A few balls of wadded up tape. The occasional damp towel. A few stools that had wandered from the front of their locker stalls. John Desko and Mike Powell surveyed the disarray and then, the freshly crowned kings of Division I lacrosse spent the next few minutes behaving like M&T Bank Stadium custodians.

They tidied up the place, then finally walked outside into the gloaming to join the post-game tailgate.

"We never like to leave the locker room a mess," Desko said.

The SU head coach was reminiscing Wednesday afternoon, almost two full days after winning his third national title in his six years at the Orange helm. He sat in his SU office, a handful of pink message slips decorating his desk. Minutes earlier, he had scrolled through three full computer screens of e-mails, most of them congratulating him and his team on a job well done.

Desko taped two laudatory letters to his office door, one a message from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the other from SU chancellor Kenneth "Buzz" Shaw. He'd fielded telephone calls from former SU teammates he hadn't heard from in years. A day earlier, he stirred from his four hours of sleep at about 8:30, rolled out of bed and, as has become his custom after every championship, climbed on his riding mower and cut the lawn.

"It's kind of relaxing," he said. "It gives me some time to think."

He had plenty to consider. The Orange stunned top-seeded Johns Hopkins in Saturday's semifinal, then collected itself to withstand a furious effort from Navy in Monday's championship. SU players, after reveling in the accomplishment with family and friends Monday evening, piled on the team bus and watched both games as they motored toward home.

"It was just like watching a real game," SU defenseman John Wright said. "Everybody was hooting and hollering. Every time someone would score, we'd all do the chant of their name."

"They loved watching that," Desko said.

By midnight, Wright said, most of the players had drifted to sleep. On Tuesday, players gathered to remind themselves that what happened the previous day was not a figment of their imaginations. Players said it took that long for reality to set in.

"A lot of guys stuck around," said SU midfielder Greg Rommel. "Nobody really took off. We hung out at Steve Vallone's apartment. We got some food and relaxed. It was just nice to soak it in a little bit."

Desko said this euphoria will linger until next season, when another championship will be contested. By then, the Orange coaching staff will need to determine how to plug the gaps left by a skilled senior class that departed Syracuse with two championship rings.

SU loses six of its top seven offensive players to graduation, including the incomparable Mike Powell, whose list of athletic accomplishments could fill an entire sports column. Powell, Brian Nee, Sean Lindsay, Vallone, Kevin Dougherty and Alex Zink accounted for 261 Orange points this season, from a total of 377 produced by SU players.

Brian Crockett, SU's third-team All-American at attack, will become the focal point of the Orange offense next year. Crockett, a junior next season, scored 39 goals and assisted on 15 others this year. He could be joined by Zack Wallace, the Baldwinsville product who was kept out of several games and practices this season because of a chronic medical condition. He likely will be joined by incoming freshman Mike Leveille, the Albany Academy recruit whom Desko suggested could play immediately.

"He's got a great sense of the game, good physical size and excellent vision," Desko said. "He's really slick."

The Orange also returns its top two faceoff men in Danny Brennan and Geoff Keough.

SU also recruited attackmen Greg Niewieroski of Watertown and Chris Greenman of Nottingham. Both should compete for playing time.

Rommel (13 goals, 1 assist) headlines a midfield group that includes solid linemate Brett Bucktooth (9-5) and promising speedster Steven Brooks (3-2). Desko also hinted that Jarett Park and/or Jake Plunket might be asked to switch from defensive midfield to the offensive side of the ball. Both Park and Plunket are able athletes who have made neat transitions from high school scorers to college stoppers. Kieran Murphy, too, will be asked to play a more pertinent role.

"He was right there," Desko said of Murphy. "We wouldn't have hesitated to put him in this season."

SU also recruited midfielders Steven Babbles and Dan Didio of Skaneateles, Brendan Loftus of Watertown IHC, Mike Hatton of Corning East, Jamie Ireland from Herkimer Community College and Robert Krauss from Bridgton Academy.

"Some guys are going to have to step up and score some points," Rommel said. "Our defense should be OK next year. I think it's really going to be up to the offense."

The defense should be better than OK. The Orange lose just Dan DiPietro, the senior who provided the young defensive with almost paternal guidance this season, and Donn Vidosh. SU returns Wright, an underrated defender who rarely makes mistakes, and the more flamboyant Steve Panarelli and Scott Ditzell. John Gallagher and Jon Bone provided defensive assistance and Desko had been high on freshmen Evan Brady and Dustin Palmer.

Anchoring all of that is goalie Jay Pfeifer, who has accumulated a 9-1 NCAA record in his three years in the SU cage.

"It's a good thing that we started to come together and do the right thing at the end of the season," Wright said, "because now we'll come in next year with a lot of confidence."

"I think next year the defense should be better," Pfeifer said. "And maybe next year, we can win another championship."

© 2004 The Post-Standard. Used with permission.