Janet Rommel is more nervous than usual about the Syracuse men’s lacrosse game against Rutgers on Sunday.

It’s not just because her son, senior captain Greg Rommel, and the 3-6 Orange need to win their last four games in order to be eligible for the NCAA Tournament. That’s daunting enough.

It’s that she can’t decide who to root for. Normally cheering for her son and SU would be easy. Except this time there’s Jeff to think about.

Jeff, her other son. Jeff, Rutgers’ sophomore attackman.

‘I always keep saying to all my friends, ‘Oh, you know it’ll be fun when the boys play together,’ and now I don’t know – maybe I’ll just stay home,’ Janet joked. ‘Not really, but it’ll be kind of bittersweet or nerve-racking.’

At least she has her wardrobe planned out: a sewn together T-shirt, one half orange for Greg, the other half red for Jeff’s 4-4 Scarlet Knights.

The dilemma’s new for Janet. When the teams met the past two seasons, injuries kept the brothers from taking the field at the same time. Now when Jeff, who’s versatile enough to play midfield as well, shifts back to defend against the Orange, his older brother will be bearing down on him.

Though both starred on the lacrosse field at Syracuse’s Henninger High, they’ve always been a little different from each other.

Greg was a multi-sport star at Henninger, the starting quarterback all four seasons besides being a lacrosse standout. Jeff golfed.

Greg, stocky and solid, was a preseason All American and Tewaaraton candidate and the rock in SU’s midfield. Jeff’s smaller – 5-foot-10, 175 pounds – and an attackman who comes off the bench to key Rutgers’ second-line attack and provide an offensive spark.

‘He’s real scrappy,’ Greg said of his brother. ‘He’s a gritty sort of player, not afraid to stick his nose in the middle of things.’

In an upset of then No. 8 Loyola last Saturday, Jeff broke the 6-6 deadlock by netting two scores late in the second quarter and had an assist in the fourth, as Rutgers routed the Greyhounds, 17-7. In eight games this season, he has 11 goals and seven assists.

Not recruited by SU when he graduated from high school, the younger Rommel – his class valedictorian – considered Brown and Penn before settling on Rutgers, a developing program that went a combined 9-18 in 2005 and 2006.

The chance to play against his brother and his hometown team, however, eluded him his freshman year.

A herniated disc – the unwanted extra paycheck of a summer of construction work – plagued Jeff as the season began. The bulge pressed into a nerve in his spine, sending shooting pains up and down his legs. He slogged through three rounds of cortisone shots to dull the ache in his back before team doctors sat him down after the season opener.

No more cortisone, the doctor said. No more season, either.

Redshirted, Jeff watched from the sidelines as Greg scored twice in a 17-6 win over the Scarlet Knights at the Dome. Surgery in the offseason repaired his L-4 and L-5 vertebrae.

The next year, however, big brother Greg’s busted right thumb put him on the shelf with a redshirt as well, robbing the boys again of an opportunity to go head to head. This time, Greg had to sweat as his brother and the Scarlet Knights squad pushed the Orange into overtime.

‘Jeffrey had the ball (in overtime) and he was running to the cage, and Gregory, he was going to throw up,’ Janet Rommel said. ‘Because he was excited for his brother, too, and then but it’s your team. And when Jeffrey shot, I think everybody just held their breath.’

SU would gut out a 13-12 win in the extra session.

During the 2006 season, Jeff provided support for Greg, having been in his shoes the year prior.

‘I certainly felt for him last year, especially them being in the Final Four and losing to Virginia and you just got to sit there and take that, it’s certainly a difficult situation,’ Jeff said. ‘But having a similar experience, I think we’re able to relate and kind of bounce ideas off each other.’

The pair chats on the phone about once a week, they both said, especially during the season for shop talk.

‘I think we’re actually a little closer during the lacrosse season, because it’s such a big part of our lives that we’re always trying to see how each other’s doing, how they’re feeling, where their teams are headed,’ Jeff said. ‘I know when I have issues with my squad I always call my brother and I just tell him what’s going on. We try to be there for each other.’

They’ll be there for each other on Sunday, too, but in a different way. Now each brother becomes a man to mark or opponent to check, instead of a shoulder to lean on.

And they’re both pumped. Greg said he’s ‘psyched’ to clash with Jeff, while little brother said he’s had the game circled on his schedule since the beginning of the year.

As for Janet, she’s not sure what she’ll do come game time. She might sit in the stands quietly with her family and hope for the best. Or she might just try to root for each of her sons.

Said Janet: ‘It’ll be fun to see them, but I don’t want either one of them to lose.’

Published on April 12, 2007 at 12:00 pm