An extra push here, a few more words exchanged there. It was business as usual for the Syracuse and Connecticut field hockey teams Sunday.

Players have come and gone, but the rivalry between these two teams has remained bitterly constant for the past decade.

And when No. 11 UConn handed Syracuse a 2-1 defeat, a new group of Orangewomen were introduced into one of the Big East’s best rivalries.

‘We were all really energetic and enthused to play,’ freshman Meg Ryan said. ‘It’s a big rivalry so we were nervous, but I think we played one of our best games of the season. They’re really aggressive and they were pushing us, but we didn’t let it affect us.’

Freshmen Meg Ricker, Ashley Fry and Jess Wreski, along with Ryan, played in their first game against UConn. Fry was the only one of the four to start, but all saw significant action in the second half, when Syracuse tried to find a way to tie the score.

‘It was intense and it was exciting,’ Ricker said. ‘It was a good team to play against because they brought out the best in us. It was a hard-played game.’

Said Fry: ‘It was intense. It was probably the toughest game I’ve played so far. I expected it to be a hard-fought game, but it was really, really physical.’

Going into the game, Syracuse head coach Kathleen Parker said the focus for her four freshmen was the same as it was for any of the other players on the team. That’s not much of a surprise considering how much Parker has relied on them and her team’s depth throughout the season.

‘It was no different than how we prepare anybody else or for any other game,’ Parker said. ‘We broke down film that we had of UConn and we decided what we really worked on in practice was trying our zone press. We were interested in trying to put more pressure on their backs and not let them get it so easily out of the backfield. And I thought we did a pretty good job of that.’

For the freshmen, the outcome was just as disappointing as it was for everyone else. The Orangewomen (6-10, 1-4, Big East) dropped to 5-18-1 all time against the Huskies (13-4, 3-1) with the defeat, and their hopes for postseason play in 2003 were washed away in the rain.

The youngest players in this rivalry, though, will have another shot at UConn come next fall.

‘It’s disappointing that we didn’t put another goal in,’ Ricker said. ‘But we did our best and that’s all we can ask for.’

Said Fry: ‘It’s disappointing to lose, but I think we played a good game. Our team just worked really well together. We came together and fought really, really hard, but you can’t win every game.’

Published on October 26, 2003 at 12:00 pm