Massachusetts women’s lacrosse head coach Carrie Bolduc and assistant Karen Healy attempted to take a page out of the Syracuse women’s lacrosse team’s playbook. The Orangewomen dominated the first half before UMass tried to steal the game in the second. After all, late comebacks are what the Orangewomen have lived by this season.

Then again, it’s no surprise that Bolduc and Healy tried to copy the Orangewomen. In SU’s 12-11 win at the Carrier Dome on Friday, the pair of UMass coaches returned to SU, where they played for SU head coach Lisa Miller.

‘It’s always a great opportunity for the coaches,’ Bolduc said. ‘It’s fun coming back to play Syracuse because we know the nature of the game and the way the game is coached.’

Bolduc played on the first-ever SU women’s lacrosse team in 1998. She transferred from Temple after her sophomore season, one in which the Owls made it to the Final Four. She was a team captain for SU in her junior and senior seasons and helped the Orangewomen win the ECAC championship in 1999.

Bolduc took over as head coach of UMass last season, finishing with an 11-8 record. The Minutewomen lost 8-5 in the Dome last March.

This year, her team played a close game, but they could not upset her former coach’s squad.

‘We know Lisa pretty well, so we were able to get inside each other’s heads and have a pretty good game,’ Bolduc said. ‘I know that the players don’t give up and three goals is nothing in a game of women’s lacrosse. It’s really to the last couple seconds when you know whether or not you’re going to win that game. Anything can happen.’

Miller was happy that her team won but said there was no extra incentive to beat two of her old players.

‘They played a great game and never let us get into our zone,’ Miller said. ‘When I coach against my former players, it scares me because I know they’ll come after me and not give up. That’s essentially what I teach. Sometimes I’m standing on the sidelines and I know it’s going to be the fight of my life.’

Healy, who graduated in 2002, played with this year’s group of SU seniors. In her playing days, she was named to the IWLCA Division I North Region second All-America team in her freshman and sophomore seasons. She was also a second team All-Big East selection as a senior.

SU senior Leigh-Ann Zimmer scored the winning goal against her former teammate with five seconds left in the second half.

Bolduc was disappointed that her team could not get its second win of the season, but she’ll look forward to next year’s match-up.

‘Our girls are capable of beating top-ranked teams so we certainly look forward to next year,’ Bolduc said. ‘I’m sure our girls will be chomping at the bit to play against Syracuse again.’

Published on March 21, 2004 at 12:00 pm