Sid Smith wants to change the way people look at Syracuse lacrosse. The senior defender doesn’t want the No. 2 Orange just to be known for its high-profile scores and offensive output. ‘Everyone looks at our team and looks at our offense right away. That’s how it is at Syracuse,’ Smith said. ‘And we just talked about coming out and putting a name in the for the defense. We want people to look at Syracuse and talk about how good the defense is.’

With the way Smith’s and his defensive counterparts played Tuesday night, he seems well on his way toward his goal. Syracuse’s defense stymied another opponent by holding Hobart to four goals in the Orange’s 13-4 triumph. SU has only allowed eight goals in its last two games and is allowing only 7.67 goals per contest. ‘We just wanted to keep the pressure on them,’ Smith said. ‘We did a great job getting that done.’

Syracuse only allowed Binghamton to score one goal in the second half in its previous win on Saturday and had not allowed a goal in 28:33 entering into the contest. From the start Tuesday, Syracuse did not let Hobart find any offensive rhythm, and extended that steak to 57 minutes and nine seconds of zero-goal defense. Smith and company did not let the Statesmen get clean looks and kept goalie John Galloway relatively free of trouble all night. Smith said the game plan was to just push out Hobart’s attack and force it into bad positions.

Smith’s game plan worked particularly well against Hobart attack Kevin Curtin. Smith guarded the junior midfielder, who led Hobart with 17 points coming into the contest. Curtin took only two shots Tuesday. Hobart finished with 26 shots for the contest, only 12 of which were on goal, and scored five goals less than its season average.

‘I was pretty happy with our defense and what we’ve been doing so far this year,’ Syracuse head coach John Desko said. ‘So far, I think they did a good job of holding them to the four goals again today, especially in what could be an emotional game between Syracuse and Hobart.’

Knight back in action

After suffering a game-ending injury against John Hopkins, midfielder Josh Knight returned from a one-game absence. Knight was Desko’s go-to faceoff man after Jake Moulton suffered a season-ending hand injury.

Knight took three faceoffs for the Orange, only winning one. Tim Harder saw the majority of the time at the X for Syracuse, but went 2-7.

‘I think he did a good job,’ Desko said. ‘If we needed him more, we probably could have used him more but we didn’t want too much right off the bat, especially in a week like this where we basically have three games.

‘And we saw what he could do today. We were fortunate he came out healthy and got some game experience and got some reps in the faceoff. …Maybe we’ll use him a bit more against Loyola.’

Kraus-Simmons Trophy remains in Syracuse

Head coach John Desko improved to 10-1 against Hobart, as Syracuse won its 22nd Kraus-Simmons Trophy.

‘There’s always a little more incentive going against the Statesmen,’ Desko said.

The trophy honors former-Syracuse coach Roy Simmons Sr., who coached at SU from 1931-1970 and former Hobart coach Babe Kraus. It has been presented 24 times since 1986. Syracuse has held the trophy for three years straight.

‘It’s always kind of nice to beat up on them here,’ midfielder Dan Hardy said. ‘Especially since they brought three or four buses of students. And it was nice not to give them anything to cheer about the entire game.’

mkgalant@syr.edumrehalt@syr.edu

Published on March 24, 2009 at 12:00 pm