Forget NyQuil. Need sleep? Check out a Syracuse men’s lacrosse game. Saturday’s was about as action-packed as a Meg Ryan movie.

For this, the Orangemen are blameless — unless you consider being too talented a vice. Indeed, it’s ironic that the nation’s most prolific offensive team often plays such snore-inducing games.

The problem is opposing teams have developed a counter to Syracuse’s run-and-gun offense. Nothing. Well, a bit of a passing and some trotting around the perimeter perhaps. But little shooting. Less scoring. And not a hint of action.

So while the Orangemen beat Brown, 16-7, Saturday in the Carrier Dome, the crowd snoozed.

Brown took full advantage of lacrosse’s lack of a shot clock, plopping themselves in the SU zone and walking the ball around. The SU attack, meanwhile, stood on the other side of midfield and watched.

‘It was like the game against Hobart,’ SU head coach John Desko said. ‘The score was a little different (SU beat Hobart, 15-12), but it was a similar type of game. Brown did a nice job trying to keep the tempo at a slower pace, especially in the first half. They were very patient.’

Others were not so patient. With 40 seconds left and Syracuse ahead by nine goals, a spectator watching the Orangemen move up the field bellowed, ‘Forty seconds, guys. That’s time for two more goals.’

Fans want to see action, scoring. Or, at the very least, shooting. The Bears enjoyed several settled attacks early in the first quarter, yet, with 7:30 left, they had attempted just one shot.

Pity SU goaltender Jay Pfeifer. He robotically moved through the crease as Brown ever so slowly moved the ball around the perimeter.

‘We take a lot of shots,’ Pfeifer said. ‘That helps (the other goalie) get in a rhythm. The other team doesn’t take many shots, and you can’t get in any rhythm.’

And the crowd can’t get into the game. The slow-down strategy, in addition to being ineffective, is terrible for the sport of lacrosse. Who wants to watch Mike Powell, one of the sport’s most electric offensive stars, stand at midfield with his hand on his hip?

No team, to be sure, can allow the Orangemen to accelerate the game’s tempo to their preferred warp speed. But would it kill an opponent to take a shot once in a while?

Though Brown held the ball for the majority of the first half, it was outshot, 23-16. And after the game, head coach Scott Nelson said, ‘I thought the way we played in the first half was pretty impressive.’

Maybe it was. I couldn’t tell through my drooping eyelids.

Worst of all, the do-nothing strategy is a cop-out. It’s a defeatist mind-set, and when other teams mail it in, the game has all the personality of a postal worker.

Let’s get something straight. This is not lacrosse bashing. Anyone who saw last year’s Final Four knows that this sport can be as exciting as any. This is strategy bashing, a shot at the coaches who are willing to turn off the SU offense at the cost of turning off fans.

Syracuse fought back Saturday, imposing its style instead of passively accepting Brown’s. The Orangemen rode Brown’s goalie and defense hard after every save and possession change. It resulted in chances, goals and, ultimately, victory.

Afterward, Powell called riding ‘a lost art.’ Well, the Syracuse attack unit needs to become a cluster of Picassos, riding enough to add some color to bland lacrosse canvases.

‘They put constant pressure on the goalie,’ Brown netminder Mike Levin said, ‘so you can never relax.’

Relax? We’re practically comatose.

Pete Iorizzo is the sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear regularly. E-mail him at pniorizz@syr.edu.

Published on March 30, 2003 at 12:00 pm