Turns out Syracuse women’s lacrosse coach Lisa Miller wasn’t just teaching a lesson in Coachspeak 101 when she talked before the season about the Big East’s increased competitiveness.

When the No. 14 Orangewomen (6-4, 2-3 Big East) dropped consecutive games to Notre Dame and Rutgers, Miller, although disappointed, was certainly not surprised. After all, SU’s inconsistent year has served as the perfect case study for Miller’s point.

“It’s parity, and it’s great,” Miller said. “The world of women’s lacrosse has been very topsy-turvy this year.”

But even in an up-and-down season, Syracuse can still land safely in the NCAA Tournament if it wins its final five games. The stretch drive begins Sunday with a 1 p.m. game against New Hampshire at the Carrier Dome.

Although a berth in the NCAA Tournament seemed a lock only two games ago, SU’s recent tailspin makes every remaining game vital. The Orangewomen, ranked No. 7 just last week, must re-enter the top 11 for a legitimate shot for an at-large bid, Miller said.

“If we run the table, we will make the tournament, and there’s a good chance that will happen,” Miller said. “But right now, getting back to playing good lacrosse is more important to me.”

That means getting off to a quick start against New Hampshire. This year, Syracuse owns a 6-0 record when it leads at halftime and an 0-3 record in games when it trails. Before losing to Notre Dame for the first time in school history, SU trailed, 8-2, at the half.

“When we fall behind we start losing confidence in ourselves,” said junior Kim Wayne, who leads the nation with 2.63 assists per game. “Against Notre Dame, we were kind of shocked at how good they were. We were down all of a sudden, and we just lost our confidence, which is something that shouldn’t happen at this point in the season.”

Syracuse, though, needn’t look far for a shot of self-assurance.

Last year, the Orangewomen struggled to a 4-4 record before winning their final six games. Four opponents from the 2001 second-half schedule — Cornell, Boston University, Virginia Tech and Dartmouth — still await SU this season.

First, Syracuse must deal with New Hampshire, which leads the America East Conference with a 6-3 record. The Wildcat attack is led by junior attacker Jessie Groszkowski, whose 33 points consist of 31 goals and two assists.

If a defense can neutralize Groszkowski, UNH generally struggles. The Wildcats hold an 0-3 record against opponents ranked in the top 20.

“Still, we can’t go into that game thinking that New Hampshire isn’t ranked, so therefore we should beat them,” Wayne said. “We all went into (the Rutgers) game thinking it was going to be an easy win and, well, it wasn’t. It was a very unexpected loss.”

The recent losses, sophomore Leigh-Ann Zimmer said, can be attributed to a struggling offense. To make matters worse, one of the offensive starters, senior Erica Mathewson, quit the team eight days ago.

Against Notre Dame and Rutgers, SU failed to crack a double-digit goal total for the second and third times this year.

“Our attack unit has not been playing as well it should be. We’re just not playing together,” Zimmer said. “A lot of things have happened this year, but we just have to push all that away.”

Published on April 11, 2002 at 12:00 pm