The excuses were there for the taking for the Rochester Knighthawks last night.

They had expended a tremendous amount of energy in defeating the Philadelphia Wings Friday night; their flight home to Rochester was delayed four hours and they didn't get back to town until 3 1/2 hours before last night's game against Syracuse; and they received the bad news that they were expecting regarding goalie Steve Dietrich's injured knee.

Who could have blamed them if they had come out flat and gotten Smashed by the great Paul Gait?

Unlike Dietrich, who is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, the Knighthawks didn't need the use of crutches.

Unfazed by all of the above, they turned in a well-balanced, gutty performance as they held Gait without a goal and smoked the outclassed Smash 20-13 in front of 9,151 appreciative fans at the Blue Cross Arena.

"The guys really pulled together this weekend," said defensive ace Regy Thorpe, who played a starring role in preventing his former Knighthawks teammate Gait -- who scored nine goals in Syracuse's only other game this season -- from scoring.

"It's hard to win back-to-back nights like that. The guys showed a lot of heart, our offense got clicking, Derek (General, Dietrich's replacement) did really well in the goal and our defense was solid."

After losing their first two games of the season, the Knighthawks had three weeks to stew before getting back into action Friday night in Philadelphia.

Coach Paul Day brought the team together Thursday for a practice in which every player was able to participate, and several felt spending the weekend together helped to build some much-needed camaraderie.

"We started Thursday at practice, and then everyone hung out together and had pizza and watched movies, and then we got the big win in Philly," Thorpe said. "When we got laid over in Philly, we had a team meal in the airport and it was like a family, it brought us together."

Led by the defensive line of Thorpe, Brad MacArthur, Kevin Dance and Pat McCready, the Knighthawks were demonic on defense.

They took the body, they hustled for loose balls, and they cleared rebounds in front of General.

And then there was General. After a 43-save effort the night before in the 15-12 win in Philadelphia, General turned aside 33 shots, including all seven by Gait.

"Derek has the will, the desire, the heart," said Thorpe. "He had a great summer, he played almost every game for Six Nations, he saw a lot of rubber and that helped him out. We want to play hard for him."

At the other end of the arena, Syracuse's goalie situation wasn't quite as sound.

Starter Derek Collins, an ex-Knighthawk, suffered a knee injury in the opening minutes and was replaced by 43-year-old Bob Nelson, an assistant lacrosse coach at Oswego State who has never played in a professional game.

Nelson tried valiantly, but he was no match for the Knighthawks. Collins came back in, but he was literally a statue, unable to move, and just before halftime, he reinjured his knee and sat down for good.

Nelson was torched for 13 of Rochester's goals, including five by game MVP Ted Dowling.

"That was too bad, Derek was hurt and obviously badly hurt," said Dowling. "You could see when he came back on he could hardly move. That was the stupidest move I've ever seen a coach make."

The Knighthawks never trailed, but they were unable to put the Smash away until midway through the final period. Syracuse was within 14-11 with 9:47 to go, but the Knighthawks erupted for six straight goals including one by Casey Powell, who made his home Rochester debut.

"We're starting to click, we're starting to play well together," said Jeremy Hollenbeck. "Winning these two games has really given us confidence that we can win."

BOX SUMMARY
                                  1  2  3  4     TOT
Syracuse Smash (1-1)              3  3  3  4  --  13
Rochester Knighthawks (2-2)       4  6  3  7  --  20


SYRACUSE SMASH                ROCHESTER KNIGHTHAWKS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Millon         3 - 1     4    Dowling        5 - 2     7
Oudemool       2 - 1     3    Jacobs         3 - 3     6
Fay            1 - 2     3    Driscoll       1 - 5     6
Gait           0 - 3     3    Malawsky       2 - 2     4
M Benedict     2 - 0     2    Sanderson      2 - 2     4
Accursi        1 - 1     2    Hollenbeck     1 - 3     4
O Benedict     1 - 1     2    Powell         1 - 3     4
Prat           1 - 1     2    Soudan         1 - 3     4
Alexander      0 - 2     2    Mearns         0 - 4     4
Collins        0 - 2     2    Co Bomberry    1 - 2     3
Scaramuzzino   0 - 2     2    Kruger         1 - 2     3
Halladay       1 - 0     1    McCready       2 - 0     2
Morrissey      1 - 0     1    Dance          0 - 1     1
Klodzen        0 - 1     1    General        0 - 1     1
                              MacArthur      0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           46    Shots on goal           53
Saves made by           33    Saves made by           33
   Nelson            19          General           33
   Collins           14

*** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH KNIGHTHAWKS WEB SITE ***