Syracuse field hockey head coach Kathleen Parker and men’s soccer head coach Dean Foti had an interesting conversation last week. With both their teams struggling and lacking self-confidence, the pair discussed a unique plan.

Foti wondered what would happen if at the beginning of the season he handed his team a schedule without the names of opponents – just game times and locations. Maybe the Orangemen would worry less about who they were playing and would come out more relaxed.

Parker agreed it’d be perfect for her Orangewomen.

But for better or for worse, Parker’s Orangewomen know exactly who they are playing Friday night at 7 at Coyne Field. They also know that a loss against Big East power Villanova would send them to 0-3 in the Big East and put a Big East tournament bid nearly out of reach. SU will also play Lafayette on Sunday at 1 p.m.

‘It’s important that our focus doesn’t change,’ Parker said. ‘It’s a hockey game and we must play the hockey game. I don’t want to hear the word Villanova and I don’t want to hear the word Big East.’

In the past, matchups between the Orangewomen and Wildcats have been fierce and highly contested. Four of the five last games have gone into overtime and all five have been decided by one goal. Syracuse won all four overtime games, its lone blemish being a 2-1 road loss last season.

Before last Friday’s 3-0 win over Massachusetts, SU had lost three in a row and two to ranked opponents. Parker sensed her team was tense. The Orangewomen were 0-2 in the Big East, the first time that had happened in school history.

Syracuse has made the Big East tournament in each of its 14 years of existence. A loss could put that magic mark in jeopardy.

The Big East has just six teams in field hockey, which leaves little room for error. If SU loses tomorrow, it will have to win both of its remaining games to have a shot at the tournament – and one of those games is against powerhouse Connecticut.

Naturally, Parker told the Orangewomen to relax. Before the game against UMass, the message in SU’s huddle was simple – ‘relax and have fun.’ Two days before the UMass game, Parker called a team meeting and told her team not to worry about the 0-2 start.

‘We just had a talk that we had to move on,’ junior forward Meredith Gettel said. ‘We can’t go into the games scared.’

Last season, the Orangewomen snuck into the Big East tourney with a 2-3 conference record, a mark that Parker thinks would once again do the job this season. She feels that the lack of league games is a problem, but knows nothing can be done about it.

‘If you have an unlucky game or a bad loss, it’s tough,’ Parker said. ‘If you start out 0-2, you’re playing looking at a tough climb. It’s a tough time to get into the tournament, but it’s not impossible.

‘We can end up winning two of the three games and still end up in the tournament. And here we are talking about winning and losing again and I said I didn’t want to talk about it.’

Instead of getting caught up in wins and losses, Parker would rather worry about the little things and let the outcome take care of itself. Syracuse’s final three Big East opponents – Villanova, Providence and Connecticut – have a combined record of 21-13, leaving a tough final stretch for SU. But the Orangewomen know they can only worry about what they do on the field.

‘Right now we’re focusing on (Villanova) as just another game,’ junior back Lindsay Kocher said. ‘We’re just focusing on the little things, and not the outcome.’

Said Parker: ‘If we come out every game to achieve certain goals on the field, then the outcome will come out. How’s that? That’s a Yogi Berra line, isn’t it? The outcome will come out. It will.’

Published on October 8, 2003 at 12:00 pm