The departure of all-time saves leader Carla Gigon last spring left many wondering who would take over the reigns and start the season as her replacement in net.

Now, it’s February. The start of the Syracuse women’s lacrosse team’s season is right around the corner, and the wondering hasn’t ceased. There’s been no official announcement about the starter, nor has even a hint been given by one of the players.

At this point, it seems no one knows who will start the season as Syracuse’s starting goaltender, and if they do, they’re certainly not letting on who’s the leading horse in this two-stallion derby.

The situation is in such flux that it’s possible whoever does start may never play again or may play the rest of the year. Or, both sophomore goaltender Jennifer Kasel and freshman Bethel Steele could share the role over the course of the season.

At this point, though, competition appears to be the healthiest thing for Syracuse.

‘They’re young and inexperienced, so they’re not tried,’ Syracuse head coach Lisa Miller said. ‘They need time to develop.

‘I couldn’t tell you right now (who’s the starter). We’ll do what’s best for them and what’s best for the group. They’re pretty equal. I trust if one’s having a rough day then the other’s going to play well.’

If one appeared to have a slight edge in terms of experience, it would have to be Kasel because she was around last year and got a taste of what it was like to play collegiate lacrosse. Kasel played her first game against Colgate and registered her only save in relief against Loyola.

‘(Miller’s) always trying to make competition in practice,’ junior defender Alexis Fermanis said. ‘She’s always trying to make everybody work. She doesn’t really want to have one secure position so that people slack off so I can’t really say who’s going to start, who’s going to be favored.’

Kasel was an all-area goaltender for Mountain Lakes High School in New Jersey. She started playing lacrosse in the eighth grade after watching her friends play for a few years. She picked goalie because she felt the position was most similar to men’s lacrosse goalie and was worried about the differences in the two sports.

As a sophomore in high school, she was thrust into the starting role on her varsity team immediately and stayed there for the next three years. She was elected co-captain her senior year with All-American Lindsay Mundane, now a key player on Northwestern’s lacrosse team.

Her high school coach, the Rev. Eric Hinds, said that Kasel had the knack for making the momentum-changing save during a game.

‘Her main great strength is being able to hold her ground even when other teams come in and think they have a point-blank shot,’ Hinds said. ‘If somebody thinks it’s an automatic shot, she’ll often find a way to stop it. And a goalie can’t make every single one of those, but she made enough of those – ones that should have been sure goals – that really change the momentum of a game. When your goalie makes a great save like that, your team kind of gets fired up.’

If she’s given the chance to start, just like her sophomore year in high school, Hinds, along with her father, Robert, both think she’ll do fine.

‘I’m sure she’ll be a little bit nervous about it, but she had started virtually every game in high school from her sophomore year on,’ Robert said. ‘So I think if she gets in there and has a positive experience, she’ll settle down.’

Robert also spoke highly of the leadership that Gigon provided his daughter last year as Kasel sat on the bench and learned.

‘That was when she made the leap from high school to Division I lacrosse, and it was quite an adjustment,’ Robert said. ‘To have someone like Carla was just a terrific experience.’

Said Kasel: ‘The most important thing Carla taught me was that lacrosse and goaltending – it’s not a personal thing. It’s one aspect of your life. It’s an important aspect, a very important aspect, but it doesn’t carry over into what kind of person you are. Aspects of your lacrosse personality may, but the actual game does not affect what kind of person you are.’

Steele, on the other hand, is a local high school prospect having graduated from Homer High. She was a three-year member of her lacrosse team and started the final two years.

While her team never achieved great success, having their ‘on-and-off moments,’ according to Steele, she was tested a lot in net. That’s something that drew Miller to recruiting her.

‘(Steele) played for a high school program where she just saw a ton of shots, so she’s used to seeing shots left and right,’ Miller said. ‘Her game is developing tactilely. She’s really coming on quickly right now.’

For Steele, being recruited by Syracuse was a great feeling.

‘It’s an amazing experience being able to play here with these girls,’ Steele said. ‘It is an honor. There is nothing better than being able to play with top-notch athletes.’

It doesn’t matter who’s in net, though, because ultimately the defense will still need to do its job to be successful. Miller thought Gigon had her best years when the rest of the team possessed the ball well.

‘You could be the best goalie in the country, if you don’t have a solid defensive unit in front of you at this level, you’re going to get shellacked,’ Miller said. ‘You need to depend on your unit, and your unit needs to know, ‘My job is to protect my goalie and the middle of the field is mine and nobody gets into it.’

‘We have that kind of mentality. You work together. If the defensive unit makes a mistake, the goalie’s supposed to cover up for them. If the goalkeeper makes a mistake, the defensive unity will protect her.’

The rest of the team agreed that it takes more than a great goalie to make a good defensive team.

‘They do bring different strengths, and they still have a lot of work because they’re both young,’ Fermanis said. ‘It’ll be interesting to see, and it makes our defense work really hard because we did lose a very good goaltender. But I’m positive both of them will do a really good job as long as they keep working hard.’

Said sophomore defender Jen Sadler: ‘We just as a team – the players on the field – we all have to work together with or without a new goalkeeper.’

Published on March 2, 2004 at 12:00 pm