Gary Gait Era Begins With Scrimmage on Alumni Weekend
Less than 24 hours after Garrett Shrader and Sean Tucker crept towards the end zone on the Dome's 10-yard line, lacrosse nets stood in synchrony, marking the unofficial start to the Gary Gait era of Orange lacrosse.
Saturday began with an alumni scrimmage at 1 p.m. Teams wore white and blue jerseys numbered 11 or 15 to honor the lives of John Zulberti and Rob Kavovit, two former SU lacrosse players who died earlier this year.
The white team, with contribution from former men's lacrosse captain Jamie Trimboli, beat the blue team 8-7 after two 20-minute running halves.
"It's fun to get back out here with some of the guys you played with and some of the guys you watched growing up," Trimboli said. "It's kind of a brotherhood here and this weekend shows it."
At 2:30 p.m. the Orange started their scrimmage with new coaches Gary Gait and Dave Pietramala on the sideline. Divided into teams Orange and White, the unit clashed through four 15-minute quarters.
The White team, led by midfielder Tucker Dordevic and attack Owen Hiltz, beat the Orange team 13-8. Dordevic, who tallied 31 points last season, scored six goals and said the team is buying into the new coaching staff.
"People's spirits are high, there's a lot of promise," Dordevic said. "Kids are really enjoying coming out to practice every day and going to lifts and going to team competitions. I think everybody's just excited for the things that are going to come this spring."
Goalie Harrison Thompson played well for the Orange team in the first half. Key stops against Hiltz and midfielder Lucas Quinn limited the White team's talented offense to just four goals through the first 30 minutes.
But the White attack forced defensive zone turnovers and controlled the tempo when possessing with the lead. Gait said he was pleased with what he saw as SU prepares for the official start of Fall ball on Monday.
"This was a great opportunity," Gait said. "We've only done some individual stuff, working on some skills. We haven't done much team concept stuff so I thought today was great."
Brendan Curry, a returning team captain from SU's 2021 season, scored once for the Orange team. Curry said the team, though different, is adapting well to the new leadership.
"We have a lot of fifth-year seniors, a couple of sixth years, so we have a lot of the same culture and leadership coming back," Curry said. "Which is always good with a big change like this."