All-World Day from Midfield Pushes Men’s Lacrosse Passed Hobart
By Nick Kuzma
Men’s Lacrosse Beat Reporter
We are just four games into the season, and it is no secret that the 2020 Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse team (4-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) has talent all over the field.
The team brought back arguably the best goalie in the ACC, multiple key pieces on the defensive front, and brought in All-American Second Teamer Chase Scanlan at the attack.
However, the midfield position may be where the team is the strongest.
“I’m not sure there’s a better midfield in the country,” Hobart Lacrosse Head Coach Greg Raymond said following Syracuse’s 21-13 victory over his Statesmen (3-1, 0-0 Northeast) last Friday.
The starting midfield pulled the majority of the offensive weight for SU against Hobart. The trio of Brendan Curry, Tucker Dordevic, and Jamie Trimboli combined for 12 goals and 17 total points.
“[Hobart was] having a little bit of trouble sliding quickly, so once we beat our guy, get a couple steps, we were able to stick some shots past [the goalie],” Brendan Curry said.
It sounds simple, but with a performance like that, coupled with the previous game against Army where a middie scored every Syracuse goal, this group looks like it could be tops in the nation like Raymond alluded.
“I don’t think we would ever doubt ourselves against anybody, and I think this team kind of brings that mindset [that we are the best in the country] every week,” Tucker Dordevic said.
Dordevic himself had a career day, scoring five goals and tallying seven total points. The performance was the redshirt sophomore’s first multi-goal game since May 13, 2018.
“We knew it was going to happen, it was just a matter of when, and he hasn’t played in a couple years basically,” SU Head Coach John Desko said. “So good to get him back out there, and he goes hard all the time, and I was very happy that things dropped more often tonight for him.”
Dordevic missed all of 2019 with an injury and has had to quickly get used to what a Division I Lacrosse game day is like again.
“The first couple games I was definitely kind of jittery. The first game was pretty emotional for me, so I was just kind of filled with a bunch of stuff. So, I’ve kind of, slowly as the season’s gone, kind of forgotten about that, now I’m just starting to have fun and looking forward to the
games to come.”
The next test for SU is in a familiar opponent. On Saturday, the ‘Cuse takes on Johns Hopkins (1-3, 0-0 Big Ten) for the 59th time, continuing one of the best rivalries in college sports.
The Orange and the Blue Jays have faced off in 13 NCAA Tournaments, eight of which were on Championship Weekend. Johns Hopkins leads the all-time series 30-27-1.
With a win, Syracuse would move to (5-0) for the first time since 2016, and for the fifth time under John Desko.
This game also has a personal connection to one of SU’s star midfielders.
Brendan Curry grew up in Maryland and following Johns Hopkins Lacrosse. CitrusTV Men’s Lacrosse Beat Reporter Cameron Macauley has the story on Citrustv.com and @CitrusTVSports.
Faceoff from Homewood Field is set for 1 o’clock.
npkuzma@syr.edu | @nkuz71
