s freshman class, its players returning from injury and new transfers, the Orange just might have the new pieces to be able to fill the shoes of its graduated seniors. But with such a tough schedule as a first-year Atlantic Coast Conference program, the Orange won’t quite make it all the way back to the title game.
JESSE DOUGHERTY
RECORD: 12-1
NCAA TOURNAMENT: FINALS LOSS
The Orange’s problems at the faceoff X kept it from winning a national championship last season, and as of now, there’s no clear solution to that on the roster. The Orange isn’t hampered by this in a remarkable regular season, but meets its old foe in the national championship game.
JOSH HYBER
RECORD: 10-3
NCAA TOURNAMENT: SEMIFINALS LOSS
SU should win all of its games at home, but may find trouble on the road at Virginia, Duke, Cornell and Hobart. Once again, if the Orange doesn’t find consistency at the faceoff X, the talented teams of the ACC will take advantage.