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The Daily OrangeREPEAT CONTENDERS: With Duke up next, Syracuse men's lacrosse 2 games away from winning consecutive titles
By Matthew Ehalt
Posted: 5/22/09, 12:20 PM EST Section: Final Four '09
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - In his first meeting with his 2009 team, John Desko's message to his squad was crystal clear.
"Everybody says you're going to defend your title, and I said, 'Guys, we're not defending anything,'" Desko said. "It's going to be on a pedestal shortly. You got your rings, put them in the drawer now and we're going to focus on the 2009 season."
Now, with the season down to its final weekend, Desko's message hasn't changed. And his team will try and reap the benefits.
Syracuse will try to win its second straight national championship for the first time in Desko's tenure, as the No. 2 Orange faces No. 3 Duke in the final four Saturday here at Gillette Stadium (noon, ESPN2). The winner will take on either Virginia or Cornell in the finals Monday.
"Now, we're focusing on the 2009 national championship, being in the final four," Desko said. "So we didn't want to feel like we're doing anything different. I think we're a much better team when we have goals that we want to climb the mountain, not to stay on top of it."
Desko won national titles in 2000, 2002, 2004 and last season. Following the three previous national championships, Syracuse (14-2) lost in the finals, final four and the first round, respectively. Saturday's contest against Duke (15-3) will be the fifth meeting between the two schools, and the first meeting since SU eliminated the Blue Devils in the 2002 tournament.
Though Desko's squads haven't been able to repeat, neither have other teams recently. The last team to win consecutive titles was Princeton from 1996-98. Since then, only two teams to win the national championship have even made it back to the title game - Syracuse in 2001 and Johns Hopkins in 2008.
Desko said this year's current group of players' mixture of success and failure over the past two years has helped this team. The squad missed the playoffs in 2007 after finishing 5-8 and followed up with a national title in 2008. That spectrum of emotions could be the difference.
"Everybody says you're going to defend your title, and I said, 'Guys, we're not defending anything,'" Desko said. "It's going to be on a pedestal shortly. You got your rings, put them in the drawer now and we're going to focus on the 2009 season."
Now, with the season down to its final weekend, Desko's message hasn't changed. And his team will try and reap the benefits.
Syracuse will try to win its second straight national championship for the first time in Desko's tenure, as the No. 2 Orange faces No. 3 Duke in the final four Saturday here at Gillette Stadium (noon, ESPN2). The winner will take on either Virginia or Cornell in the finals Monday.
"Now, we're focusing on the 2009 national championship, being in the final four," Desko said. "So we didn't want to feel like we're doing anything different. I think we're a much better team when we have goals that we want to climb the mountain, not to stay on top of it."
Desko won national titles in 2000, 2002, 2004 and last season. Following the three previous national championships, Syracuse (14-2) lost in the finals, final four and the first round, respectively. Saturday's contest against Duke (15-3) will be the fifth meeting between the two schools, and the first meeting since SU eliminated the Blue Devils in the 2002 tournament.
Though Desko's squads haven't been able to repeat, neither have other teams recently. The last team to win consecutive titles was Princeton from 1996-98. Since then, only two teams to win the national championship have even made it back to the title game - Syracuse in 2001 and Johns Hopkins in 2008.
Desko said this year's current group of players' mixture of success and failure over the past two years has helped this team. The squad missed the playoffs in 2007 after finishing 5-8 and followed up with a national title in 2008. That spectrum of emotions could be the difference.
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