Greg Havalchak has an innate ability to frustrate opponents.

Usually, Rutgers men’s lacrosse coach Jim Stagnitta deals with the effects, but Saturday, Havalchak left Syracuse smarting from his special talent.

‘He’s carried us for periods of time throughout the season,’ Stagnitta said before the game. ‘But he’s still a freshman. He still does things that’ll make you pull your hair out.’

Stagnitta’s tresses — he sports a short blond haircut and is slightly balding — already appear to have lost that battle. But during the Scarlet Knights’ 12-11 overtime win over Syracuse at the Carrier Dome, Havalchak provided both sides with fits of frustration.

Most important to Rutgers, Havalchak made 14 saves, holding SU to 11 goals — four below its season average — despite facing 43 shots.

‘I thought their goalie was tremendous,’ SU coach John Desko said. ‘I looked down (at the stat sheet) and was very surprised he only had 14. They must’ve all been pretty spectacular saves.’

Havalchak credited his special play to a more routine part of preparation.

‘We had a real good scouting report today,’ Havalchak said before being interrupted.

‘He usually doesn’t read the scouting reports,’ Rutgers midfielder Ken Springer said.

Stagnitta rolled his eyes.

Havalchak doesn’t enjoy reading the scouting report his coaches prepare for him before a game. Normally, he just puts the report aside, letting the rest of the team concern itself with player tendencies and abilities.

But Friday night, Havalchak found himself hanging out with two seniors, Nick Schmidt and Brandon Jones. Schmidt demanded that the freshman start studying the bulky booklet.

‘(The scouting report) was huge,’ Havalchak said. “I was like, ‘I’m not going to read it.’ I try not to read it, because then I’ll start guessing, and when they shoot high I’ll be low — or something dumb like that.’

On Saturday, Havalchak was the one making the Orangemen look foolish.

When the Orangemen shot, Havalchak knew where they’d be aiming. So when SU attacker Mike Springer fired a game-high 13 shots, Havalchak knew most of them would be low. Ditto for Syracuse midfielder Steve Vallone, who was robbed of a potential game-winner from close range at the end of regulation.

Havalchak was at his best in the fourth period, when Syracuse finally got its offense on track. The Orangemen’s offense struggled throughout but mounted a comeback in the fourth, pelting the Scarlet Knight net with 16 shots.

Besides Vallone’s chance, Havalchak stopped five other point-blank chances in the fourth quarter.

‘It’s frustrating when our defense is working hard to get us the ball, we make a good move, have a shot and he comes out and makes a big save,’ SU attacker Liam Banks said. ‘There’s not much you can do about it. He was pretty hot today.’

But Havalchak saved some frustration for his coach. He drew two penalties, one for cross-checking Syracuse’s Mike Powell and a one-minute unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty for moving the goal off its line and turning it sideways.

With 10:20 left in the second period, Havalchak nudged the goal slightly as he moved to the side. To draw the officials’ attention, Havalchak intentionally shoved the goal 90 degrees to the side.

‘The referee got really mad at me,’ Havalchak said. ‘He was yelling at me. The goal got knocked off, and I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to make it obvious.’

‘Oh, it was obvious,’ Stagnitta said, rolling his eyes.

Published on April 13, 2003 at 12:00 pm