The Syracuse women’s soccer team needs to win — and win now.

The Orangewomen are off to a 2-5-1 (0-2-0 Big East) start. Last Friday, they lost to national powerhouse Connecticut, 3-0. They followed it with a disappointing 2-0 loss to upstart St. John’s.

If Syracuse hopes to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for a second straight season, it needs to play better starting with tonight’s game against Massachusetts at 7 at the Syracuse Soccer Stadium. On Sunday, the Orangewomen host Miami at 1 p.m.

‘We’ve been playing pretty well, but just haven’t been getting the results,’ freshman goalie Emily Kowalczyk said. ‘Hopefully, we can start to get in a rhythm and the results will come.’

To date, Syracuse has clearly been an underachieving group. Last season, the Orangewomen made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. But this year, they’ve been marred by losing three of the team’s best players for various reasons.

And it doesn’t help, either, that the Orangewomen have scored just two goals in their last five games.

That number will likely change against UMass (1-6-0), which has given up 25 goals this season. Syracuse head coach April Kater said the forecast of heavy rain could make the game a defensive war of attrition.

Though UMass’ paltry record indicates otherwise, Syracuse knows it can’t overlook the Atlantic-10 foe.

‘At this point, we need all the wins we can get,’ sophomore goalie Shannon Myers said. ‘We definitely don’t overlook any team. I think we’ve learned our lesson in doing that.’

Added incentive for Friday’s game is that Kater graduated from UMass in 1991. She starred at the school and was a three-time All-American. She always looks forward to facing her former coach and mentor Jim Rudy.

‘It’s always exciting when you go head-to-head with one of the best,’ Kater said. ‘And this being my old team, it means a lot.’

Kater said there will be no significant lineup changes from last weekend and said that junior midfielder Anne-Marie Lapalme will get more of an offensive role.

Against UConn, the Orangewomen used their normal 4-5-1 formation but switched Sunday to a 4-4-2, which involves using an extra forward to try and increase offensive production. The strategy didn’t produce any goals, but Kater said both formations will appear Friday and Sunday.

A highly controversial matter for SU has been who will start in goal. Myers has been in constant competition with Kowalczyk for playing time. Kater said Kowalczyk will start Friday, but said Sunday’s starter will be determined by Kowalczyk’s performance.

Myers said it’s frustrating not knowing who will start each game.

‘You just go in each day ready to play,’ Kowalczyk said.

As for Sunday, the Orangewomen will face a huge test against conference-power Miami, which has jumped out to a 7-3-0 start (3-0-0 Big East).

Co-captain Erica Mastrogiacomo knows the Orangewomen could easily think ahead to Sunday, but said they must concentrate on the business at hand — trying to resurrect their season.

‘We need to win on Friday before we can think about Miami,’ Mastrogiacomo said. ‘Hopefully a win over UMass will pick us up and we can turn things around.’

Published on September 26, 2002 at 12:00 pm