When you’re this good, you just know. When you play for Syracuse lacrosse, you don’t have to worry about a little adversity. You don’t fret about what your opponent is doing. You don’t get rattled.

It’s like this: By the start of the fourth quarter Friday, the Orange clung to a one-goal advantage after an eight-goal halftime lead evaporated thanks to a revved-up Albany team. Goalie John Galloway stopped one shot and gave up eight goals in the third. The offense looked alternately harried and bored.

Time for the panic button, right? Nope.

‘We’ve been in those situations a lot of times before,’ said senior midfielder Dan Hardy, who scored three goals and assisted on two others. ‘We were up the whole game. We know we had the ability to win the game and take it over.’

So they did. The first few minutes of the fourth quarter was a goal-scoring barrage that stunned the Great Danes. Off the opening faceoff, freshman midfielder Kevin Drew chased Danes defender Brendan Gleason into the Albany zone and hacked at his stick, forcing the ball to fly into an open goal. Forty-eight seconds later, Hardy ripped a left-handed shot into the top-right corner of the net. Twenty-three seconds later, Josh Amidon streaked toward the cage, Stephen Keogh found him and Amidon buried the ball. And a few moments later, John Galloway stoned Corey Small on the doorstep, clipping a shot with the stem of his stick.

Boom-boom-boom, the Orange rolls on. ‘We just knew that if we settled down and did what we did in the first half, we would be able to pull it out in the fourth,’ said senior midfielder Matt Abbot, who scored twice. ‘And that’s what happened.’

This team, like few others, can sense the moment. They understand – either intuitively or through persistent prodding from the coaches – when their best is needed. The players believe in their skills and in their system – there’s a reason John Desko has won four national titles in 10 years.

No one in lacrosse has swagger like the Orange. That attitude, of course, is accrued from experience. Guys like Abbott and Hardy played on the 2006 team, which opened the season 1-4 before winning nine games in a row to make it to the Final Four. They played on the 2008 team that avenged the embarrassment of 2007: The team that charged back for overtime wins against Georgetown and Johns Hopkins, and rallied from a five-goal deficit to defeat Virginia in the national semifinal.

Earlier this year, the Orange stormed back from four goals down in the fourth to beat Loyola. Against Virginia, the team came back from five goals down and almost stole a game.

‘We know,’ Abbott said, ‘that if we do the things that we do – if we do them well – we’re going to be successful.’

Sometimes that confidence can cause problems. You saw that Friday. The Orange chugged along: Keogh leaped through the air to stuff a rebound home. Abbott pulled a nifty trick, switching hands and flicking a bounce shot into the net as he rushed forward. Hardy scored twice – the Danes either forgot to slide or forgot how heavy his shot was. Kenny Nims assisted on four goals.

All of this pleased head coach John Desko as the teams headed to their locker rooms for halftime. What followed in the third quarter did not. ‘We obviously must have gone in,’ Desko said, ‘and really relaxed, thought the game was over at halftime, winning 10-2.’

So the Orange down-shifted and Albany tried to take advantage.

All year long, Desko has opined for a full 60 minutes of lacrosse from his team. He wants to coax the most of his team, the ultimate goal for any coach. But as the playoffs approach – just two regular-season games left – it’s pretty clear that Syracuse won’t always need to play its best game. The Orange can play three quarters and still beat almost everybody. The roster brims with talent and the players brim with confidence. It can play in streaks and streak all the way to an 11th national title.

So was Friday night’s win too close for comfort? Maybe.

Except it’s like this: When things get too close for comfort, Syracuse gets comfortable.

Andy McCullough is the enterprise editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. You can reach him at ramccull@syr.edu.

Published on April 19, 2009 at 12:00 pm