Two days later, it was still just another win to Ange Bradley.

Another game and another opportunity for the No. 7 Syracuse’s field hockey team to take another step forward. To Bradley, knocking off No. 1 Maryland Saturday at the Terrapin Invitational, 2-1, meant just as much as the win over Delaware (0-5) on Sunday.

‘I don’t think it’s any bigger than the rest. I don’t think that way,’ said Bradley, the Orange head coach about the upset. ‘Our goal is to outplay Syracuse. It’s not a matter of who we’re playing, it’s about us.’

That approach was reflected in the buildup to the contest. Bradley approached the team before the game as always. The Orange had nothing to lose, she said, only an opportunity to see where the team currently stands. ‘A win-win situation,’ Bradley said.

So when Syracuse emerged with the win – Bradley’s first victory against a top 5 team as a head coach and the first time the Terrapins lost in the 12-year history of its invitational – there was, she admitted, emotion.

‘We had so much pride in beating the University of Maryland on their field,’ Bradley said. ‘It was an amazing moment for this team and what they could do in the future.’

But the game? The game was a fight. One where SU fought just a little bit harder, Bradley said.

The head coach remembers the moments of how it was won. Like when freshmen midfielders Mariana Vernet and Martina Loncarica set a tone, combining for a 1-2 play that freed Loncarica to shot from the inside for the game’s first goal. Maggie Befort provided the game-winner for SU in the 63rd minute.

Or when Heather Hess, the senior goalkeeper, made a save with 44 seconds left in a 1-on-1 situation against Maryland All-American Katie O’Donnell. Hess made 10 saves, seven of those in the second period to hold off the Maryland attack.

‘If you put yourself in that moment, I think it was a routine save, and Hess stayed in that moment for 70 minutes,’ Bradley said.

Syracuse has defeated three top 10 opponents in the first three weeks – then-No. 10 Old Dominion, then-No. 8 Michigan State and the Terrapins. Syracuse is 6-0 for the third time in program history and the first time since 1997. No SU team has ever started 7-0.

All Bradley said she wanted was focus and effort. She ended up getting that and much more.

‘There wasn’t anything special,’ Bradley said. ‘A group overcoming something that they worked incredibly hard for.’

Despite its magnitude, it’s still just a win to Bradley. Not the one that matters. The head coach remains focused on the NCAA championship game as the one to win.

‘That’s definitely what we’re pursuing,’ Bradley said. ‘And I don’t think there’s a team on campus that works any harder than the field hockey team.’

edpaik@syr.edu

Published on September 15, 2008 at 12:00 pm