Surrounded by her players Sunday, the normally stoic Lisa Miller flashed a smile she kept hidden all season. As coach of the Syracuse women’s lacrosse team, Miller waited anxiously to see if her squad would make the NCAA tournament.

She didn’t have to wait long. Three minutes into the Internet-broadcasted selection show, Syracuse — which was on the verge of missing the tournament for the first time in three years — was announced by the selection committee.

Her office erupted with cheers, and Miller flashed the pearly whites she kept guarded all season.

No. 11 Syracuse will play No. 9 Yale today at 3:30 in New Haven, Conn. The match-up will be especially sweet for the Orangewomen, considering they were unsure of whether they’d be playing at all. Syracuse (10-5, 5-1 Big East) looked like a lock to make the tournament in April but gave the selection committee a tough decision by going 2-3 in its final five games.

‘The last couple of years we were like, ‘OK, we’re going,’ ‘ Miller said. ‘This year we were more excited when we got in.’

Miller said her players never really doubted if they’d make the tournament, but they were uptight leading up to the selection show.

‘I was really nervous,’ sophomore midfielder Jessica Bell said. ‘When they announced us, we all let out a big scream.”

Bell admitted that she and her teammates know little about their first-round opponent, Yale (13-3, 6-1 Ivy League), but they certainly will by game time.

‘Yale’s a tough, physical team,’ Miller said. ‘We need to focus on shutting down their top two attackers.’

Those two scorers, midfielder Miles Whitman and attacker Sarah Queener, will provide a tough challenge for a Syracuse defense that is giving up about eight goals a game. Whitman’s 55 points this season put her three points ahead of Syracuse’s top gun, attacker Leigh-Ann Zimmer. Both are candidates for the Tewaaraton Trophy, awarded to lacrosse’s best player.

Zimmer said she was surprised the Orangewomen drew Yale and that the selection committee ranked SU higher than she had expected.

‘We were surprised at the draw,’ Zimmer said. ‘But we’re going to come out and play our game, and keep it up for 60 minutes.’

The Orangewomen said they are not looking past today’s match up with Yale, but if they were, they’d see No. 1 Loyola. Loyola plays Maryland, Baltimore County, today, but Miller said the Greyhounds should have little trouble with UMBC.

‘They’ll kill ’em by 15, 20 goals,’ Miller said.

If that’s the case, and SU wins today, the Orangewomen and Loyola would play for the second time in three weeks. Loyola beat SU, 14-10, April 26 at the Carrier Dome.

Published on May 7, 2003 at 12:00 pm