Hopkins Draws Shortstick, Is Denied in Bid to Repeat

Strategic Adjustment by Syracuse Keys Record 10th Title: Syracuse 13, Johns Hopkins 10

FOXBOROUGH, Mass., May 26 -- Johns Hopkins Coach Dave Pietramala was asked to pose for a picture with his two sons following a 13-10 loss to Syracuse in the men's lacrosse national title game before a record crowd of 48,970 at Gillette Stadium on Monday.

One son wore a replica jersey of senior midfielder Paul Rabil. The other wore a jersey with the number of senior attackman Kevin Huntley.

In the game's aftermath, it was clear that Johns Hopkins (11-6) had lost more than just its chance to break a tie with Syracuse (16-2) for most NCAA lacrosse titles. (Each team entered tied for the record with nine.)

Rabil had six goals and one assist and Huntley added two goals and one assist on Monday. In a 10-9 victory over Duke in the semifinals on Saturday, seniors accounted for seven goals and two assists. They finished with 12 victories in the NCAA tournament, a record for a four-year class.

"When you look back at their legacy, three national championship games, two national championships and a majority of them are over 3.0 students," Pietramala said. "How do you put into words how special these guys are?"

The tone for the game was set early. Syracuse fans comprised the vast majority of the crowd; many wore orange T-shirts that read "We're Back." Less than one minute into the game, they started a "Let's Go Orange!" chant.

Midway through the first quarter, senior shortstick defender John Carrozza leveled Huntley with a legal hit. The hit was something of a redemption for Carrozza. In a regular season game against Johns Hopkins in 2006, Carrozza was knocked out and left the game for good following a legal hit by a Johns Hopkins player.

Soon after Monday's hit, two other trends became apparent. One was that Johns Hopkins sophomore goalkeeper Michael Gvozden was playing very well. He had 13 saves in the first 25 minutes.

The other was that Syracuse's shooting and the focus of its offense had much room for improvement. Attackmen took 11 shots in the first half. At halftime, the Orange led 6-5.

At halftime, members of the 1983 Syracuse team were honored on the 25th anniversary of their national title. Current Syracuse coach John Desko and assistant Roy Simmons III were assistants on that team but were not present for the midfield ceremony.

Instead, the veteran coaches were in the locker room devising a simple scheme for success: Attack the shortstick defensive midfielders.

Of the 15 shots the Orange took in the second half, at least nine were from players who were defended by a shortstick. That tone, too, was set early.