US Lacrosse Magazine welcomes ESPN play-by-play announcer Anish Shroff as a contributor for the 2020 college season. Shroff’s columns will run every Tuesday on USLaxMagazine.com, including “Deleted Scenes” from ESPN broadcasts and weekly top-10 rankings.

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Former Syracuse All-American defenseman Ric Beardsley remembers his first trip to Homewood Field. Saturday, March 21, 1992, was the day when Beardsley, then a freshman, scored his first collegiate goal. But he remembers that game for another reason. Beardsley noticed something peculiar when he got off the team bus.

“There was a guy sleeping in the stands.”

It wasn’t just any guy. Beardsley turned to one of his teammates and said, “I think that’s my father.”

Fredric Beardsley had left work in Cape Coral, Fla., around 4:30 p.m. that Friday. He proceeded to drive for 18 straight hours from Florida’s southern tip to Baltimore to watch his son play.

“Back then, if you were a Syracuse parent, there were the big three you had to attend,” says Beardsley. “The home opener, championship weekend and the Hopkins game.”

The elder Beardsley arrived at Homewood a few hours before the game. A Johns Hopkins official let him into the stadium before the gates opened and even let him shower. A pregame nap in the bleachers recharged the batteries.

Midway through the game, Ric Beardsley noticed a commotion coming from his dad’s section.

“I’m trying to cover my man, but I keep looking over and thinking, ‘What the hell is going on?’”

It started with a projectile.

“Some Hopkins fan threw an orange,” says Beardsley. “It hits a Syracuse fan. My dad had nothing to do with it. He was just walking the aisle to his seat. The Syracuse fan who was hit turns around and thinks my dad threw the orange.

“So, this guy in a Syracuse sweatshirt starts yelling at my dad. My dad keeps telling him — ‘My son plays for Syracuse!’ But this guy wouldn’t let it go. He starts walking toward my dad. My dad usually doesn’t say much. But he’s a big dude and not the type to back down.”

The two — both Syracuse supporters — nearly came to blows before a half-dozen fans intervened to separate them.

Similar drama unfolded down on the field. With the score tied at 14 in the fourth quarter, Hopkins’ junior midfielder Brian Kelly found himself being pursued by Syracuse great Tom Marechek.

“He was riding. He chased me down and the ball came out,” says Kelly, now the head coach at Division III Goucher College.. “It started with both of us scrambling for the ball. It ended with both of us on the ground.

“That’s when I gave him a little shot. [Marechek] wasn’t happy. When we got up, he shoved his hand toward my face. I jumped back like he hit me and flopped to the ground. An official runs across the field and throws a flag. We go man-up. Adam Wright scores and we win the game 15-14,” chuckles Kelly.

For the second time that day, Hopkins successfully baited Syracuse.

DELETED SCENES: HOPKINS-CUSE EDITION

Still Friends

Kelly still jokes with Marechek about what happened on March 21, 1992. The two played pro lacrosse together and still golf together. Frenemies.

Peel It Back 

The “tradition” of throwing oranges at Homewood stopped long ago. But perfectly fine oranges still go to waste. Johns Hopkins superfan Cornell Willis (@HopkinsLaxPhan) says his tailgate will smash any unused orange before the game. Willis adheres to a strict set of principles for “SU Week.”

He does not wear orange

He does not drink orange juice.

He will not eat anything orange.

He will not talk to you at all if he can link you in any way to Syracuse University.

… and ‘orange crush’ is the drink du jour at his tailgate.

REMEMBER WHEN

Quint Kessenich (Johns Hopkins, 1990)

“The Dome 1990. Gaits’ senior year. The place is beyond packed. Upper deck. Record setting crowd type of night. They were much better than us. I remember Otto the mascot coming out to a goal during a quarter break with a stick and ball. And I thought, I’ll let him score and some little kids will go home smiling. Have some fun, right? So he comes in and scores on me, and 20,000 fans go crazy. Like it’s louder than when Gary and Paul scored 19 on us that night. Biggest mistake I ever made. And when I see Otto to this day, I tell him to watch his back — because I’m looking for revenge.”

Liam Banks (Syracuse, 2003)

“2000 semifinals. It was an extremely physical and fast-paced game, maybe the best lacrosse game I have been involved in. I will never forget getting stuffed by Brian Carcaterra, who made an amazing diving save on a fast break with the game tied at 12. After that save, I remember him jumping up and down celebrating, and at that moment I knew that we were going to win.”

Syracuse did win, 14-12. Banks finished with three goals and three assists.

Brian Carcaterra (Johns Hopkins, 2000)

“2000 national semifinals. We were the hottest team in the country playing against the best team in the nation. With the game tied at the four-minute mark of the fourth quarter, I made the best save of my life. It just so happened to be in the biggest moment. We corralled the rebound and drew a flag. The player I made the save on was Liam Banks. Liam was the consummate team player. He made everyone around him better. I hear he commented that when I raised my arms up after the save he knew they were going to win. I am not sure how he deduced that.”

Quint Kessenich (Hopkins, 1990) and I (Syracuse, 2004) will have the call for Syracuse-Hopkins this Saturday at 1 p.m. on the ESPN app.

ANISH’S TOP 10
(As of Monday, March 2)

“You must unlearn what you have learned.” — Yoda

Wait, there’s one that works better. Picture the meme of Baby Yoda drinking coffee. Sometimes the world burns and all you can do is sip some java and enjoy the smoky afterglow of rubble.

UMass lit the flame of anarchy this weekend. The Minutemen punked No. 1 Yale to lead the lacrosse world into a labyrinth of lunacy. UMass beat Yale. The Elis had just beaten former No. 1 Penn State. But UMass was pummeled by Army and also lost to Harvard. Does Penn State’s loss to Yale look worse now? Is it grounds to elevate another team ahead of Penn State for No. 1?

Inhale. Exhale. Deep breaths.

Let’s zoom out. Is Yale still a championship caliber team? Yes. Duh. Did the Elis have a bad day? Yes. There’s evidence in the their 25 turnovers. Did UMass have a hand in that? Yes. The Minutemen caused 12 of those turnovers. But enough about the Gorillas. They’re mercurial anarchists. We’ll let Kierkegaard and Camus figure out what’s going on in Amherst. To the top 10 …

1. Penn State (4-1)

The Nittany Lions return to their preseason perch after winning a slugfest at Penn. In the last two games, Penn State’s Gerard Arceri faced off against two of the nation’s best in Yale’s TD Ierlan and Penn’s Kyle Gallagher. Arceri won just 35 percent of his draws. Penn State went 1-1 and was vulnerable in both games. Still, winning on the road against a bona fide top-10 Penn team counts. The poll is a week-to-week snapshot. Who you play and where you play counts. Variables will come into play and win values change with the weather.

2. Syracuse (4-0)

Syracuse beat Army. Army bludgeoned UMass. UMass toppled Yale. Yale toppled Penn State in State College. So how is Syracuse behind Penn State? Well, Army also lost to Marist, but we’re not going down that massh — err — UMass hole again.

This came down to early season strength of schedule. Penn State has played Villanova (win), Yale (loss) and Penn (win). Nova banked a win against Maryland. Syracuse didn’t leave the Carrier Dome in February without beating up on Colgate, Binghamton and Hobart. The Army win is nice, but Penn State gets an ever-so-slight edge based on competition. The Orange won’t play another lacrosse game in the Dome until next year. The Dome will undergo a facelift as part of $118 million in planned renovations. Syracuse plays six of its next eight games on the road. The two “home” games will be played at Cicero-North Syracuse high school. Expect “standing room only” crowds and a sneaky good home field advantage — weather permitting.

3. Princeton (4-0)

The Tigers followed up a road win at Virginia with a decisive 18-11 win against Johns Hopkins. With nine points against the Blue Jays, Michael Sowers rang up his absurd February tally to 42 points! Albany’s Lyle Thompson owns the single-season points record (128). At his current pace, Sowers would eclipse Thompson’s mark BEFORE the Ivy League Tournament.

4. Cornell (4-0)

The Ivy League’s non-conference success bodes well for league play. Cornell, Princeton, Yale and Penn can beat up on each other with limited damage to the RPI. This looks like a four-bid league right now. Cornell’s faceoff woes resurfaced at Ohio State and that presents cause for concern against the likes of Ierlan (Yale) and Gallagher (Penn). But when in possession of the ball, the Big Red Machine operates with surgical efficiency. Cornell still tallied 17 goals and won despite getting chewed up at the X. Lacrosse fans in Charlotte get a treat this Sunday when Cornell squares off with Penn State in the Crown Lacrosse Classic. Vendors better have popcorn.

5. North Carolina (5-0)

North Carolina shell-shocked Denver with a 9-1 blitz out of the starting gate. The Heels held off a late Denver surge for a 15-13 road win. Allowing eight goals in the fourth quarter gives Joe Breschi a teaching moment, but UNC still passed its biggest test of the season. Tanner Cook looks reborn, Justin Anderson exploded for seven points and Chris Gray flashed his usual brilliance. Tar Heel fans can dream on this team. Carolina should be 9-0 when it hosts Maryland on March 21.

6. Maryland (4-1)

Logan Wisnauskas’ development into a complete attackman is a testament to work ethic. He studies film, invests in fitness and works tirelessly on his release points and off-hand. The redshirt-junior tallied five more goals in an impressive 14-9 win against Notre Dame. Wisnauskas has scored at least three goals in four of the Terps’ five games this season. Maryland hadn’t played since its loss to Villanova 11 days prior. A Norovirus outbreak at the Naval Academy postponed the Terps’ game with the Mids last weekend. Freshman goalie Logan McNaney made his first start in goal. The MVP of the Under Armour All-America game made 10 saves to record the win.

7. Yale (2-1)

Costa Mesa, Calif., served as the setting for a famous dream sequence in the Sopranos. Tony’s in a coma and no longer a mob boss. Instead, he’s a traveling optics salesman named Kevin Finnerty. Yale heads to Costa Mesa this weekend to face Michigan. Unfortunately for the Elis, this past Saturday was not a dream sequence but the nightmare of real things. An 11-2 halftime deficit was real. So were the turnovers. UMass happened. Those optics are hard to sell. In the Sopranos, Tony eventually wakes up and figures out who he really is. Expect Yale to do the same against Michigan.

8. Notre Dame (2-1)

Freshman Liam Entenmann looks more and more like the next great Notre Dame goalie. Maryland took 64 shots against the Irish. Entenmann made a career high 16 saves and kept Notre Dame in the game in the first half. A loss to the Terps doesn’t dim expectations in South Bend. There’s plenty of upside here.

9. Virginia (4-1)

The Cavaliers finally played like Goliath in Saturday’s 15-5 win against Air Force. It may not seem like much (although Air Force did beat Duke), but the Hoos needed a win like this. UVA slumped to the finish line against Loyola and Lehigh. Princeton handed Virginia a home loss, and High Point pushed the defending champs to the brink. File away the name Peter Garno. The freshman started on the first midfield and responded with two goals and one assist. Expect him to stay on that line. Few teams can rival (or defend) Virginia’s top six offensively.

10. Penn (1-2)

It seems almost criminal to put Penn at No. 10. The Quakers are the best 1-2 team in the country. Penn could easily be undefeated and be a unanimous No. 1 right now. Alas, the Quakers melted late against Maryland and a failed clear in OT against Penn State led to Mac O’Keefe’s game-winner. Offensively, Penn hasn’t missed a beat with Sam Handley out — a testament to coaching and talent. The Quakers do miss Reed Junkin in the cage. Goalie play is Penn’s biggest Achilles’ heel right now.