He always anticipated the car rides to Syracuse.

When Joe Walters was in third grade, he made the 90-minute drive from Rochester for every men’s lacrosse home game. On Wednesday, the Maryland freshman attacker completed a seven-hour trip from College Park, Md., arriving at 11 p.m.

Following his six-goal performance yesterday, Walters will eagerly await the next experience. After No. 1 Syracuse’s 15-14 scrimmage victory over No. 5 Maryland in the Carrier Dome, Walters and his teammates left the Orangemen looking road-weary. The teams played four 15-minute quarters with extra time added on to the fourth.

‘Any team’s going to bring it,’ defenseman Sol Bliss said. ‘Every team’s going to come in and play us like it’s a national championship. We need to be a little more intense than we were today.’

Despite the travel, the Terrapins played with far more emotion.

‘We were really into it — the defending champions in a beautiful atmosphere like the Dome,’ Walters said. ‘We were real excited to play.’

After turnovers, Maryland players cursed and threw their sticks to the turf. Timeouts given to Syracuse when UM believed it had possession were contested.

In the second quarter, Maryland junior Chris Passavia took issue with Syracuse senior Matt Bontaites when he felt he was pressured too heavily. Passavia shoved Bontaites, and in the process, both players drew unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

After each Walters goal, he pumped his fist two times, stretched his arms out and embraced the first teammate who raced to the scene. After each Syracuse goal, the Orangemen tapped gloves and slowly paraded back to their starting positions.

Still, the difference in emotion is nothing new for the Orangemen in warm-up games. During Syracuse’s Pumpkin Stick-Out, held every fall, Syracuse was outbattled by a pair of inferior teams. Albany tied SU 11-11 in a full game and LeMoyne beat Syracuse 9-6 over the course of 40 minutes.

‘I think any time we step on the field the other team’s going to be mentally prepared to play us,’ Syracuse coach John Desko said. ‘It’s going to elevate their game. I don’t want to make excuses, but the (11 a.m.) starting time was really strange.’

Despite acknowledging the differences in intensities, Bliss blamed Syracuse’s struggles on other aspects of the team’s play.

‘I don’t think our intensity struggled that much,’ Bliss said. ‘I think we struggled with our focus. We need to concentrate on our passes, getting the ball before we move, silly mistakes.’

Many of the mental lapses occurred in the midfield, resulting in SU failing to clear the ball on 5 of its 20 attempts. While the midfielders made more offensive contributions — Steve Vallone and Sean Lindsay each totaled two points — they struggled to make transitions to offense.

Without making connections between the offensive and defensive sides and maintaining possession, Desko was unable to rotate his offensive midfield units, where he still has not determined who will play on the first and second lines.

It also left Syracuse’s defense on the field for an inordinate amount of time.

‘We played a lot of defense today,’ Bliss said. ‘We got a little agitated with the offense because they weren’t taking care of the ball. I wasn’t too happy after today. I don’t think anyone on the team was happy.’

Still, Syracuse got enough from their offensive superstars to win. The Orangemen — who struggled with possession in their set offense — executed exquisitely on their unbalanced attack. Senior Mike Springer (three goals, three assists) and junior Mike Powell (two goals, three assists) led the offense.

Springer, a forward with a reputation for a shoot-first mentality, has six assists — nearly half his total from last year — in two preseason games.

‘They doubled earlier when I went one-on-one,’ Springer said. ‘I just had to pass it earlier. That’s something different this year.’

Published on February 12, 2003 at 12:00 pm