After a poor defensive effort over the weekend by her team, Syracuse field hockey head coach Kathleen Parker stressed defense in practice Monday and Tuesday. Ironic, considering that last night the Orangewomen did their best work on the offensive end.

Junior forward Meredith Gettel scored two goals as SU eviscerated Albany, 8-1, for its first win of the season in its home opener at Coyne Field.

Freshman forwards Ashley Fry and Megan Stuart each notched the first goal of their careers.

‘We basically concentrated on the defensive end in practice,’ Parker said. ‘In the Iowa game there were lots of flaws. But in order to practice defense you also have to practice offense.’

The Orangewomen (1-3), who outshot the Great Danes (1-3), 31-7, looked tentative in the first half but managed to get out to a 2-0 halftime lead. After Albany goalie Marisa Maze turned away SU sophomore defender Joanne Lombard’s shot off of a corner, senior midfielder Jackie Sheaffer tipped in the rebound for a 1-0 Syracuse lead.

Because of a new NCAA rule on corners, players do not have to stop and cradle the ball before attempting a shot. The Orangewomen have spent additional time at the beginning of each practice working on corners. It paid off. SU scored on its second corner of the game.

‘There’s always room for improvement,’ Lombard said. ‘Everyone was there for the rebounds which was great, because that’s something that usually doesn’t happen in practice.’

Following the slow starting first half, SU came produced an offensive barrage. Gettel scored the first of her two goals off a scramble in the box just as the half got under way. Her goal extended the SU lead to 3-0.

Gettel later added her second goal with just under 25 minutes left to pad the lead to 5-0.

‘We just came out firing after halftime,’ Gettel said. ‘You could see the change of intensity because we were only up 2-0 at halftime.’

On the other end, the Great Danes forced SU goalie Betsy Wagner to make only three saves. The lone Albany goal came late in the second half with the score already out of hand. Freshman midfielder Meg Ricker and Fry quickly answered for SU to extend the score to 8-1.

For the Orangewomen, the win could not have come at a better time. After scoring only three all season, SU’s eight goals – its highest scoring output since 1990 – gave the Orangewomen quite a confidence boost.

‘We had seven or eight girls score,’ Gettel said. ‘It was a great team effort. Something we focused on this year was putting everything together at the same time.’

Said Parker: ‘We were playing a zone trying to emphasize jumping on loose balls. It seemed the higher the score got, the more relaxed that we got.’

Now the Orangewomen turn their attention to a pair of weekend home matchups against Central Michigan on Friday and Columbia on Sunday. Both the Chippewas and Lions are off to 0-2 starts this season. Still, SU knows it must keep its focus as it prepares for the start of its Big East schedule next week against Rutgers.

‘It just feels good to get a win,’ Parker said. ‘No team practices to lose. We needed the win and to get it the way we got it feels good. We just kept coming. It didn’t matter who I put in, they just kept going.’

Published on September 10, 2003 at 12:00 pm