Twice over the weekend the Syracuse field hockey team found itself trailing by two goals in the second half. And twice, the Orangewomen came up one goal short.

On Sunday afternoon, Syracuse lost to Lafayette, 4-3, but the 2-1 defeat it suffered to Big East opponent Villanova on Friday night may define its 2003 season.

‘It hurts to lose a game like this,’ Syracuse head coach Kathleen Parker said Friday night. ‘When I shook the hands of the Villanova coaches and the Villanova players, I know that they know that they were lucky to get away with a win tonight. They worked hard, too, and I don’t want to take anything away from them, but they were playing with their backs against the wall most of the night.’

The loss to Lafayette (8-6) hurt SU, but it wasn’t as damaging as the loss Friday night. In what was possibly its best effort of the season, Syracuse (4-8, 0-3 Big East) failed to capitalize on 10 penalty corner chances and numerous other scoring opportunities. For most of the game, Syracuse dictated play and pressured the Wildcats. But by only converting on 1 of 15 shots, Syracuse lost to an opportunistic Villanova (7-5, 2-1) team that scored twice on only four shots.

‘I thought we played one of our best games this season,’ Parker said. ‘We just put so much pressure on them and I’m just really proud of the way we played.’

Making the loss even more difficult, only an inch separated Jackie Sheaffer and the Orangewomen from tying the game on a second-half penalty stroke.

If her shot was positioned an inch to the left, Sheaffer would have celebrated a game-tying goal with 17:36 remaining. Instead, Sheaffer’s penalty stroke clanked off the right post and Syracuse lost its third Big East game of the year.

‘The longer you wait, the more the goalie anticipates,’ Sheaffer said. ‘So I was just trying to think, give time and take it wide, and it went a little too wide for the post.’

A deft offensive transition play by sophomore defender Michelle Sola set up the stroke. Sola took control of the ball in Syracuse’s end and moved her way to the circle, where a penalty was called on a Villanova defender. Parker then chose Sheaffer to take the stroke.

‘I mean, it’s on the post,’ Sola said, ‘That happens how often? It was a nice stroke. It’s like Jackie said, if it was just a little bit to the left, it would have been in. And a little bit to the right, it would have looked like crap.’

The near-miss might be the lasting image for a Syracuse team that now finds itself 0-3 in Big East play for the first time in school history. With only two conference games remaining, the Orangewomen likely need to win out in order to have a chance at making the postseason tournament.

If Sheaffer had indeed scored, it would have capped off an explosive two minutes of play by Syracuse.

After Villanova’s Christina Lugones scored on a penalty corner to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead with 23:36 remaining, Syracuse immediately countered by drawing three corners in the next two minutes.

Then, with 18:45 to play, Ann-Marie Guglieri redirected a Meg Ryan free hit into the cage to cut the deficit in half. Just 70 seconds later, Sola drew the penalty stroke.

Syracuse had another chance to tie the game in the final minute when Meredith Gettel forced a corner. As the clock ticked down, the Orangewomen got off the corner, but Syracuse couldn’t set up properly, and the ball skirted away without being put on cage.

‘No one likes to lose at all, especially a close game,’ Sola said. ‘It’s hard but we just have to stay strong and keep moving forward. It’s in the past and we still have a couple of weeks left so we just have to keep on pushing.’

‘It hurts a lot to lose, Sheaffer said. ‘But at the same time it feels good that we played so well and that we played together really well. So you kind of try to think about how well it went rather than dread on how bad the loss was.’

Published on October 13, 2003 at 12:00 pm