Spring Break
The Daily OrangeONE MORE: SU seniors look to go out on top against Cornell in title game
By Meredith Galante
Posted: 5/24/09, 1:16 PM EST Section: Sports
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Syracuse has won many games with Abbott, a senior midfielder, playing offense and defense for the Orange - 46 to be exact under the reign of SU head coach John Desko, the winningest active coach in college lacrosse. So one more doesn't seem like much. But for Abbott and the rest of his teammates, winning one more game means becoming the 2009 national champions.
For Abbott, Kenny Nims, Dan Hardy, Pat Perritt and the other seniors one more win would give their senior class two national championship rings. They would be on the first team in over a decade to win back-to-back national championships.
Syracuse (15-2) will have its chance to win "one more" game Monday at 1 p.m. (ESPN) when it takes on No. 5 Cornell (13-3) in the title game at Gillette Stadium. Syracuse defeated its central New York rival Cornell in the regular season 15-10 on April 7, but Cornell has since defeated the two opponents that bested Syracuse this year: Princeton in the semifinals and Virginia in the final four. For the senior class, it has been four years of ups and downs that will culminate in Monday's matchup.
Nims, Perritt and Hardy were all featured in Inside Lacrosse's 2005 recruiting issue and were ranked the No. 2, 3 and 4 prospects in the country. Hardy was even given the No. 22 jersey, a jersey worn by former lacrosse greats that comes with high expectations. The 2008 championship was expected from this crew, and one as seniors would fulfill all the expectations.
"We've seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows," Abbott, a Tewaaraton trophy finalist, said of his class.
The highs Abbott speaks of: winning the 2008 national championship.
The lows: the dismal 2007 showing where the Orange only won five games and missed the playoffs for the first time in 25 years. Off the field problems plagued the Orange as well; Perritt was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in fall 2006 then later left the team; two other players also left the team in 2007, Hardy was arrested for DWI in October 2008. The past four yeas have been a "rollercoaster," Nims said.
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