Before this season began, Inside Lacrosse magazine tabbed five members of the Syracuse men’s lacrosse offense as preseason All-Americans. Attackmen Mike Leveille and Dan Hardy, and midfielders Greg Rommel, Steve Brooks and Pat Perritt each received a nod from the publication.That left sophomore Kenny Nims as the only starter on offense snubbed.

‘I was kind of hesitant (at the start of the season) trying to figure out where I fit in, in the offense as a whole,’ Nims said.

Nims’ lack of confidence showed when he tallied just five goals in the first five games of the season. He has caught fire of late, though, racking up 12 goals in the last six games. Nims enters Saturday’s game against unranked Massachusetts tied for second among the Orange with 29 points on 17 goals and 12 assists.

No. 12 SU (5-6) hopes his sizzling play continues when it faces the Minutemen at 3 p.m. at Garber Field.

‘I think he’s kind of figured out where he needs to be on our attack to get the right looks, and he’s put himself in good spots to finish the ball,’ Hardy said. ‘It’s just been clicking since.’

Nims began the season tentatively, rarely challenging defenders with moves toward the cage.

Syracuse head coach John Desko also attributed Nims’ slow start to the fact that he had to accustom himself to playing as an attackman once again. Season-ending injuries to Rommel and Brooks last year forced Desko to play Nims farther away from the cage as a midfielder.

‘I wasn’t being as aggressive as I should be and I know I can be,’ Nims said. Everything changed on March 17, when Syracuse suffered an embarrassing 17-9 rout at the hands of Johns Hopkins at the Carrier Dome. Nims scored two goals that afternoon, but it wasn’t enough to prevent SU from tumbling to its worst loss in three years.

Nims berated himself after the game and decided whatever he was doing, it wasn’t good enough. He had to assert himself more during games – whether that meant dodging toward the cage or moving more aggressively off the ball toward scoring positions.’I thought I had to really step it up for the team,’ Nims said. ‘That was a tough loss, and it really opened our eyes up and for me, personally.’

The next week, Nims blasted a career-high four goals in a 16-10 Syracuse win over Binghamton, and all of a sudden, he felt like he belonged. He matched that feat four games later in the Orange’s 22-9 rout of Rutgers on April 15.

‘As the year’s gone on, he’s just gotten more and more comfortable with the offense,’ Desko said. ‘He’s just playing more aggressively than he was. He’s quicker to turn the corner like he wasn’t earlier in the year.

‘I think he’s just starting to come into his own.’

Nims provides an interesting complement to the other options the Orange has on offense. The 6-foot-5 Hardy is known for his ability to overpower defenders while dodging toward the cage. Brooks, on the other hand, flashes the ability to score unassisted goals by simply zipping past defenders for easy looks at the goal.

Nims hasn’t challenged his defenders one-on-one as much as his counterparts on offense. Instead, his strength lies in his tendency to dart around without the ball and magically surface close to the crease, where his teammates find him for point-blank shots.

Nims’ 36.2 shot percentage ranks third on the team – behind Hardy and Niewieroski – among players who have taken at least 30 shots.

‘When other people dodge, he just finds the right spots and moves to the right places,’ Hardy said. ‘The guys are looking for him, and he’s going to finish the ball. He’s a good finisher.’

Published on April 26, 2007 at 12:00 pm