PRINCETON, N.J. – The lights flickered on and off. The seats, including used couches, classroom chairs and a leather recliner, were scattered around the room.

Despite the disappointed and sad state of Syracuse, head coach John Desko couldn’t resist making light of the disorganized press conference room.

‘We have a prison here,’ Desko cracked.

But as Desko and his players left the press conference, they were still in a prison. Its 12-8 loss to No. 5 Princeton Saturday in front of 5,874 fans at Princeton Stadium drops the No. 17 Orange to 3-5 on the season.

The Orange is in serious risk of suffering a losing season for the first time since 1975. The loss brings SU closer to college lacrosse’s purgatory – no postseason bid. At this rate, the Orange will fail to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1982.

Only a .500 finish rights the ship, but that requires Syracuse to win four of its last five games. Two of the Orange’s matchups include No. 3 Albany and No. 1 Cornell, which visits Syracuse at the Carrier Dome tonight at 7.

‘Get ready for Cornell,’ SU attackman Dan Hardy offered as a solution to correct Syracuse’s struggles.

The Orange’s play on the field showed the offensive and defensive issues that have plagued SU most of the season. That didn’t change Saturday when Syracuse allowed a team which has made only 25 percent of its shots this season to score in double digits.

The Orange also failed to correct its offensive woes. SU didn’t score until 6:30 remained in the second period and faced a 4-1 deficit. Syracuse was limited by Princeton’s strong defensive pressure and impressive play of the Tigers’ goalie, All-American Alex Hewit, who made 12 saves. Hewit was able to rely mostly on his defensemen to stop the Orange from creeping to the doorstep.

Sticks flew as Hardy and SU midfielder Steven Brooks entered above the crease. Well constructed passes simply resulted in shots nipping the pipe or crossbar. The Orange tried to orchestrate an aggressive but patient attack. But it didn’t work.

‘We knew they were going to be tough coming in,’ said Syracuse attackman Kenny Nims, who had two goals. ‘They’re a pretty stingy (defense). I felt like we got some good looks at the beginning. We just didn’t capitalize on them. It came back to haunt us in the end.’

Desko’s had his team play a possession-oriented offense. The strategy worked in last year’s two-goal win over Princeton, but Nims thought the offense played tentatively. Syracuse worried more about not committing a turnover than creating chemistry.

Even when SU tried to attack, most of the play built around individual offensive moves rather than team chemistry. Six of the Orange’s eight goals were unassisted.

‘We stressed to stop one-on-one matchups all day long,’ Princeton defenseman Dan Cocoziello said. ‘We did a great job on that. They had a couple of nice goals and a couple of nice runs. But when you have a guy like Alex (Hewit), as much as those guys are shooting, they’re probably thinking to themselves it’s not going to go in.’

After Syracuse struggled to score in the first half, the Orange looked to reduce its 9-4 deficit. Hardy said the team huddled together and concluded it could make a similar run as it did against Loyola last week where it scored three goals in the last minute.

This time the Orange scored three-straight goals to open the third quarter to cut the lead to 9-7 with 8:41 remaining.

‘It was at a crucial point in the game,’ Hardy said of his goal at the 8:41 mark. ‘We were going on a little run there. I was hoping that we could get a couple of faceoffs or get a couple of fast breaks. It was a tough battle at the faceoff X. They were capitalizing on some mistakes like Coach (Desko) was saying. They never gave us a chance to get back into it.’

Time is running out for Syracuse to break free of its poor play. Players insist they have the potential to replicate moments of strong offense – such as that last-minute Loyola run or the third-quarter burst against Princeton – during the whole game. But its play on the field has suggested otherwise.

‘We could’ve moved better,’ Desko said. ‘We were nervous to start the game out. As the game went on, we kept playing. All-in-all we lost the game.’

Published on April 8, 2007 at 12:00 pm