It was what I expected to hear from a struggling team.

A month ago on Tuesday, March 21, Syracuse lacrosse was 1-3, preparing for Hobart and trying to avoid the team’s worst start in more than a quarter century. Junior defenseman Steve Panarelli told me the team’s goals hadn’t changed. In a player-only meeting, Panarelli and fellow captain John Wright told the team they still wanted to make the NCAA tournament and make a big run.

‘Our morale is better than you would expect,’ Panarelli said in March. ‘We’re staying positive. There’s no lack of confidence; we know we have the people to do it.’

Panarelli is one of those guys who tells you what he’s thinking and doesn’t usually dance around a question. I didn’t think he was lying to me, but I just had a hard time buying what he was saying. The Orange has the talent, but with injuries, inexperience and things just not clicking, I thought the season might be lost. Especially after the next game, when the Orange lost to Hobart in heartbreaking fashion, 9-8.

But since that low point, SU has rattled off five straight victories, the last an overtime win against Albany on Friday.

It turns out Panarelli’s statement was less of the public relations-type answer I thought I was getting and instead was exactly what he believed. A lot of times it’s easy to say the team still believes it can win, and not as easy to actually believe it. But this team truly did.

In regard to a question about the heart of this year’s squad in comparison to other ones he has coached, SU head coach John Desko said, ‘If it isn’t the best one (I’ve coached), it’s right up there, because of everything that we’ve had to go through.’

Heart is something this team does not lack, and because of it, the season wasn’t lost.

SU’s morale had to stay high, it had to be confident and there could be no negativity, especially when you consider what it was facing.

After dropping the game to Hobart, the Orange fell to 1-4, its worst start since 1975. Many, including myself, began thinking that the run of 23 straight postseasons could be broken.

How couldn’t you?

The Orange already had four losses, were starting a freshman goalie and attackman Greg Niewieroski, along with middies Greg Rommel and Steven Brooks were lost to season-ending injuries.

‘All year this team has been faced with so much adversity,’ Panarelli said Friday. ‘From injuries to close games to the ball not bouncing our way.’

But the Orange has come together, with a mix of youth and upperclassmen finally finding a comfort zone, and has now guaranteed itself a .500 record – good enough to make the Orange eligible for the postseason. With SU’s strength of schedule, as well as national prestige, a playoff spot is all but sealed.

That accomplishment, just like the rest of the season, followed a simple mantra: Nothing has come easy.

Friday’s game was a great example. Albany came back from a six-goal deficit with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter to tie the game. The Orange triumphed in overtime, but the game almost slipped out of its grasp several times.

But the win is most important, and this was an especially big one for the Orange. Now the team is in an interesting spot. Gone is the immense pressure to salvage the season, and here is a new burden: not letting the momentum fade.

Judging upon how the Orange responded to the early challenges of the season, a letdown should not be a problem.

‘The guys have had a taste for winning,’ Desko said. ‘(We) have had to work very hard to get where we are now. So I’m not worried about a letdown.’

Desko is right. But the Orange was in a similar situation, battling back from a slow start in 2005, and slipped. Syracuse started 1-3 in 2005, went on to win six of its next seven games, topped off by a victory against Albany. But the next game, the Orange fell to Massachusetts, and then lost to the Minutemen in the postseason.

In an eerily similar situation, this year’s Orange will follow up the Albany victory by hosting UMass. The 2005 team didn’t have to overcome as much as this year’s squad, and hopefully for SU, its fortitude will prevent the pattern from repeating itself. It also helps that Syracuse has had this game marked on its calendar since last year.

‘There’s no denying both teams don’t really like each other,’ Panarelli said. ‘They broke our streak last year, and we definitely want to get back at those guys.’

It’s good the next game is not one the Orange could overlook. Right now, after building up such a head of steam and overcoming so much, the last thing SU can afford is to lose that momentum heading toward the postseason.

Panarelli believes it would be hard for this team to ease up now.

‘This team hasn’t quit, we never put our heads down,’ Panarelli said. ‘It starts with coach and goes all the way down to the last guy on the bench. We’re gonna keep playing, we’re not done yet, we still got two games, and then hopefully the postseason we can make a run there.’

This time, although Panarelli is speaking with the same candor as he did a month ago, I have an easier time buying what he’s selling.

Pat DiSalvo is a staff writer for The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. E-mail him at pjdisalv@syr.edu, or post your response on dailyorangeblog.com.

Published on April 22, 2006 at 12:00 pm