BALTIMORE — Kyle Harrison’s body language showed the disappointment. Harrison, a junior Tewaaraton Trophy finalist this season, found himself reduced to slumping shoulders and a frown.

The Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse midfielder walked around slowly after Saturday’s game between his No. 1 seeded Blue Jays and No. 4 seeded Syracuse, taking little comfort in the words of his coaches and teammates.

The Orange upsets the Blue Jays, 15-9, Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The game was a rematch of JHU’s 17-5 thrashing of SU on March 20. Though the Blue Jays overmatched Syracuse talentwise, SU outplayed its opponent down the stretch, outscoring JHU, 8-1, in the final 18:16. SU faces Navy on Monday at 2:30 p.m. for the national championship.

At the postgame press conference, Harrison looked near tears, speaking slowly. His frustration was clear.

‘They outplayed us today,’ Harrison said. ‘We didn’t take them lightly. They are a great team. They have great players.’

Harrison, probably the most athletic player on the field (JHU head coach Dave Pietramala has referred to him as more of a basketball player than a lacrosse player), felt responsible for the Blue Jays loss.

SU freshman Danny Brennan, who was used sparingly until season’s end, won 16 of 27 face-offs in the game, while Harrison won only three. Brennan’s success was a big reason why SU won, SU head coach John Desko said.

‘We had to change the tempo somewhat of how we normally play today,’ Desko said, ‘and we had to win the face-offs in the game. And I think our guys did that. That was probably the difference.’

With SU controlling the tempo and JHU keying on attacker Michael Powell, a highlight waiting to break out, the Orange spread the ball to a well-kept secret, graduate student Kevin Dougherty, who scored a career-high five goals.

‘I was just closing my eyes and shooting,’ Dougherty said. ‘I realized pretty early that they weren’t sliding to me at all. I think it’s pretty easy for anyone on our team to be successful when you’re not getting slid to.’

Dougherty netted two goals in the first half on laser beams from 15 yards out.

‘The theory behind (JHU’s defensive scheme) from Johns Hopkins’ point of view is a team defense,’ Dougherty said. ‘They were concentrating on certain guys on our team. They were sagging towards Mike and Sean (Lindsay). They were worried about those guys.’

Though many SU fans traveled to Baltimore for the semifinals, it will be difficult for them to overwhelm Navy fans Monday.

Navy’s proximity to nearby Annapolis helps its numbers.

The matchup pits two former teammates head to head. Powell and Navy sophomore Ian Dingman grew up minutes from each other and both attended Carthage high school. They played together from sixth grade until Powell’s senior season at Carthage.

‘Mike would always draw slides and a lot of times the slide would draw from my guy,’ Dingman said. ‘I would just finish the pass.

‘It’ll be great to play against him.’

‘After I saw (Navy) won, I was really excited,’ Powell said. ‘It’s going to be a good day for Carthage fans to sit down and watch two old Carthage guys that played together and were a pretty good duo.’

Powell and Dingman’s styles are polar opposites. Powell is lightning quick while Dingman uses his size (6 feet 3 inches, 248 pounds) to bowl his way to the goal, knocking down everything in his way.

‘I give him a lot of credit for my high school success just because he made my job real easy,’ Powell said. ‘You’ve heard me call Brian Nee a couple times, ‘Shaq.’ Ian Dingman’s definitely a Shaq that I remember.’

‘He’s a competitor and he’s going to bring it, likewise for myself.’

Published on May 29, 2004 at 12:00 pm