ITHACA, N.Y. – For Syracuse, Tuesday’s game started and ended with Mike Leveille.

When Cornell jumped out to an early lead on a Rocco Romero goal 19 seconds into the game, it was Leveille, the SU attack, who answered 90 seconds later with a goal on his signature move: a sweep around the goal, a quick turnaround on his defender and a strike to the back of the net to tie the game.

Two hours later, Leveille was putting the cherry on top of SU’s impressive 15-8 win, as he netted the team’s final goal to lead the No. 2 Orange past No. 5 Cornell for its seventh win in a row.

Leveille finished the game with five goals, tied for a career high. He added an assist to total six points – the fourth time in his career he has accomplished that feat.

The performance erased any notion of a slump for the senior attack, who was held scoreless for the first time all season in Saturday’s win over Princeton.

But after the game, he shrugged off his comeback performance.

‘It doesn’t really mean too much to me,’ Leveille said. ‘I had a lot of good looks today. Guys were setting me up and doing a good job of that. I’ve got to finish those, the other day I didn’t get as many shots. But whatever, we have guys that step up, and all that matters is we’re coming out on top.’

Leveille’s selfless notion has merit. When he saw the Princeton defense collapsing on him Saturday, Leveille substituted goals for assists, tallying two. His team still managed 13 goals.

‘Mike’s the kind of player that no matter how hard someone tries to keep him down he’s going to make huge plays whether it’s goals or assists,’ fellow attack Kenny Nims said. ‘Last week he had a couple assists, but he had so many plays that led to goals and hustle plays. He’s such a great player, you can’t keep him down for long.’

Cornell tried a different strategy against SU’s leading scorer Tuesday. Instead of committing numerous defenders on Leveille like Princeton did – leaving other dangerous SU attack open – Big Red head coach Jeff Tambroni stuck 6-foot-4, 235-pound Nick Gradinger on him, and tried to outmuscle the smaller Leveille.

It didn’t work. By the end of the first half, Leveille had two goals and an assist, and Gradinger had picked up three penalties as he slashed, pushed and was unnecessarily rough with Leveille and other SU attack.

‘I think he created some matchup problems for their defense tonight,’ SU head coach John Desko said of Leveille. ‘There was a very physical player on him, and he really rose to the occasion.’

Leveille’s quick start helped key a 7-2 run that the Big Red was never able to overcome. Against Cornell, Leveille scored three more goals than any other SU player, and quickly put to rest any notion that his team could suffer from a letdown game after a quick two-day turnaround.

For Desko, it’s something he’s seen all year from the anchor of an SU attack that ranked fourth in the nation in scoring average coming into the game.

‘I think Mike all year long in the big games when we need it most he’s played pretty well,’ Desko said.

The soft-spoken Leveille deflected – as he has all season – any attention for being the team’s leading scorer with 27 goals and a place on Tewaarton Trophy watch lists, for the best player in college lacrosse.

The biggest numbers for Syracuse’s tri-captain are 9-1, the Orange’s record after cruising past Cornell Tuesday.

‘As long as that keeps going, I’m happier than ever,’ Leveille said.

kbaustin@syr.edu

Published on April 8, 2008 at 12:00 pm