If there was one senior on our roster that we could get back next year who would you want that to be?
Mellen would be my choice. I would use a scholarship/roster spot to keep him on. He would be the choice even if he played every game this year.
I feel bad for "rating" players but I'll take your question a step further. I'll rank who I'd like to see back the most, and I'll limit it to five.
1. Porter - probably one of the best three goalies in the country, SU has lots of depth but no clear guy to take over. I think he's clearly the first choice.
2. Trimboli - surprised to say this given how deep the Orange are at midfield, but he was probably the best and most consistent midfielder Syracuse had last year. He was playing lights out before the season ended.
3. Dearth - coin flip here between Dearth and Mellen. Both are first team all American candidates but we saw the defense perform pretty admirably with Mellen out. I guess I still have the Colgate performance logged in my head. Having a really good short stick defensive midfielder just changes the entire defense.
4. Mellen - I can't beleive he's down here. Mellen is so tricky to grade because he is so good against certain players that almost no one else can guard (see his performance against Teat, Jeff). But given his size he's also a very bad matchup for other players (see Spencer, Pat). Also since this would be his sixth year, I feel like it's less likely he comes back?
5. Varello - This is a tough call. Its hard to chose between Varello and Helmer for the last spot, and while its great to have a Swiss army knife like Helmer available, you simply cannot have enough good face-off guys. Am I crazy for dismissing Rhefuss and his team leading assists? Probably, but I don't think we are bringing in Hltz to sit on the bench.
Man, putting this together is rough, not only for the choices, but also for the fact that this was shaping up to be a really entertaining season, and so may of these guys are a joy to watch. Hoping we can see all these guys back next season!