Taormina's Two Help Orange Get BIG EAST Win

Sunday, October 7

Syracuse, N.Y.

1:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

DePaul

Jen Taormina netted two goals to increase her season total to a team-high six.

10/7/2007 5:36:05 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The women's soccer team registered its first BIG EAST victory with a 3-2 win against DePaul. Senior midfielder Jen Taormina tallied a career-best two goals to help the Orange improve to 5-5-3 overall and 1-3-1 in the conference. With the loss, DePaul is now 4-8-1 and 1-4-0 in the BIG EAST. Syracuse is 5-0 in matches Taormina has scored a goal.

"This was a must win for us," said head coach Patrick Farmer. "This should put us back in control of our destiny in regards to the BIG EAST tournament. I didn't want to put pressure on our team, but they responded well to that situation."

SU was able to erase DePaul's early 1-0 lead when Taormina scored at 35:05. Junior defender Lauren Cappelli began the play by sending a corner kick towards the goal.

Sophomore midfielder Sarah Grimsgaard got the Orange on the board again at 60:18. After a DePaul foul, freshman midfielder Dana Bergstrom sent a free kick toward the right post, where Grimsgaard got her head on the ball. The goal was her first of the season and second of her career. The assist was the second of the year for Bergstrom.

The Blue Demons answered less than three minutes later when freshman Tara Strickland's ball hit the crossbar and fell behind sophomore goalkeeper Eliza Bennett-Hattan.

The Orange answered at 80:19. Sophomore forward Chelsea Berry found a wide open Taormina, who sent a shot from 18 yards out over the head of DePaul goalkeeper Kelsey Hoinkes. It was the first two-goal match in Taormina's career. She leads the team with six goals and 13 points, while Berry, who leads the team with three assist, is second with seven points.

"It's really tough to comeback in games and that's one thing we lacked a lot last season," Taormina said. "This year we are doing a better of job of staying positive and believing we are going to come back; we showed that a lot today by coming back once and then scoring that third goal to win."

Syracuse's three goals is a season high and the club is now 3-1-2 when tied at halftime. SU registered a season-high 25 shots and took 10 corner kicks. DePaul had 11 shots and only three corner kicks.

"We've been playing some really good teams that are either undefeated or ranked nationally," Farmer said. "We've been defending a lot, but today we were able to get our offense going. We wanted to play more going forward and get some chances and I think we did."

Bennett-Hattan made three shots, increasing her season total to 73, which is the sixth best in a single-season in school history. She is two saves shy of her 2006 total.

The Orange begins a four-match road trip when they travel to South Florida on Friday, October 12 at 6 p.m. and to Marquette on Sunday, October 14 at 1 p.m. The following week the club is at Seton Hall on October 19 and Rutgers on October 21.