Syracuse lacrosse fans disappointed with last season’s first round NCAA Tournament exit can look for immediate improvement this season.

In addition to bringing in a top recruiting class, SU head coach John Desko secured three key transfers this summer.

Joe Yevoli and Nathan Kenney, both members of the 2003 Virginia national championship team, have enrolled in graduate school at Syracuse and plan to suit up for the Orange in 2006. John Carozza will also join the team after his freshman season at the University of Delaware.

As opposed to football and basketball, out-of-conference transfers in lacrosse don’t need to sit out a year.

‘We were pretty thin last year numbers-wise,’ Desko said. ‘We feel that we had a good offseason. We start on (Sept.) 11th and we’ll hit the ground running and evaluate the talent that’s come in with the transfers.’

Yevoli, the biggest name of the three, was part of a dominant Cavalier attack with classmate John Christmas. In his freshman season in 2002, Yevoli notched 50 points and earned Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year honors.

Yevoli scored 49 points in his sophomore season, including three goals and two assists against Maryland in the NCAA Tournament semifinals, capping a 31-game scoring streak. But at the beginning of his junior season in 2004, Yevoli sustained a back injury while weightlifting that limited him on the field.

‘I had two breaks in my back and I didn’t realize it,’ Yevoli said. ‘The third one aggravated it and I was in pain.’

It was misdiagnosed at first as a hip problem but before last season, Yevoli had an MRI at home on Long Island and discovered three stress-fractured bones in his back. He said the pain in his lower back was so bad at one point that he couldn’t run.

As a result, Yevoli redshirted last season but decided to leave Virginia because of personal problems for his final year of eligibility.

Virginia head coach Dom Starsia hadn’t planned to have Yevoli back this season and didn’t portion him any scholarship money. Still, Starsia and Yevoli both admitted that wasn’t the only factor in Yevoli’s decision to transfer.

‘At the end of the day, it’s not any single thing from my standpoint,’ Starsia said. ‘Would funding a boy’s scholarship complicate it? Yes, but I think there were a lot of things involved.

‘I’ve got no problems with Joseph. I’m disappointed that maybe he didn’t come back to UVa., but I’m not mad in any way.’

Yevoli asked for a release from Virginia during the 2005 NCAA Tournament and was denied at first. He again applied for a release after talking with school officials and was granted his request at the beginning of August.

‘He completely surprised us with the request for the release,’ Starsia said. ‘When we first got it, I said, ‘I’ve got a playoff game in two days. I haven’t had a moment to consider the ramifications of all this.”

Yevoli said the scholarship money was never a consideration.

‘The scholarship really had nothing to do with it,’ Yevoli said. ‘I know that’s what coach said but that’s not what it was. I didn’t find this out until after the season, but he was never 100 percent happy with me. I think he kind of doubted me.

‘He made it seem like he wasn’t giving me the release as a punishment and that was the hardest part. At the end of all this, he was never the one who gave me the release. I had to talk to the president of the University and he gave me the release.

‘If coach just would’ve given me my release, things would have been so much easier. We could have had a good relationship. Who knows what could’ve happened? If he had just given me the release, maybe I would’ve gone back to Virginia. It just became so hard and so frustrating.’

After scouting his transfer options, which included 2005 National Champion Johns Hopkins, Yevoli knew Syracuse was the place he wanted to be. He had a friend on the SU lacrosse team, Edward Warszycki, who had a room for him and after talking with a dean in SU’s information management program, he found the perfect academic fit for him.

Kenney, who also entered Virginia in 2002, did not play last season. After completing his sociology degree in 2004, he took last season off to re-evaluate his academic situation. He eventually chose Syracuse for the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and couldn’t be happier with his decision.

‘The Newhouse School is one of the best academic programs in the country,’ Kenney said. ‘I had the time of my life at Virginia and so far I’m having the time of my life at Syracuse.

‘I’m ready to play this year. I’ve had a year off and I’m ready to put on that Syracuse uniform.’

Desko said he wanted Carozza to enroll at SU as a freshman, but Carozza wanted to try juggling football and lacrosse at Delaware. After redshirting for his 2004 football season and earning Colonial Athletic Association all-rookie honors in lacrosse, he decided to come to SU.

Desko’s moves this offseason prove that Syracuse never has to rebuild, only to reload on talent.

‘I’m good to go,’ Yevoli said. ‘I want to start and I want to play a lot, but I know I’m gonna have to earn that. I can tell already that this place is so much different from Virginia.’

Published on September 6, 2005 at 12:00 pm