Fifty-six seconds into the game Sunday, the Syracuse field hockey team looked nothing like the No. 17 team in the country and the second-place team in the Big East.

Dartmouth scored its first goal less than a minute into the game en route to a 3-1 SU loss. Syracuse was dominated by a Dartmouth team that was 4-7 coming into Coyne Field but left with its fifth victory.

The loss was SU’s second in three games. All the things that differentiated this season from 2003 – the Orange were 7-11 last year and didn’t reach the Big East tournament -started to fade.

‘I think we need to start clicking,’ forward Brittany Carriero said, ‘and working as a team better. We’re losing that aspect.’

Associate head coach Mary McCracken also noticed some changes.

‘Preparation and communication is key,’ she said, ‘and right now I don’t think we’re doing either very well. If anything, they’re working more as individuals on the field right now than they are as a team.’

SU’s passing was no match for the Dartmouth defense and a rain-soaked turf.

With a two-goal deficit, the Orange only managed two shots on goal the entire second half. SU was outshot, 12-6, for the game. The Big Green repeatedly cleared the ball the length of the field, forcing Syracuse to start its attack from scratch. As time ran down, earning some penalty corners would have provided a strong chance to come back, but SU failed to force some fouls in the circle.

‘Not getting corners is something that we’ve lost focus on,’ McCracken said. ‘Players need to be better to create more opportunities in the circle. If they don’t have the opportunity to shoot, they need to create the opportunity to get a foul.’

Dartmouth employed a zone defense in front of the circle to discourage chances. The game was a physical contest with cards issued and players introduced to the ground early and often.

‘It happens,’ Carriero said. ‘It was a little dirtier, but I’m not going to use that as an excuse for why we lost.’

Neither did McCracken.

‘The physical play,’ she said, ‘was another response to our trying to go through something instead of going around it.’

Dartmouth’s Ashley Choren rebounded an early penalty corner and clubbed it past Orange goalie Betsy Wagner to take the early lead, leaving SU (10-6, 3-1 Big East) a bit stunned. The Orange woke up with 14 minutes left in the first half when SU midfielder Joanne Lombard connected on a penalty corner for her seventh goal of the season.

But Dartmouth made easy work of the tie score to open the second half.

Dartmouth’s Lindsay Gossage beat Wagner in the lower left corner off a crossing pass from Abby Brown to regain the lead. Brown later added one more for good measure, scoring from the top of the penalty circle past a screened Wagner.

McCracken pointed out the need for more of a passing game that emphasized the team concept, which worked for the Orange early in the year. She knocked the defense for not playing up to its capabilities and said SU’s stick skills have diminished. Dartmouth’s zone defense forced SU defenders to play the ball back instead of pushing it up to the forwards. There were a slew of turnovers as a result and far more pressure on Wagner than Big Green keeper Lauren Balukjian.

‘They (Dartmouth) were an aggressive team,’ McCracken said, ‘but I don’t think they really did anything we haven’t seen before. We just didn’t stick to our game plan.’

Published on October 17, 2004 at 12:00 pm