Before Syracuse men’s lacrosse practice yesterday at the Carrier Dome, the Orangemen had the focus of a broken camera.

A few players found a football and midfielders began making like wideouts. Spencer Wright, an All-American who graduated from last year’s national championship team, came to practice for fun and received a reception better fitted for a frat house than a lacrosse field.

Could Syracuse, the national championship lacrosse squad, really be this loose and carefree?

Welcome to Fall Ball, lacrosse’s silly season where the above behavior is deemed acceptable and players get a chance to knock some rust off and have fun.

“It’s a little more laid back, you know?” said senior attackman Mike Springer, a captain for the 2003 season along with Sol Bliss, Brett Walther and Mike Smith. “You get a chance to actually enjoy lacrosse. It’s not a priority.”

Syracuse concludes its fall season tomorrow with the Pumpkin Stick-Out tournament from noon to 5 p.m. at Coyne Field. The Orangemen host LeMoyne, Herkimer Community College and Albany. The Upstate New York Chapter of U.S. Lacrosse organized the event, and the proceeds will benefit area youth lacrosse programs.

While Fall Ball is fun and games for most players, tournaments like the Pumpkin Stick-Out provide opportunities for newcomers to learn Syracuse’s system.

“Fall Ball is mostly for us to see the freshmen, transfers and guys back from last year’s team that are fighting for a starting position,” head coach John Desko said. “How they perform against other teams — that’s the biggest thing we get out of this.”

Desko said with last year’s national player of the year, attackman Mike Powell, out for the fall with an academic suspension, the attack position is of particular interest. Desko wants to see how freshman Brian Crockett, sophomore Zack Wallace and juniors Brian Nee and Alex Zink perform against new competition.

As for established players, the Pumpkin Stick-Out serves as a tuneup and a chance to build chemistry. Since SU lost several players from last year’s squad, this provides an opportunity for the returnees to mesh. Desko can also discover what combinations work best together.

But all of that doesn’t exactly put a jump in Syracuse’s veterans’ steps.

“It’s more of a scrimmage,” Walther, a senior, said. “It’s kind of hard to get up for something like this like you would a regular season game.”

One of the reasons the games might not get the Orangemen’s juices flowing is the level of competition. Herkimer is one of the best junior college teams in the nation, LeMoyne is a Division II power and Albany is a team on the rise — but that still leaves them worlds away from the defending champs.

Syracuse was more challenged Oct. 5, when it traveled to Owings Mills, Md., to scrimmage Maryland, UMBC and Towson.

The teams at the Pumpkin Stick-Out are weaker. But at this point, the Orangemen would prefer to play anyone but themselves.

“That’s the one thing about the fall that isn’t that fun,” Walther said. “You’re playing each other the whole fall. So that’s what’s good about this — you get a chance to knock some other people around.”

But one of SU’s most formidable defenders will miss that chance this weekend. Bliss, an All-American, injured his knee in last year’s national semifinal against Virginia and had surgery this offseason that sidelines him for Fall Ball. His rehab is ahead of schedule, but Desko would rather see Bliss on the field.

“Having a leader like Sol is like having another coach on the field,” Desko said. “If he were here, he’d be able to help direct the freshmen as far as where they should be in certain defensive schemes.”

While Bliss watches from the sideline, his teammates will wrap up their Fall Ball season and look forward to a break that will be, well, even more relaxing.

“It’s a conclusion to the season,” Springer said. “We get some time now just to do some school work and kind of relax.”

Published on October 17, 2002 at 12:00 pm