Lisa Miller has a tough job. As Syracuse’s women’s lacrosse coach, Miller is responsible for knowing where all her players are at a given moment. She’ll command orders to make sure everyone — including freshman attack Paige Rasmussen — is doing her job.

Like Miller, Marsha Lee Rasmussen has a tough job. Paige’s mother does work similar to that of a coach. But instead of directing lacrosse players, Marsha Lee commands U.S. Marines. And instead of working for an athletic department, Marsha Lee works for the Department of Defense.

Rasmussen’s family is stationed in Stuttgart, Germany. Her mom works as an assistant administrator in the department, keeping tabs of U.S. troops in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

It would be a valid excuse for Rasmussen’s play to suffer in the month since the U.S. invaded Iraq.

But Rasmussen has excelled as a draw-control specialist. She’s started seven of the eight games she’s played in, scoring one goal and dishing two assists.

Friday’s 14-11 loss at Dartmouth (7-2, 4-0 Ivy League) shouldn’t have even mattered much to Rasmussen — whose family and friends are constantly on alert — but she’s been able to block out the difficult situation and focus on her team.

‘When your family is overseas, you’re not as connected in some ways as the other kids are,’ Miller said. ‘It’s hard.’

Friday’s game broke the Orangewomen’s six-game winning streak. Syracuse relinquished seven unanswered goals to begin the game. It trailed at halftime, 10-4. Despite a second-half surge, the Orangewomen were unable to overcome the first-half deficit.

‘It’s one of those games where we didn’t get off the bus for 20 minutes (in the first half),’ Miller said. ‘Then we started to play.’

Just because Rasmussen is committed to Syracuse (8-3, 5-1 Big East) and lacrosse doesn’t mean she isn’t worried about her family and friends in Germany. She said Stuttgart, where her family lives, used to be safe for Americans, but in the past month, extra precautions have been made.

‘American kids are told to stay out of downtown, and the troops are told to stay out of the clubs,’ Rasmussen said. ‘I worry for my friends. They go clubbing every weekend.’

Rasmussen moved from Alexandria, Va., to Germany before her senior year in high school. It was difficult adjusting to life thousands of miles away from home, but she overcame the struggles. She was placed in a school run by the Department of Defense to make her transition easier.

Her time in Germany was especially difficult during last year’s anthrax scare. Pranksters targeted government cars with phony anthrax threats. The cars of government workers were easily identified by their special license plates.

‘People were getting notes saying ‘There’s anthrax in your car,’ ” Rasmussen said. ‘Now, the situation is a little bit worse.’

Not to mention tougher on her mom. Before the move to Germany, Marsha Lee worked as a commanding officer at the Marine base in Quantico, Va. — the biggest such base in the U.S.

‘She’d come home and complain about how much time she was spending there,’ Rasmussen said. ‘Now, she works seven days a week. She doesn’t come home until 9, 10, 11, or 12 o’clock. She gets a little bit sick of it.’

While there is no chance Marsha Lee would ever be deployed to Iraq, Rasmussen said, she still worries about her parents’ safety. The last time Rasmussen saw her mother and her father, Geoff, was during Winter Break, when she visited them in Germany.

Rasmussen is eagerly waiting for when her parents move back to the Washington, D.C., area in late July. But, by now, she’s used to living away from home.

‘Being in a military family, you’re always prepared to not see your parents for a while,’ Rasmussen said.

Still, it’s tough being unattached. Although Rasmussen e-mails her mom and dad, it’s difficult to keep close tabs on them. And that makes Rasmussen scared.

‘I know there are protests biweekly outside Stuttgart,’ Rasmussen said. ‘Their culture doesn’t support the war right now, so they’re going to lash out at anyone who does.’

Published on April 14, 2003 at 12:00 pm