Orange Opens BIG EAST Play on Friday with Rutgers
9/13/2007 9:11:54 AM | Field Hockey
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The Syracuse Orange (5-1) looks to rebound from its first setback of the season this weekend against BIG EAST foe Rutgers and Hofstra. Action begins on Friday, September 14 at 6 p.m. at SU’s J.S. Coyne Stadium as the Orange opens conference play with the Scarlet Knights. The contest will be shown live on suathletics.com via Orange All Access. Play resumes on Sunday, September 16 at 1 p.m. when the Orange hosts Hofstra. Live stats of both contests will be available on suathletics.com.
“It is really important for us to get the first BIG EAST win of the year because we want to start off strong. The game will be a very good test for us and winning would only help build our confidence,” senior forward Brittany Angellella said. “We bounced back from our first loss of the year quickly. We had a good week of practice and now we know what if feels like to lose and we don’t want to feel that way again.”
A STELLAR START: Despite the loss to Temple on September 9 the Ange Bradley era of Syracuse field hockey is off to a stellar start. The Orange is off to its best start since 2000 when SU began the season 6-1. Syracuse has recorded victories at Colgate (6-4), against Massachusetts (1-0) and Maine (4-3 OT), at Dartmouth (2-1) and versus Central Michigan (4-3).
CENTRAL MICHIGAN WRAP UP: Freshman midfielder Maggie Befort scored twice and senior forwards Gloria Nantulya and Jessica Lerew also tallied goals as the 20th-ranked Syracuse Orange field hockey team remained unbeaten with a 4-3 victory against the Central Michigan Chippewas on September 7 at J.S. Coyne Stadium. Befort’s first goal of the evening was also the first of the game. The freshman registered the fifth goal of her career by putting home a rebound off a Syracuse penalty corner 12:44 into the contest. Befort’s second tally of the game and sixth of the season put the Orange ahead 2-1 at the half. SU converted a two-on-one with Leigh Fawcett sending a pass to Befort who beautifully tipped it into the cage. Nantulya got into the action right after halftime taking a pass from fellow senior Brittany Shannon and beating Chippewa goalkeeper Kahla Schwall at the 36:34 mark to give Syracuse a 3-1 advantage. Lerew scored SU’s fourth goal of the game at 69:49. Her goal came on a similar play to SU’s first goal, a rebound off a Fawcett penalty corner. Heather Hess recorded two saves in her third victory of the season. The Orange outshot the Chippewas 17-11 and held a 6-5 advantage in penalty corners.
STAT NUGGET: Freshman midfielder Maggie Befort is the lone Syracuse player to register two multi-goal games for the Orange. The freshman scored twice in her Orange debut in SU’s 6-4 season-opening victory at Colgate on August 25. She repeated the feat in Syracuse’s 4-3 win against Central Michigan on September 7. Leigh Fawcett is the other Syracuse player to record a two-goal performance. Fawcett accomplished the deed in SU’s 4-3 overtime win against Maine on September 1.
BONUS TIDBIT: Leigh Fawcett is the lone Orange player to record a multi-assist game this season. She registered two in SU’s 4-3 win against Central Michigan. Michelle Sola was the last SU player to tally two assists in a contest. She accomplished the feat in a 4-3 overtime victory against Cornell on Oct. 24, 2006.
TEMPLE WRAP UP: Junior goalkeeper Heather Hess posted a season-high 11 saves as No. 20 Syracuse’s five-game win streak came to an end on September 9 at J.S. Coyne Stadium following a 1-0 loss against Temple. Senior forward Gloria Nantulya fired three of the Orange’s eight shots. Hess collected three critical second half saves to keep the Owls at bay, including one off the stick of senior Leanne Vogelsong with just over 21 minutes remaining. Vogelsong’s attempt from just inside the circle sent Hess across the cage in time to kick the shot wide. Alli Lokey scored the game’s only goal on a penalty corner at the 52:58 mark.
STAT NUGGET: Syracuse was shutout for the first time this season against Temple. It was SU’s first donut since it was blanked 3-0 at Connecticut on October 21, 2006.
UNDEFEATED: Syracuse started the 2007 season 5-0. It was the program’s best start sine a 6-0 start in 1997.The Orange won a program-best six games to start that season, outscoring its opponents 15-0.
BIG EAST HONOR ROLL: Field hockey freshman midfielder Maggie Befort was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for her performance in the Orange’s 4-3 victory against Central Michigan on September 7. This is the second consecutive accolade for Befort as she, along with graduate student Leigh Fawcett, were awarded BIG EAST honors last week.
NFHCA COACHES POLL: The Syracuse Orange received 60 votes in this week’s STX/NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll. The Orange was ranked 20th last week, its first ranking since October 26, 2004, when SU was also No. 20.
ORANGE SLICES: Eight Orange players have started all six contests. Maggie Befort, Gloria Nantulya, Leigh Fawcett, Brittany Angellella, Jessica Lerew, Brittany Shannon, Heather Doran and Heather Hess have been mainstays in SU’s staring lineup. Kim Coyle has started four of SU’s six contests.
CREATING OPPORTUNITIES: Syracuse has done a good job of creating scoring opportunities. SU has outshot its opponents, 101-67. The Orange has also created 22 more penalty corners, 51-29.
STAT TRACKER: Freshman midfielder Maggie Befort leads the team in points with 13 and goals with six. Senior back Leigh Fawcett has tallied a team-best three assists. Junior goalkeeper Heather Hess has seen the majority of action in the cage and has registered three victories while recording a 2.02 goals-against-average and a .744 saves percentage.
SCOUTING THE SCARLET KNIGHTS: After suffering its first two losses of the year, Rutgers rebounded with a 1-0 win over Towson on Sept. 9. The Scarlet Knights improved to 4-2 on the year and are currently third in the BIG EAST. Junior Amy Lewis recorded the lone goal to keep RU unbeaten at home (3-0) this season. Lewis leads the Scarlet Knights with 17 points and eight goals, both league-highs. Corinne Bach had registered a conference-best five assists. Rosalyn Wentko has seen the majority of aciton in the cage and has recorded a 0.97 goals-against-average and a .818 saves percentage.
SU VS. RUTGERS ALL-TIME: The Orange has won three of the last four meetings against Rutgers and leads the series 13-6. Last year’s match-up at Rutgers ended in a 3-2 overtime victory for the Orange.
LAST SEASON: SU overcame an early two-goal deficit to defeat Rutgers, 3-2, in overtime in the BIG EAST Conference opener for both schools on Sept. 15. After a back-and-forth first 17 minutes Amy Lewis made good on a penalty stroke to give the Scarlet Knights a 1-0 lead. Rutgers added a second goal off a broken corner play when Catherine Badoloto brought the ball around to the right and fired through traffic, giving Rutgers a 2-0 edge just 2:18 before halftime. However, Syracuse fought back in the second half and evened the score less than midway through the period. Alison Babbitt struck first, cashing in on an odd-player break with 21:29 remaining, followed by a penalty-corner goal from Michelle Sola with 18:25 remaining in the half. Sola and Jess Wreski worked the ball back and forth, and Sola eventually shot, scoring just 50 seconds into the overtime to win the game. Goalkeeper Marie O’Brien earned her second consecutive victory in the cage for the Orange. She allowed only one goal, while making seven saves. Rosalyn Wentko made seven saves for the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers owned a 9-0 edge in penalty corners and an 8-6 advantage in shots during the first 35 minutes, but those numbers reversed during the second half, when Syracuse had a 4-0 corner and 9-1 shot edge.
SCOUTING THE PRIDE: Hofstra was idle last week and resume play on Friday against Yale with the opening of the new Hofstra Field Hockey Stadium.On Sunday, the Pride travels to Syracuse for a meeting the the Orange. Charlia Warner leads the team with three goals,two of which were game-winners, while Brit Blankmeyer is second on the squad with two goals. Nadine Surak has seen the majority of action in the cage and has registered a 1.12 goals-against-average and a .778 saves percentage.
SU VS. HOFSTRA ALL-TIME: The Pride defeated the Orange in the last two match-ups, but Syracuse leads the series 10-3. The last time the Orange was victorious against Hoftra was in 2004, a 2-1 triple overtime battle.
LAST SEASON: Hofstra’s Kara McEneaney secured the 3-1 Pride victory against Syracuse on September 18 with an unassisted goal at 56:55. Late in an evenly-matched first half, McEneaney set up Leslie DeSimone after a penalty corner as Hofstra took the lead with the first goal of the match at 32:37. Early in the second period, the Pride raised the score to 2-0 with Pemba Ramdoo scoring after receiving a pass from Doni-Melissa Jantzen at 42:28. Syracuse answered seven minutes later with Alison Babbitt scoring with the assist awarded to Gloria Nantulya, bringing the score to 2-1. McEneaney, though, connected on an insurance goal at the 56:55 mark to put Hofstra ahead 3-1. Hofstra outshot Syracuse 10-4 and a held an 8-2 edge in penalty corners. Syracuse goalkeeper Marie O’Brien saved two shots with 58:00 in goal and Heather Hess finished up in goal for the Orange with two saves. Jessica Cowperthwait played 70:00 and saved three shots for the Pride.
