Syracuse head coach Dave Reischman looked for the roughest part of water on Onondaga Lake for his team to practice this past week.

The focus for SU has been specifically on the course at Navy, where the Orange will compete for the Goes Trophy today. Syracuse has not won the Goes in back-to-back seasons since 1959, also the last time Syracuse won at Annapolis, Md.

The No. 9 Orange will look to make history against Navy and Cornell as it battles rough conditions in Annapolis today at 6 a.m. for the Goes Trophy – an award that carries important implications for the Orange.

The course at Annapolis is a wide open body of water that allows for high sea walls and wakes, as well as a constant wind that many times can be blowing into the face of the rowers. One thing in SU’s favor is the senior class did row there as freshmen.

‘It’s one of the more rough races,’ Syracuse’s J.P. Geise said. ‘And it creates huge wakes. It’s probably the toughest course I’ve raced.’

If the conditions today are not as bad as they were in practice this week, that’s even better, Reischman said. The transition from rough water to smooth water is a much easier one than going from smooth to rough.

Any time these three schools square off, there is some extra motivation involved.

Syracuse, Navy and Cornell have been racing for the Goes Trophy since 1955. Clifford ‘Tip’ Goes, a graduate of Syracuse in 1914, created the trophy to honor three of the competing schools coaches – James Ten Eyck of Syracuse, Charles Courtney of Cornell and Richard Glendon of Navy.

In the 51 prior races, the Orange has finished ahead of the Midshipmen and the Big Red only nine times. Navy, on the other hand, has crossed the finish line first 24 times, while Cornell has won the Goes Trophy 19 times.

‘The history and tradition, it means the most to our alumni,’ Geise said. ‘When they talk to us, they talk about this. It means a lot to beat them, especially this year.’

However, this year, Syracuse can do something that no team on the Hill has done in 48 years. The Orange currently possesses the Goes Trophy and a win today would be the first time the since 1959 that Syracuse has beaten both Navy and Cornell in consecutive years.

‘We obviously know the history behind it,’ SU senior Jimmy Bader said. ‘We are looking forward to it. We’ve worked hard all week during practice.’

If the Orange can pull off the feat of winning the Goes Trophy in consecutive years for the first time since 1959, it may be a good sign for the future of the team, as well. The last team to do accomplish the feat went on to have great success in the postseason.

The 1959 Syracuse men’s rowing team lost only one race and was selected to represent the United States in the Pan-America games. In those games, they won the rowing championship.

A win today may not win or lose any championship, but it would give the Orange a boost going into next weekend’s race against Boston University and Columbia.

While Reischman admitted most of his seniors don’t remember the rough Navy course from four years ago, he said nothing ever comes easy against the Midshipmen – even the complications its home course present.

‘When you race the Naval Academy, you want it to be tough,’ Reischman said. ‘These guys are protecting our borders. You don’t want the Navy guys to be pushovers.’

Published on April 18, 2007 at 12:00 pm