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The Daily OrangeMLAX | Orange won't look ahead to playoffs, even with 1 game left
By Andy McCullough and Kyle Austin
Posted: 4/27/08, 11:31 PM EST Section: Sports
Steven Brooks gave a little window into the Syracuse men's lacrosse team's psyche after its 16-3 victory against Massachusetts, the same team that kept the Orange out of playoff contention last season.
"All week, we were thinking about what they did to us last year," the fifth-year senior midfielder said. "How they put us out of the playoffs and that was our incentive the whole week."
The important part isn't the talk about revenge. It's at the end: "the whole week." This pasting of the Minutemen, one of the last - and most emphatic - stops on the No. 2 Orange's revenge tour of 2008, only matters for a little while.
So yes, crushing the team that ended the 24-year playoff streak last season and the 22-year final four streak in 2005 meant something. But the team won't revel in it too much.
"We have drive, and we have one goal in our mind after what happened last year," Brooks said.
To get to that one goal, the final four and a national championship, this team tries to keep an even keel from game to game, something its head coach John Desko emphasizes.
Even against a rival like UMass.
"It really didn't have a lot to do with UMass," Desko said. "There wasn't a lot of emotion toward the Minutemen today. It was more toward the next opponent.
"And now we're focusing on Colgate."
Brooks had said as much earlier. The playoffs, the final four, a national title: None of that stuff is worth talking about until it's tangible.
"We'll let the media take care of what the playoffs look like," Brooks said. "But right now we just want to focus on Colgate, keep doing what we need to do and keep executing. If we keep playing like this I could see us going far."
Nims, Brennan banged up
Syracuse suffered two scares during Saturday's win over UMass. But as it turns out, they were both cautionary measures.
Faceoff specialist Danny Brennan limped off the field after a first-quarter faceoff and didn't play the rest of the game. Desko said after the game that Brennan had suffered a minor muscle sprain, and taking him out was a cautionary measure, especially given the scoring disparity.
"All week, we were thinking about what they did to us last year," the fifth-year senior midfielder said. "How they put us out of the playoffs and that was our incentive the whole week."
The important part isn't the talk about revenge. It's at the end: "the whole week." This pasting of the Minutemen, one of the last - and most emphatic - stops on the No. 2 Orange's revenge tour of 2008, only matters for a little while.
So yes, crushing the team that ended the 24-year playoff streak last season and the 22-year final four streak in 2005 meant something. But the team won't revel in it too much.
"We have drive, and we have one goal in our mind after what happened last year," Brooks said.
To get to that one goal, the final four and a national championship, this team tries to keep an even keel from game to game, something its head coach John Desko emphasizes.
Even against a rival like UMass.
"It really didn't have a lot to do with UMass," Desko said. "There wasn't a lot of emotion toward the Minutemen today. It was more toward the next opponent.
"And now we're focusing on Colgate."
Brooks had said as much earlier. The playoffs, the final four, a national title: None of that stuff is worth talking about until it's tangible.
"We'll let the media take care of what the playoffs look like," Brooks said. "But right now we just want to focus on Colgate, keep doing what we need to do and keep executing. If we keep playing like this I could see us going far."
Syracuse suffered two scares during Saturday's win over UMass. But as it turns out, they were both cautionary measures.
Faceoff specialist Danny Brennan limped off the field after a first-quarter faceoff and didn't play the rest of the game. Desko said after the game that Brennan had suffered a minor muscle sprain, and taking him out was a cautionary measure, especially given the scoring disparity.
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