BALTIMORE – By the looks of the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team’s celebration after its 14-13 national title win over Navy on Monday, you wouldn’t know that the Orange had just won SU’s ninth lacrosse title. You wouldn’t know that many players on the field had already been in the winner’s circle before, taking home the title home in 2002.

No, the helmets, sticks and assorted other debris that covered the field of M&T Bank Stadium, making the field look more like Bourbon Street after Mardi Gras than a playing surface, left the viewer with an entirely different impression.

It looked like a celebration fit for a team, well, like Navy. The Midshipmen have never won a national title, haven’t played in a title game since 1975 and haven’t even appeared in the NCAA Tournament since 1999.

Now stack that up against the Orange’s resume: nine national championships and 22 straight trips to the NCAA Tournament and Final Four. Now, any national championship is cause for celebration, but this one seemed to be just a little sweeter for John Desko and his Orange.

Why? Let’s think back to Memorial Day weekend one year ago. Johns Hopkins – one of only three teams that has seen its name grace the NCAA Tournament bracket more than Syracuse’s – had just drubbed the then Orangemen, 19-8. The loss ended a season most SU players just as soon looked to forget.

Six losses and a trip to the Final Four in any other program equal a reason to celebrate. In Syracuse, where 22 straight Final Fours have driven the bar so high that only a national title equates with success, the season was considered by many a failure.

‘You never like losing in the playoffs,’ Desko said. ‘But I guess the expectations are pretty high here.’

But the Orange regrouped. It admittedly carried an extra burden this season. Another season like last might mean the beginning of the end of one of the greatest dynasties in NCAA lacrosse history.

After winning its first three games, SU again ran in to those hated Blue Jays. And again Johns Hopkins embarrassed the Orange, 17-5, making SU question its ability.

‘We had a chip on our shoulder all season,’ senior Sean Lindsay said. ‘After the first Hopkins game, a lot of guys were like, ‘Here we go again.’ ‘

But this Syracuse team, led by the group of five senior starters who had been there before, refused to cave. SU won 12 of 13 down the stretch to clinch the title.

A team which on paper looks a lot like last year’s looked nothing like that on the field. Where last season’s team folded and lost the close games – four of SU’s six losses last season came by one goal and two of those came in overtime – this year’s edition of the Orange thrived in them. Two of SU’s NCAA Tournament victories came by one goal. The first of those games, an 8-7 victory over Georgetown in the quarterfinals, made Syracuse realize it could again go all the way, Lindsay said.

Against Johns Hopkins there would be no repeat disasters. This time, the Blue Jays left the field heads down, shell-shocked as to the beating they had just received.

On Monday, the Orange completed the return of SU lacrosse, officially proving to the lacrosse world that last season was nothing but a fluke. By the end of last season, the sense of invisibility that surrounded the SU lacrosse program was erased. Now, at the end of this one, it has returned.

After surviving the pesky Midshipmen, SU’s raucous celebration was certainly warranted. This was a unique championship, different from any of the other eight. It proved Syracuse still has its luster and simply had an off year last season.

‘Coach (Roy Simmons Jr.) told us before the game,’ Lindsay said, ‘that the second one is always sweeter.’

After last season’s mess, this title may be the sweetest of all.

Michael Licker is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear regularly. E-mail him at mjlicker@syr.edu.

Published on May 30, 2004 at 12:00 pm