Bobbing her head as she walked off the field, Tee Ladoucer tried to comprehend the advice these teammates were giving her.

‘Don’t get nervous,’ they told her. Ladoucer, a reserve attack, had already proved that she could help out the No. 8 team in the nation. In the span of a weekend, she tallied two goals and five assists. And as Ladoucer walked off the Carrier Dome’s FieldTurf, her mentors didn’t talk to her about the games – a 15-4 landslide over Louisville and a 23-7 blowout against Cincinnati – but about how to handle the waiting reporters.

Before Ladoucer stepped on the field on Friday, three of her teammates with at least three years collegiate experience each had scored three goals in the span of three minutes. And to compensate, a Louisville team in its second year of existence took a timeout to discuss what had gone wrong.

Just three minutes into the game, the inexperience of a sophomore-heavy Cardinal team had already begun to show.

As Louisville sophomore midfielder Aimee Dixon ran up the left sideline with the ball, it was only a matter of time before junior Halley Quillinan caught up from behind and knocked the ball loose. Then, tripped by her own feet on the 37-yard line, Dixon could only extend her stick and watch as Quillinan raced back.

The difference could also be heard 80 yards apart.

On one end of the Carrier Dome, the hands of Syracuse head coach Gary Gait’s were tucked into his black suit – cool with confidence – and removed occasionally to clap. He was silent otherwise.

On the other end, Louisville head coach Kellie Young leaned forward, her hands pressed onto her legs, as she shouted, ‘Are you kidding me?’

‘I don’t think we came in expecting to win,’ said Young, because the coach knew her team couldn’t overcome experience.

And the coach was right. It would take less than a half, both Friday and Sunday, for the Orange to rack a lead which neither the Cardinals or the Bearcats could rally back.

‘It was great getting the job done as soon as we could,’ midfielder Christina Dove said. ‘So we could get some younger girls in there.’

Against a Cardinal team that didn’t know how to respond to the Orange’s early lead, Dove played her part. As time expired, she drove head first and landed just in front of the Louisville net. Met by three sophomore defenders, Dove simply lifted her stick and dropped the ball into the net.

That same experience that allowed Syracuse to score 15 goals Friday was matched 35 minutes into the first half Sunday. A developing Cincinnati squad was pummeled by a team used to scoring.

The Bearcats showed areas in need of improvement, when a 1:34 second possession went by without a single shot on net. In 47 seconds in the second half, the Orange made three goals. And soon after, the starters could be seen standing on the sideline.

A half from Syracuse’s experienced players was more than enough.

Ladoucer entered Sunday’s game in the first half, and from behind the net, notched her fourth goal of the season with a pass from Dove. In all, 11 different Orange players scored Sunday afternoon, a plan Gait and his team had worked out and executed, he said.

His mission: ‘To go deep in the lineup and let some younger players get some experience.’ His result: ‘A fun weekend of lax.’

edpaik@syr.edu

Published on March 29, 2009 at 12:00 pm