For all the efforts of the Syracuse women’s lacrosse team to slow Saturday’s contest with Boston University to a standstill, neither team could stop running.

Four goals for SU. Two goals for BU. Four goals for SU. Four goals for BU. And later, two goals for SU; three goals for BU.

With the momentum seemingly attached to an AC outlet, Syracuse was simply fortunate to have it at the end. The No. 16 Orangewomen (8-5) won just their second game in the last five, outlasting three BU (4-9) goals in the final minute for a 12-11 victory at the Carrier Dome.

‘Oh yeah, we got pretty nervous at the end,’ midfielder Jessica Trombley said. ‘We just huddled up (after BU’s 11th goal) and said, ‘We have to get this draw control.’ I feel like if we had lost that draw control, we would have been a lot more nervous.”

Only when Syracuse played keep-away for the final 22 seconds did the runs finally stop. Moments earlier, as SU held a 12-8 lead with one minute to go, the Terriers grabbed the momentum and beat goalie Carla Gigon three times in the next 30 seconds.

The game, in which the Orangewomen held an 8-2 halftime lead, was the perfect test for a young team inexperienced in pressure situations, head coach Lisa Miller said.

‘We need to be able to control our nerves all the time, whether we’re losing or whether we’re facing a team that’s storming back,’ Miller said. ‘That’s something we can do a little better.’

Syracuse couldn’t have played any better during its opening run, when it ripped off a 4-0 lead in a span of 1:49. Kim Wayne, who would later tie the school’s all-time career assist record, started the barrage by slinging a free-position shot past freshman goalkeeper Anne Sheridan.

Sheridan’s day quickly worsened when attacker Erin MacDonald converted a Leigh-Ann Zimmer pass into a 2-0 lead. After a Trombley goal, a cutting Zimmer whipped in the fourth SU point by taking a pass inside from senior Carrie Soults. A surprise starter, Sheridan lasted just 15 minutes before being replaced by regular goalie Brooke Barrett, a junior.

‘Lacrosse is a game of momentum,’ Miller said. ‘It’s just get as many as you can and give up as few as you can. Thankfully, that’s what we did.’

After another four-goal spurt before halftime, the Orangewomen allowed the Terriers to reenter the contest with a run of their own.

BU freshman Alyssa Trudel, who finished with three goals and four points, started the second half with a quick thrust past Gigon. Eight minutes later, BU had clawed a six-goal lead to two.

With the game slipping away, Miller called for her attackers to execute an offense that ran the clock and cycled the ball around the perimeter. Although the clock slowly drained, BU head coach Liza Shoemaker opted for her defense not to pressure SU’s patient offense.

‘But hey, we’ll take no pressure anytime,’ said SU’s Monica Joines, who scored two goals. ‘We ran a play to keep the ball away from the defense, and we thought that by that time they’d be coming after us, but they gave us the time.’

Syracuse used this style to temporarily squelch the running and methodically build a 12-8 lead. Then, as Miller said, ‘the little green man crawled inside our head again.’

The little man didn’t stay long, however. Much like everything else in this game, he quickly ran away.

‘We’ve learned this season that if you don’t come out hard from the beginning and play 60 minutes, you’re going to run into a wall at some point,’ Joines said. ‘But it’s fun that way.’

Published on April 21, 2002 at 12:00 pm