Since Ann-Marie Guglieri first arrived at Syracuse three years ago, there have been two consistencies – winning and scoring. This year, though, things have changed. Guglieri is still scoring. She’s second on the team with 13 points. But the Orangewomen haven’t been winning.

Heading into tonight’s game at Colgate at 7, Guglieri hopes to keep scoring, but she also hopes the Orangewomen start winning more consistently.

‘(Guglieri) is such a positive person,’ sophomore back Joanne Lombard said, ‘that she doesn’t let on to the losing bothering her even if it is.’

After redshirting her freshman year, Guglieri immediately showed her talent in 2001, scoring 21 points for a Syracuse team that won the Big East tournament and went on to the NCAA Tournament. Last season, though, her scoring dropped as she scored only nine points. But she still led the team with five assists.

This season, Guglieri has come on especially strong of late. Eight of her 13 points this season have come since a 4-1 loss on Sept. 23 to Penn State. In Syracuse’s 3-0 win over Massachusetts on Oct. 3, Guglieri figured in all three Orangewomen goals, tallying a goal and two assists.

‘A team makes one person shine,’ Guglieri said. ‘I don’t think that my play has been especially well. I just think I’ve been put in a lucky position because of my teammates. Just because my stats have been a little higher of late doesn’t mean that I should be getting the credit they should.’

The Orangewomen (5-9, 1-3 Big East) have struggled greatly with consistency this season. After Friday’s 2-1 victory over Providence, which kept SU’s postseason hopes faintly alive, Syracuse dropped a 3-2 decision to a Dartmouth team that had won only one other game the entire season.

It is this type of inconsistency that the Orangewomen will try to erase tonight in Hamilton. Syracuse had beaten the Raiders (5-8, 2-3 Patriot) five-straight times before last season’s disappointing 1-0 loss. Like this game, last year’s directly preceded the matchup with Connecticut, a game that SU also lost, 2-1 in overtime.

Now, as her senior season winds down, Guglieri hopes to do what appears unlikely and lead the Orangewomen back to the Big East tournament for the 15th straight time. SU must defeat UConn on Sunday and then hope that the Huskies fall to Providence on Nov. 1.

Should Syracuse defeat UConn, Guglieri admits that the Orangewomen will closely be watching the Big East standings.

‘Every weekend when we come home, there’s not a girl on the team who’s not looking at Big East records,’ Guglieri said. ‘I think we all pretty much know what’s going on.’

Published on October 21, 2003 at 12:00 pm