One slinks through defenses, meandering into perfect position. The other just blows by them, slashing toward the net.

Meet Joe Yevoli and John Christmas of the Virginia men’s lacrosse team. Sol Bliss plans to.

‘You need to be physical with them,’ Syracuse’s 6-foot-3, 218-pound defenseman said. ‘Christmas you need to be real physical with. He doesn’t like to get hit, doesn’t like to get beat up. Yevoli is the same way.’

But if Bliss wants to lay his trademark hits on Christmas and Yevoli tomorrow at 3 p.m. when Syracuse hosts Virginia in the Carrier Dome, he’ll have to catch them first. The speedy attackers will present a formidable challenge to the remade Orangeman defense.

Last season, as freshmen, no less, the pair combined for 69 goals and 25 assists. In two games against Syracuse — including the national semifinal, a 12-11, double-overtime SU win — Yevoli scored seven goals and Christmas added four.

Those statistics warrant one disclaimer: All that happened with now-graduated senior Conor Gill leading the Cavaliers charge.

‘We were anchored by Conor,’ UVa head coach Dom Starsia said. ‘Now, we’ve got two sophomores and a freshman. At that end of the field, people are probably trying to figure out what we’re about on offense.’

It was simple last season. Gill, quarterback-like, would survey the field in search of Yevoli, a master of finding a defense’s soft spot. Other times, Christmas’ break-neck speed and athleticism created openings.

This season, Yevoli has taken Gill’s role, freshman Matt Ward has slipped into Yevoli’s and Christmas, well, he still runs like a reindeer past defensemen. If all that fails, Virginia has a talented crop of midfielders led by senior Chris Rotelli, who rang up four goals and two assists last Saturday against Drexel.

In other words, roles have changed, but the talent has not.

‘They have a lot more skills than Army,’ SU head coach John Desko said. ‘You’re going to see them really dodge and shoot the ball. They play an exciting brand of lacrosse.’

To counter, Desko plans to have Bliss mark Christmas, Donn Vidosh take Yevoli and Dan DiPietro stick Ward.

‘We just have to play good team defense to cover them,’ DiPietro said. ‘Christmas is good enough to run by someone. But as long as we have guys sliding and recovering, we shouldn’t have much of a problem.’

Especially since the Orangemen’s retooled defense seems to have gelled quickly. Last Saturday, the SU back line prevented Army from adding to a four-goal first-half lead.

In the second half, Syracuse clamped down, holding Army to two goals.

‘It took a whole half to get our communication down,’ SU goalie Jay Pfeifer said. ‘But (the defense) looked much better in the second half. They played great.’

A second-half offensive awakening — SU tallied 10 goals after the break — helped, too.

Tomorrow, Syracuse’s attack will once again be without Liam Banks, who’s still nursing a sore right shoulder, Desko said. Banks missed last Saturday’s game and a Feb. 13 scrimmage against Maryland.

Mike Powell, meanwhile, will play despite a bruised left thumb. He injured it on an early check against Army, and it bothered him in the second half. At practice Wednesday, one side of Powell’s hand appeared swollen, and he said he will wear a more protective glove tomorrow.

While Powell tries to protect his hand, Bliss will try to protect Syracuse from Yevoli and Christmas.

‘Yevoli is so smart away from the ball,’ Bliss said. ‘He knows right where to put himself. And Christmas is an athlete. He’s going to be quicker than anyone we play against.’

Published on February 27, 2003 at 12:00 pm