Exhaustion set in. Standing in the Stone Bridge (Va.) High School weight room, hands on his hips, Derek Maltz was ready to call it a night.

In the midst of a grueling dumbbell rip and press workout during Winter Break, Maltz decided he had enough. Then Scott Mitchell reminded him why he was there all alone that night.

Maltz was penciled in as a starter for Syracuse in the fall. But he hadn’t proven anything on the field yet to lock it up.

‘He kind of powered through the last couple sets, so he gets it,’ said Mitchell, his former coach at Stone Bridge. ‘He’s the type of kid you just have to remind real quick to get it.’

Two games into the season, Maltz has established himself as a worthy starter on the Orange attack unit. The sophomore is tied for the team lead with four goals, scoring twice against both Albany and Army. Maltz stepped in for Stephen Keogh as the team’s crease attack, playing around the net and searching for openings to finish feeds from teammates Tim Desko and Tommy Palasek.

He’ll look to continue his early success when No. 6 Syracuse (2-0) takes on No. 1 Virginia (4-0) in Charlottesville, Va., at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

Keogh perfected the role during his career, leading SU in goals each of the last three seasons. Now, Maltz is the Orange’s finisher on offense.

‘Playing the crease here is pretty much the easy part,’ Maltz said. ‘I got Tommy and Tim behind the cage, and they’re doing all the dodging and looking for me.’

Against Albany, Palasek found him for two goals in close. Against Army, the two connected for another around the cage. But his first score came on a rocket in transition from about 10 yards out.

‘From last year to this year, he’s developed an outside shot a little more,’ Palasek said. ‘He can shoot, he’s got a little more range on his shot. He’s got that sort of Canadian box style where the ball’s at his ear, and he’s just putting it where it needs to be.’

But that wasn’t Maltz’s style before he arrived at Syracuse.

Under Mitchell at Stone Bridge, Maltz had to do it all. When Mitchell took over in Maltz’s sophomore year, the program was a perennial loser and the laughing stock of the school.

Maltz, whose father played on Syracuse’s first national championship team in 1983, changed all that. He made lacrosse matter at Stone Bridge, organizing his teammates for shootarounds and pushing them to get better.

‘It kind of changed the culture of our program right now, where a lot of the guys in our program kind of expect to win,’ Mitchell said. ‘And sometimes they forget how hard it was to turn things around. Derek was kind of the kid who turned things around.’

For Mitchell, the transformation was clear when Stone Bridge faced defending state champion Langley (Va.) High School in 2010.

Stone Bridge had lost to Langley the previous two seasons by a combined score of 32-1. But in Maltz’s senior season, he was adamant this game would be different.

The Bulldogs star was everywhere. He played the wing on faceoffs, was a part of the team’s man-up unit and set the offense.

With Maltz leading the way, Stone Bridge was tied with Langley at 10 in the fourth quarter.

But soon, Maltz’s body broke down. His legs cramped up. He began throwing up on the sideline. Maltz battled through the sickness and exhaustion to score the final goal of the game, capping a 13-11 loss for Stone Bridge.

‘The fact that he had the choice to quit, but just like in the weight room, he decided, ‘I’m not going to, I’m going to win, I’m going to keep pushing,” Mitchell said. ‘I think that’s the difference between Derek, who makes me look a lot better, and someone who I need to coach or push or tell.’

That winning mentality and competitive nature has served him well at Syracuse.

And now, he’s making the most of his opportunity out on the field. If he ever needs a reminder to stay hungry, Maltz just has to think back to his high school days.

”Don’t expect anything, earn everything’ was our big motto in high school,’ Maltz said. ‘And I think that’s helped me a lot here as well because I wasn’t really expecting to come in as a freshman, and I didn’t ever think that I’d be starting here as a sophomore.

‘I just wanted to work my hardest and prove to the coaches that I could contribute in any way possible.’

rjgery@syr.edu

Published on February 29, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu