Syracuse Men's Lacrosse Season Preview: Part 3

Defense Positional Preview

I'll admit that my history as a lacrosse goalie makes me biased, but I always like to start the positional previews with discussing the defensive end. Cliché as it may be, "offense wins games, defense wins championships." And this defense really is the main reason why Syracuse could end the 2021 season as national champions. So who are the men in the Orange who will be leading the defensive charge? 

Drake Porter, R-SR, 5'11", 183 LBS

The most important player on the defensive end this year is the legend in between the pipes, Drake Porter. Porter has been the starting goalie since his junior year and he hasn't taken his foot off the gas since. In 2019, he led the ACC in save percentage (.562) and he had 177 saves and only 138 goals allowed. In his senior year, he finished the season with a .577 save percentage which ranked 12th nationally. Just recently, Porter was named by US Lacrosse as the preseason goalie of the year. With over 1000 minutes in the cage, Porter is so influential because he brings the talent and the experience. 

Goalie is one of the most mentally taxing positions on the field, so it is hugely important for a team like Syracuse to have their goalie be someone who they trust. Porter is calm in high pressure situations, poised, and extremely talented. In the games that matter most, he steps up. Take last year's game against Army for example. Syracuse is down nearly the entire game, and Porter makes 18 saves which gives his team all of the chances they need to finally get ahead of Army. In a few short words: Porter always meets the challenge, because that's what the best goalies do. He may be rival team's biggest challenge of the season. 

What's left, then, is filling three defensive spots with the best guys that Syracuse has. Here is who I project are your 2021 three starting defensemen.

Grant Murphy, R-JR, 6'2", 216 LBS

Murphy started his career at SU as an SSDM as a way to get him on the field. He played in all 15 games as a true freshman for the Orange, converting from LSM to SSDM before the start of the season. As a sophomore, he continued to play primarily at SSDM. It wasn't until last year that Murphy moved back to close defense. While he didn't start in Game 1 of last year against Colgate, he started in Game 2 against Binghamton and held the starting position at close defense ever since. On the season, he caused four turnovers and picked up 10 ground balls. After two seasons at SSDM and one season at close defense, Murphy has proven himself to be a versatile defender, capable of playing in whatever position he is needed in. 

 Nick Dipetro, R-JR, 6'1", 236 LBS 

Dipetro had an interesting path of making his way into the starting lineup. As a freshman, he was seen in 13 of 16 games seeing time as a fourth defender and on the man-down unit. As a sophomore, he saw time in all 15 games again as a reserve defender and on the man down unit. He was always a defender that the team utilized, but still hadn't quite made his mark as one of the starting defenders. In 2019, he took a redshirt year and as such did not appear in any games. It wasn't until last season that Dipetro stepped into the starting lineup and stayed there for all five games of the shortened season. He was second on the team with six caused turnovers as well as collecting nine ground balls. Dipetro is someone who has worked hard to make his way into the starting lineup and has all the intentions of staying there. 

Brett Kennedy, R-JR, 6'0", 204 LBS

Kennedy has been an impact defensemen for the Orange since the first time he stepped on the field in 2018. Kennedy took a Redshirt year in 2017 due to injury. In 2018, he played in all 15 games and led all field players with 42 total ground balls which earned him All-ACC honors. By his sophomore year, he was getting multiple awards such as USILA and Inside Lacrosse Third Team All-American as well as All-ACC honors for a second time. Kennedy was used predominantly as an LSM in his earlier years at Syracuse and was known as one of the best LSMs in the country. It wasn't until 2020 when Kennedy transferred to close defense after starting defender Nick Mellen was sidelined due to an injury in the first game of the 2020 season. Mellen was out the rest of the year and chose not to return for the 2021 season. 

Biggest Takeaways 

1. Porter is one of, if not the best goalie in the country stepping on the field in the 2021 season which will serve as a huge advantage versus top teams that are stacked with great shooters. 

2. The three defenders who are projected to start in the 2021 season are all redshirt juniors who started in the 2020 season. This is good for two reasons. First, they are all experienced players who have been on the field in some form or another for the past several years. Second, they have experience playing with each other as well as with Porter. This means that this fall, they were just building on the chemistry they already had with each other.

3. The other good news for Syracuse is that their defensive bench runs deep in all categories. Coming into the 2021 season, they have 13 defensemen, 6 SSDM, and 5 goalies. That means a lot of options for the Orange in all of those areas on the field. If one guy on the defensive end is having an off day, they can jump right to the next option.