The ball bounced off a Colgate stick while Griffin Cook swung his one more time. As the final seconds ticked away in the third quarter of Syracuse’s season opener, Cook outraced goalie Sean Collins, scooped the ensuing ground ball, pivoted and fed Chase Scanlan on the left wing.

With the step of space Cook’s pass created, Scanlan swung a shot past Collins and extended Syracuse’s lead to six. One year ago, Cook was buried beneath Syracuse’s midfield depth as a 5-foot-7 freshman. The local Jamesville-DeWitt High School product was at his dream school, but not his natural position.

But now, as the third attack in Syracuse’s lineup, passes like that are Cook’s job. So are the ground balls, rides and goals. Positioned at the X, Cook’s a “quarterback” of No. 5 Syracuse’s (1-0) offense, former SU player and Cook’s youth lacrosse coach Gavin MacLachlan said.

“I was kind of a little bit out of position last year playing above the net,” Cook said, “so it’s good to finally get back behind.”

After rotating with the starters in preseason scrimmages, any of Cook’s uncertainty of his role erased when he trotted out for the season-opening draw against Colgate. A switch back to attack sparked a reemergence of Cook’s creativity in the opening game: the weaves, dodges and finishes returned. 

Before starting high school, Cook worked through the youth program at Jamesville-DeWitt and Orange Crush club team under MacLachlan as a goalie, mimicking former SU goalie John Galloway, among others. Because of Cook’s size, he often played further out of the cage to cut off defensive angles. He’d purposely leave one side of the net wide open so opponents took the obvious shot, but by leaning toward that side he easily turned shots away.

Often, he’d start the first half in net and shut out opponents, one of the better goalies to come through the Jamesville-DeWitt Youth Athletic Association (JDYAA) program, MacLachlan said. Then, he’d switch sticks and play the second half in the field — sometimes notching five-goal, five-assist stat lines. Eventually, the 176-pound Cook transitioned to attack full time, but when the sophomore arrived at Syracuse, a senior-loaded attack group with Nate Solomon and Bradley Voigt forced another position switch. This time it was to midfield, and flashes of Cook’s creativity continued. 

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After Brendan Curry’s shot hit the Johns Hopkins goalie square in the chest last March, Cook picked up the rebound and sidearmed the rebound into the open net. “A reflex play,” his father, David, said. Cook thrust his arms three times, celebrating what stood as Syracuse’s game-winner.

“Just watching him maneuver through all different people of different sizes, he’s always been very creative finding his way to the goal,” Karen, his mother, said.

YouTube videos introduced dodges and cage advancements to Cook in middle school. They became ingrained in his repertoire. Under J-D head coach Jamie Archer, Cook gradually increased his ability to decipher defenses and find openings. In the state championship his sophomore year, the Red Rams faced Yorktown’s zone after only seeing man for most of the year. Cook, positioned near the right post, was part of a 3-3 formation that Archer introduced to counter and eventually defeat Yorktown, 9-6.

“If you go out and watch him as a young kid in practice or pre-practice, he’s probably a kid that’s trying things where other kids may be wary to do that,” MacLachlan said. “And he’s the kind of kid that tries it until it works.”

With seven minutes left against Colgate last week, Cook secured possession behind the cage and stopped. He scanned left, then right, looking for any lane to open. But none did.

A pass up top to Tucker Dordevic reset the offense and Cook floated in front of the Colgate net. A half-hour away, MacLachlan sat with his Cazenovia College lacrosse team and inched forward as Cook and his Colgate defender slid — one to a dodging Dordevic, the other to an opening on the right post.

There was a reason MacLachlan had this game on: Some of his players haven’t played that much lacrosse. He wanted the Wildcats to focus on the explosive Syracuse offense, one that generated the most goals since the 2018 season opener against Binghamton. Not everything this group achieved was realistic for a Division III college team, MacLachlan said. But one player’s skill set definitely was: he wanted everyone to watch Cook.

Published on February 12, 2020 at 11:06 pm

Contact Andrew: arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew