Forty-one days is a long time in collegiate sports.

That’s how long it has been since the Syracuse field hockey team beat Boston College, 2-1, in overtime. And since that time, the two teams have split in two different directions.

The No. 3 Eagles will return to Coyne Field tonight for a shot at redemption against No. 2 SU in the opening round of the Big East tournament. The winner plays in the championship game Sunday at noon against the winner of Villanova and top seed Connecticut.

‘I know,’ Orange head coach Kathleen Parker said, ‘that the Boston College team is going to come in here, and my guess would be that statistically in the last game, they felt as though they should’ve won.’

BC (16-4, 3-2 Big East) outshot Syracuse, 20-11, and dominated in penalty corners with a 14-3 advantage in the Sept. 26 match. At the same time, SU goalie Betsy Wagner had 11 saves, and the Eagles failed to convert on all 14 penalty corners.

‘Our defensive corner unit played out of their mind,’ Parker said, ‘and that’s all part of the game, too.’

Both teams went in opposite directions after that game. BC lost one game the rest of the season, a 3-2 overtime loss to Connecticut. Its schedule was far from paltry, featuring two other ranked teams in Harvard and California-Berkeley.

The Eagles finished No. 11 in the coaches poll. Meanwhile, the Orange went 6-4, losing to No. 6 UConn and No. 7 American. It also fell out of the top 20 poll.

Parker understands the tournament is what matters. She said getting three conference wins before the UConn game was important in returning to the tournament. Last year, the Orange (11-8, 3-2) missed the conference tournament for the first time since 1989.

‘We know that it’s going to be a real tough road,’ she said. ‘It hurt all the returning players from last year to be on the team that was the first Syracuse team to not go to the tournament. I have to believe that was something that maybe was a little bit more on their minds.’

Eight of those returning players won the Big East tournament as freshmen. Parker doesn’t feel it carries over much after four years.

‘I think that’s in the past,’ she said. ‘That’s almost ancient history.’

But the memory is still fresh for Parker’s players.

‘As the senior class,’ captain Leah McKay said, ‘we came in winning the Big East tournament, and to not make it last year just gives us more incentive to go out as we came in.’

‘Any Big East team is going to sit down at the beginning of the year and say, ‘We want to win the Big East,” Parker said. ‘It’s the team that’s willing to put everything out on the line to do that that’s going to end up (winning).’

‘It’s almost like another season,’ captain Lindsay Kocher said. ‘This is where it’s fun. Now we’re finally here. The hard part is over.’

Published on November 4, 2004 at 12:00 pm