ITHACA – Everyone who understands the difference between a dodge and a slide knows: If you wanna beat the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team, you better stop Michael Powell. Doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure that out. Powell, with his five points per game, could be the best player in the nation.

Against Cornell last night, a pair of SU midfielders – Steve Vallone and Sean Lindsay – took that conventional wisdom and smashed it over their knee.

Despite Powell being held to just one point in the first half and receiving just five goals from their attack, Vallone and Lindsay carried Syracuse to a 12-10 win over the Big Red at Schoellkopf Field, which for most of the night served as a giant Slip-N-Slide.

Powell’s brilliance eventually took over, as he finished with three goals and two assists. But Lindsay and Vallone, playing in a new, midfield-based offense, paced the Orangemen (8-1) for most of the contest. Lindsay poured in three goals, while Vallone scored a game-high four.

Wanna beat Syracuse? Better think about stopping its midfield.

‘You pick your poison with this team,’ Cornell head coach Jeff Tambroni said. ‘I’d much rather have – and this is no offense to them – Lindsay or Vallone shooting from 8 feet than have Powell or Crockett shoot from 3.’

Didn’t work last night. Cornell (5-3) geared its defense to stop SU’s powerful attack – and did. It held Brian Crockett, who came into the game the nation’s third-leading scorer, pointless while containing Powell and Brian Nee to a combined four goals.

But by closing them off, the Big Red’s defense created inviting lanes for Vallone and Lindsay to shoot through – and they did. Vallone and Lindsay, after receiving passes up top, jogged toward the net with little resistance before unleashing shots that left Cornell goalie Brandon Ross defenseless.

‘We both felt good shooting on the run,’ Vallone said. ‘We just kept taking our shots.’

Cornell’s defense also allowed Powell to display his increasingly important passing skills. Facing constant double-teams and playing in conditions not conducive to his quick-cutting style, Powell had to create offense by passing instead of his poetic dodges.

That showed most when Powell heaved a cross-field pass to Vallone in the second quarter. With SU clinging to a 4-3 lead, that moments earlier had been a commanding three-goal advantage, Vallone rifled a shot by Ross to give SU command.

‘That just goes to show what type of player (Powell) is,’ Lindsay said. ‘You get so worried about him, you forget about the other five guys out there.’

Even with Vallone and Lindsay’s big games, Syracuse found itself fighting for breathing room. After falling behind 4-1 in the first 12 minutes, Cornell pulled to within one goal on three occasions and never trailed by more than three. Cornell was able to hang so tight thanks to winning 14 out of 26 face-offs.

But the Big Red never held a lead. Thanks to timely goals by its midfield, Syracuse doused Cornell anytime it heated up. With six seconds left in third, Powell found Vallone, who deposited his fourth goal in the net. Syracuse maintained at least a two-goal lead for the remainder.

‘They just kept pulling away,’ Cornell defenseman Tim DeBlois said. ‘They never let us close that gap.’

With Vallone and Lindsay’s superlative performances, the Orangemen probably didn’t need much help beating Cornell, but the Big Red gave it to them anyway. It committed too many turnovers and botched almost as many scoring opportunities. The Big Red, which before the game set a goal of 75 percent on man-up chances, went 1-for-6 with a man advantage.

Its first possession resulted in a giveaway, and its second ended with a shot that could’ve counted for three points in football.

In between Cornell’s bumbling, Vallone rocketed a shot by Ross. The game’s first few possessions – excellence from SU’s midfield juxtaposed by Cornell’s sloppiness – provided a fitting microcosm for the game to come.

‘(Vallone and Lindsay) have seen a lot of lacrosse,’ SU head coach John Desko said. ‘We’re looking for them to step up their scoring. Tonight they had good opportunities, and they capitalized.’

Published on April 13, 2004 at 12:00 pm