VILLANOVA, Pa. – Brian Megill made no effort to wipe the smug smile off his face as he plunked the Big East tournament trophy directly in front of his seat at the postgame press conference.

‘Enjoy that,’ he said contently.

The weight on Syracuse’s shoulders was finally alleviated. The imminent danger of becoming the first Orange lacrosse team to miss the NCAA tournament since 2007 was removed with two near-perfect performances in the inaugural Big East tournament.

The third-seeded Orange dismantled No. 4 St. John’s 12-4 in the Big East tournament title game before a crowd of 2,586 at Villanova Stadium. After a sub-par regular season left SU’s postseason hopes all but dead, the Orange turned in arguably its best two games of the season to earn a chance at the NCAA title.

A clean slate to make up for all the disappointment of the regular season.

‘We’re here now,’ Syracuse attack Tommy Palasek said. ‘Now in the season, you can say what you want about the season, but there’s still four games left for everyone in the country. Everyone’s record doesn’t really matter anymore.

‘Yeah, it feels good that we were able to keep the streak alive of getting to the playoffs, but we still have the same goal to get to the national championship game and win it.’

On Saturday, there was never really any doubt that SU was going to come out on top.

Syracuse jumped on top early when Bobby Eilers found the net from 10 yards out off a feed from Palasek. Eilers connected on a man-up goal a little more than five minutes later on another feed from Palasek to give SU a 2-0 lead.

The Red Storm succumbed to the early pressure and committed two early one-minute penalties to add fuel to the Orange attack. Maltz contributed a goal on an extra-man opportunity and Palasek notched one of his three goals to provide SU with a 4-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Three more goals in the second quarter and the Orange was well on its way. 

‘I don’t think there’s a lacrosse coach out there that can tell you they want to play Syracuse in early May,’ St. John’s head coach Jason Miller said. ‘They seem to hit their stride this time of year, they seem to hit an extra gear this time of year and it’s been that way ever since I was a kid.’

The extra gear that seemed to be missing the entire season found its way back into SU’s arsenal. It was absent when the Orange faltered at the hands Georgetown inside the Carrier Dome last month. And it’s the same gear that never showed up in crunch time against the nation’s top programs.

But on the heels of a 15-6 thrashing of Villanova in the semifinals, the Orange did one better.

It was complete domination.

SU held its opponent scoreless in the first half for the first time all season, taking a 7-0 lead into halftime. And on the offensive side of the ball the balance from Thursday’s game continued. Eight players put the ball in the net for the Orange. 

‘I think we have a more assertive step in our offense,’ Eilers said, ‘we’re more willing to drive to the goal, making the right plays and if the shots not there we’re willing to keep rotating it and the ball stays hot and we find the open man and I think that’s really what’s happening.’

As the Syracuse players piled on top of each other to take the celebratory picture in front of their bench, there were few reminders that this was the same team that had been battered in the regular season. 

Each game’s importance was ratcheted up with the season on the line and the Orange rose to the occasion in a big way.

And now, the Orange has a brand new season to make up for the other one.

‘I’m not ready for my college career, college lacrosse career to be over,’ Eilers said.’ I like hanging out with these guys, I enjoy the practices. Before the semifinal game we talked about how we didn’t want this to be our last practice, so I guess I took that to heart.’

adtredin@syr.edu

Published on May 6, 2012 at 12:00 pm