AMHERST, Mass. – Syracuse goalie Pete Coluccini hugged Roy Simmons III. The Syracuse defensive coach comforted Coluccini, allowing him to rest his head on his shoulder.

SU midfielder Dan Hardy answered ‘No’ and then wept in frustration when a reporter asked if he could’ve ever imagined such a scenario. Perhaps the question was too pointed at a sensitive time, especially with the nightmare that played out on Saturday.

No. 12 Syracuse lost to Massachusetts (7-6), 9-7, in front of 4,423 fans at Garber Field. Syracuse (5-7) will not make the NCAA tournament for the first time in 25 years. The Orange has one game left and a .500 finish is required for consideration.

The Minutemen snapped another Syracuse streak in 2005 – a 16-15 first-round NCAA tournament upset ended SU’s 22-year final four run.

Syracuse hasn’t had a losing season since 1975. Only Johns Hopkins has had more consecutive winning seasons dating back to 1971.

The Orange’s chinks in its armor come at a time when Syracuse athletics, in general, has hit one of its lowest points. The last time all three of Syracuse’s major sports – football, basketball and lacrosse – missed bowl games or the NCAA tournament was 25 years ago.

‘There’s not much to say,’ SU attackman Mike Leveille said. ‘We never quit this season. We got off to a tough start. We felt like we were pulling things together. We had a letup today and now it’s over.’

At first it seemed Syracuse would continue its suddenly strong offensive production (54 goals in the previous three games) facing must-win situations. The Orange started early with attackman Greg Niewieroski feeding Hardy for one of his three goals only 25 seconds into the game.

But Syracuse didn’t carry that momentum. Instead it was an aberration, as the Orange couldn’t find much more success getting past UMass goalie Doc Schneider, who made 19 stops. Syracuse only scored one more goal in the first half when midfielder Greg Rommel fired a bullet with 57 seconds left in the second quarter.

In the time between, the Orange allowed the physical nature of its rivalry against the Minutemen to consume them. SU committed 20 turnovers and lost the groundball battle, 34-26. On the sideline, Syracuse head coach John Desko often squeezed his head in frustration of the poor decision making.

With 4:34 remaining in the first period, Syracuse defenseman Kyle Guadagnolo committed a slashing and pushing penalty while midfielder Brendan Loftus pushed as well. Midfielder Steven Brooks snuck in a push on attackman Brett Garber without the referees noticing.

Nonetheless, UMass took advantage of its man-up situation with Garber cutting to the right side and converting 12 seconds later. The Minutemen carried the momentum by scoring three more unanswered goals.

‘They like to score on unsettled situations,’ Guadagnolo said. ‘I don’t think they scored 6-on-6 once. They scored on a man down and then on fast break situations. Our defense was set back and they took advantage of that. It’s something that affects us and throws us off.’

That was unfortunate for the Orange, given Coluccini took care of his responsibility with 14 saves. SU chipped away with goals late in the third and fourth quarters. But the Minutemen didn’t allow SU’s runs to dictate something bigger as it continued its slow-down offense.

‘A game with a tempo like that, we couldn’t keep giving them the ball back,’ Desko said. ‘We won faceoffs but they weren’t coming to us easily. Clearing the ball killed us once again. We were in situations where we had possession of the ball. We mishandled it and didn’t make the right looks on the clear.’

That resulted in the end of a 25-year dynasty. It was the final blow to a team that faced slow starts and mediocre performances trying to discover itself the past three years in the post-Powell area.

But Syracuse didn’t discuss that once it set foot in the locker room. The players took a shower and left. After all, as Leveille noted, there really wasn’t much left to say.

‘There’s been so much pressure on the team every week,’ Desko said. ‘It started with the Cornell game. We’ve asked theses guys to step up and play the best game of their careers week after week. Today there was a lot of things we didn’t do well.’

Published on April 29, 2007 at 12:00 pm