CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Entering the weekend, a victory at Virginia for the Syracuse women’s lacrosse team appeared as likely as a March snowstorm beneath the Mason-Dixon line.

Yet as the Orangewomen prepared to exorcise a dogging losing streak against the rival Cavaliers, a gray quagmire of bone-chilling precipitation fell here, erasing the sunny skies from Friday.

The drastic, sudden change of weather proved to be only the second most surprising event of the day because Syracuse turned its own fortunes around just as quickly.

For the first time ever, the No. 10 Orangewomen (2-0) toppled No. 7 Virginia (1-1), 12-10, on Saturday at Klckner Field in a victory that SU head coach Lisa Miller called the greatest in her team’s five-year history.

‘Let’s be honest,’ Miller said, ‘it’s the first time we’ve ever beaten a southern team ranked above us. This team believes in itself, and they play as a team. They don’t get broken in any way. It is a big, big win. It lets people know that we’re here to stay.’

Syracuse jumped ahead early, scoring the first two goals while controlling the ball for nearly five minutes.

Virginia, though, rallied to take an 8-7 lead midway through the second half, overcoming a balanced SU attack featuring Kim Wayne and Carrie Soults — both of whom finished with three goals.

Although Virginia rallied to tie once again, the Orangewomen pushed ahead, 9-8, with a confidence-building goal by Leigh-Ann Zimmer 14:08 into the second stanza.

Sophomore Danielle Lillis sped down the left side of the 12-meter circle with only one defender to beat. She nudged a pass across the crease to Zimmer, who cradled the ball and spun it past UVa goaltender Andrea Pfeiffer.

‘Something like that, it shows that we have heart,’ Lillis said, ‘because we can come back from a deficit. It’s the complete opposite of last year.’

That’s when the Orangewomen and the Cavs were knotted at 10 with less than five minutes remaining, and UVa scored the game’s final two goals to win.

This year, SU prevented a similar outcome.

After Zimmer’s goal pushed the Orangewomen ahead by one, Virginia rallied back with the fourth of five goals from All-American Lauren Aumiller. Syracuse, though, responded with three of the game’s final four goals, all while controlling the tempo of play much like it did at the beginning.

‘We actually practice that,’ Wayne said of the ball-control attack. ‘Usually at the end of practice we do this two-minute drill where we just practice taking the ball and having the defense pressure us, and see if we can control it.’

As the clock ticked down on Virginia’s historic domination of the Orangewomen, the patient SU attack capitalized for one final goal — and some breathing room — when an overaggressive UVa defense flocked to Wayne, leaving midfielder Jessica Trombley all alone in front of the cage for an easy goal.

After the game, Miller credited her patient attackers for sealing the game.

‘One of the things I like about this attacking unit is they might be young, but they’re very smart, they’re very skilled and they like playing with each other,’ Miller said, ‘So, the combination of the three, it makes for a great team game.’

Yet goalie Carla Gigon, who slumped much of last season, may have been the factor that kept Syracuse close when the attackers didn’t control the ball.

Gigon made nine saves, often scrambling 20 meters from the cage to scoop up a groundball or make a pass. Several times, she stoned Aumiller and attacker Amy Appelt on point-blank shots.

‘I’m a real active keeper,’ Gigon said. ‘I like to be running around, and I’m pretty quick, so I like to come out and mix it up. A lot of times, I don’t think people are ready for it, and a lot of teams are caught off guard. If I can get us going in transition the other way, then it just gives that extra spark to our offense.’

On Saturday, the SU goalie sparked her team’s first road victory against a squad ranked ahead of it. With the next two games against No. 1 Maryland and No. 4 Georgetown, the upset of Virginia catapults the Orangewomen into the national elite.

‘I think it says a lot about everyone on this team,’ Gigon said. ‘We had been looking at this game since we got back in January, and we just looked at it like this was our game and we could knock them off. And that’s what we did.’

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Published on March 3, 2002 at 12:00 pm