Lelan Rogers hopes he doesn’t have to coach a single game this year. In fact, the Syracuse defensive coordinator doesn’t even want to.

‘If I don’t have to coach, we’re probably a much better off team,’ he said. ‘That means our guys are coaching themselves and having fun, and they’re doing what they should be doing.’

Last year, the defense executed Rogers’ schemes flawlessly, holding opponents to 7.4 goals per game, the lowest mark in the country.

That meant very little in-game work for Rogers while his defense controlled games. And this year, he expects nothing less.

That Orange unit only lost one starting defender from a year ago, and a likely replacement has already been found. Senior Tom Guadagnolo, who was named a captain at the start of the season, looks to fill that role. Also returning for the Orange are fellow seniors John Lade and Joel White, stalwarts in the Syracuse lineup since they joined the team.

The final piece of the defense is sophomore Brian Megill, who became the first freshman defender to start every game of his rookie year since head coach John Desko took over the team. Each defender brings his individual strengths and personalities to the group both on and off the field.

And together, they make up one of the most feared units in the country.

In Desko’s mind, the Orange has held the reputation of an attacking, high-scoring team for much of the program’s history. But this unit has helped bring defense back into the picture. The head coach said the backline was the strength of this team entering the season.

And if this group continues along the pace it set last year, opponents will have more to worry about than SU’s high-powered attack.

‘I think that for years, a lot of people — because of our high-scoring offense and the style of ball that we play — associate Syracuse with offense,’ Desko said at SU’s media day Jan. 13. ‘But I think our strength really the last couple years has been with our defense.’

The star and the cover guy

SU’s long-stick midfielder White was awestruck the first time he saw Lade play. All he could think was, ‘Wow. Wow, we need this kid.’

The two first crossed paths playing together on the U.S. under-19 team. White was fresh off a national championship victory in his first year at Syracuse. Lade just finished his freshman year at Villanova and planned to transfer to a more prominent lacrosse school.

That’s where White stepped in.

SU had lost two senior defenders, and he thought Lade could be the solution. White called Desko, telling his coach he found someone to play defense.

The coaching staff wasn’t sure about Lade’s 5-foot-10 stature at first, but White assured them he would make up for it with the way he played. Before the summer was over, the coaches made an offer to Lade, and he jumped at the opportunity.

‘They’re the greatest program ever,’ Lade said. ‘You can’t ask for anything better than to play for Syracuse lacrosse in your career.’

Since then, the defender has started all 30 games he’s played for the Orange. His job is to shut down the opponent’s best dodging attack. And his teammates say there’s no one better at it.

‘Lade’s probably the best cover guy in the country,’ senior goalie John Galloway said. ‘I think there’s not one guy that could take him one-on-one confidently. Nine times out of 10, John’s going to stop anybody in the country.’

But he’s not the only Syracuse defender known for his cover skills.

His recruiter, White, takes on the job of stopping the opponent’s best midfielder, and his talents have earned him countless awards through his time at SU. He was a first-team All-American last year and became the first defensive specialist to win the Lt. Donald C. MacLaughlin Jr. Award as the nation’s best midfielder.

He is known to yell out whatever pops into his head throughout a game, not only to throw off the other team’s offense but also to keep his unit loose.

Still, his teammates say it’s his talent and work ethic that set him above the rest.

‘Joel’s the workhorse of the team,’ Guadagnolo said. ‘He’s 100 miles an hour, and that’s his only speed.’

The youngster and the player-coach

After the 2009 season, the graduation of Sid Smith left a giant hole in the Syracuse backline. A heated position battle ensued for the starting job.

Guadagnolo and then-freshman Megill were among the top contenders. But before the season even began, Guadagnolo got sick with appendicitis. Megill took advantage of the opportunity. He earned a starting role by the end of the preseason and never relinquished it.

‘He’s a big guy,’ White said. ‘He’s not afraid to hit anybody. He’s going to come across the crease and let you know that he’s there.’

Megill’s 6-foot-2, 232-pound frame gives the sophomore the size to be the Orange’s physical presence. He said he played defense in every sport in high school, and it’s the contact that drew him to that side of the ball in the first place.

‘Hitting people,’ Megill said of the appeal of his position. ‘I get to slash them, take the ball away.’

As Megill thrived in the starting lineup last year, Guadagnolo was relegated to coming off the bench, mostly in man-down situations.

This year, the graduation of Matt Tierney created another hole in the Syracuse backline. Desko has not declared Guadagnolo the starter at this point, but most of his Orange teammates think he will take the spot.

‘He’s probably the hungriest of all,’ Rogers said of Guadagnolo. ‘He’s been so close. … Put yourself in that situation. That’s going to motivate the hell out of me. I’m not going to let anyone beat me out. This is my last year.’

That drive, added with what his teammates say are the best stick skills on the team, has given him an edge over his competition.

But Rogers sees another advantage. Guadagnolo knows the system inside and out. Rogers likened him to having another coach on the field.

‘He may not be as big, he may not be as fast, but he knows the advantage he can get by being smarter and by being a coach,’ Rogers said. ‘And you need players on the field that coach when they’re out there.’

Sum of the parts

The SU defense is as close off the field as it is on it.

They play video games together, grab food when they have time and lead the typical college life by one another’s sides. White and Guadagnolo, the team’s co-captains, are the loudest of the group, while Lade and Megill are more soft-spoken. On the field, each of their individual skills provides some necessity for the unit as a whole.

‘We have a good balance of a guy that’s going to hit, guy that’s going to cover, guy that’s going to try to pick off passes,’ White said. ‘It works out very well.’

Rogers likes the fact that he has one of the most experienced groups in the country at his disposal. After all, it should lead to less work for him in games. Three seniors, plus a sophomore who started every game a year ago, comprise a formidable Orange backline.

And Rogers sees the connection those four have made with one another, something he said makes a difference on the field.

‘As a coach, you embrace it,’ Rogers said. ‘It’s like a family at home. … You develop these bonds and relationships that go a lot further, and you’re willing to fight and scratch and kick a lot harder when you’re a really close-knit group of guys.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on February 16, 2011 at 12:00 pm