Although Phil Wheddon didn’t let his players talk about Syracuse University’s impending move to the Atlantic Coast Conference, he said if he was a player, it’s a move he’d look forward to.

‘Players would be excited about it,’ the fourth-year head coach said Tuesday. ‘I know if I were a player I’d be.’

Syracuse, along with the University of Pittsburgh, announced Sunday it would be joining the ACC after the conference’s presidents voted unanimously to accept the two schools. And while most of the talk is about what the move means for the SU football and men’s basketball programs, women’s soccer will also be moving to the ACC.

But for now, the Orange’s focus rests on this season and making it to the Big East tournament. That goal continues this weekend when SU (2-3-3. 1-1-0 Big East) faces Georgetown (7-3-0, 1-1-0 Big East) on Friday and Villanova (4-4-2, 0-2-0 Big East) on Sunday.

That’s why Wheddon wants his players to stay mum on the issue of switching conferences until after the season is over.

Wheddon, who found out about the move before the formal announcement was made Sunday, said the switch from the Big East to the ACC will pose difficult tasks for the women’s soccer team ahead.

‘The ACC is the No. 1 conference in the country as far as women’s soccer goes,’ he said. ‘So it’s going to be a challenge for sure.’

The ACC has seven teams currently in the Top 25 for women’s soccer, according to the latest NSCAA Coaches ranking. No. 4 Duke is the highest-ranked team in the conference, with North Carolina one spot behind.

Syracuse has faced just one team from the ACC in the past four seasons, but that game took place this year. The Orange tied then-No. 12 Boston College on Sept. 1. Wheddon said after the game that it was the best performance he’s seen his team play.

Wheddon points to that game against the Eagles as evidence SU can survive in the ACC.

‘We’re building in the Big East,’ Wheddon said. ‘But we’re quickly becoming a much stronger program. I think the fact that we can play with BC shows that we can compete in the ACC. I think that our players, by the time we move into the ACC, I’m sure our program will be very competitive.’

When comparing the two conferences, Wheddon said that the ACC is more tactical in the way teams play the game and the speed of play is a little bit quicker.

Wheddon ultimately said both conferences have their own strengths, noting multiple teams made the NCAA tournament from the Big East last year. Notre Dame won the national championship.

Student assistant and senior Megan Bellingham, out for the season because of injury, remembers every game in the Big East has been filled with intensity during the last four years.

But she also said the increased quality of the ACC will be another step in growth for the Orange.

‘The Big East is awesome,’ Bellingham said. ‘I definitely have a lot of pride in it, and we’ve really had some great competition.

‘It’s been really awesome playing that competition. I think the bar’s definitely going to be raised going into the ACC.’

An aspect where Syracuse could gain an advantage in the next couple of years is from a recruiting standpoint. With the Orange doing more travel by plane, rather than taking buses, Wheddon thinks the exposure could attract more talented players to Syracuse.

‘Every athlete aspires to play in the ACC, really, if they’re looking to be in the strongest conference,’ Wheddon said. ‘So I think that we might start to attract a different, another level of player.’

When Casey Ramirez, the lone senior on the team excluding Bellingham, was asked if anything off the field has been a distraction, she said her focus is just on the next game.

And that’s what Wheddon wants to hear.

‘I don’t think it’s been a distraction at all,’ Wheddon said. ‘We’re very much focused on what we have to do this year. We’re focused on fixing the problems that we have right now. We can’t worry about what could be in the future.’

dgproppe@syr.edu

Published on September 21, 2011 at 12:00 pm