STORRS, Conn. – She strode past the blue door, zipped down her blue Syracuse snow coat and made herself comfortable sitting beside reporters in the conference room in Storrs, Conn. Syracuse’s field hockey team had just won 3-1 over Providence in the first round of the Big East tournament, and before the first question Ange Bradley said: ‘We live to see another day.’

Bradley, a head coach who can always point her team’s flaws after a win, said it and smiled.

She had a reason to. The last time the Orange made it past the first round of the Big East tournament, in 2001, they claimed the Big East title. Last year, the Orange was eliminated in the first round by top-seeded Connecticut. Now, No. 3 Syracuse has the top seed in the tournament and after Saturday’s victory, a place in the championship game Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Orange will face Connecticut, which defeated Louisville 4-1 Saturday, in the Big East Championship Saturday at the George J. Sherman Family Sports Complex. The Huskies handed SU its only loss of the season, a 1-0 defeat on Oct. 18.

‘I’m really proud of this team,’ Bradley said. ‘We’ve worked as a 2008 team to win a Big East championship, that’s what we came here to do, and we’re one step closer to that dream.’For freshman back Anne-Sophie Van der Post, excitement before her first Big East Tournament game made sleeping uneasy. The Friars early attack Saturday didn’t help, striking a nervous chord in Van der Post when the Orange began on the defensive.

But one mistake, one early penalty corner later, and the mood swung back. Four minutes in, a straight shot off a penalty corner from Shannon Taylor was deflected and rebounded to back Maggie Befort, who scraped the first goal past Providence goalkeeper Rachel Chamberlain.

‘We have one of the best penalty corner offenses in the country,’ said Taylor. ‘And that’s what made a difference.’

The Orange went on to convert all three of its goals from penalties committed by Providence, sticking to a failsafe plan: Give the ball to Taylor – the nation’s points leader.

Stuck in a tied game to start the second half, Taylor’s penalty corner opportunity less than three minutes in put the Orange up 2-1. All nine of Syracuse’s corner opportunities were all the same: pass to Taylor, wait for a shot, look for a rebound.

And once the Orange had figured out how to score on Providence’s physical defense – using speed and capitalizing on penalties – the team calmed its nerves.

‘It started off very physical, but I think once we started moving the ball more they weren’t able to come in hard,’ Taylor said. ‘And if they did it was after the play and that was where they were getting called.’

The physical aspect of the game worked in SU’s favor, Bradley said, as the team was able to respond to the Friars’ defensive gameplan by ‘bouncing off their bodies.’

The Orange came away with 23 shots on goal. Twice, forward Lindsay Conrad drove the ball up the midfield as the Friars continually dropped behind the Syracuse offense to match its speed.

They were opportunities that the Orange should have capitalized on, forward Kristin Girouard said. ‘We just couldn’t get the right touch on it.’

At times too nervous, at times too excited, the Orange found middle ground by the end – focusing on its own offense, converting on penalties.

‘It’s the Big East Tournament everyone is fighting for their lives and you’ve got to go after it,’ Bradley said. ‘If you sit back and wait you can be down two goals.’

But Taylor, the team captain, spoke to her squad the night before about Saturday’s game. Her main message: Have no doubts. The Orange faced an elimination match, but she reminded her team to leave the field with no regrets.

‘It settled in,’ Taylor said of her message.

Coming off the field, SU back Heather Doran hugged the senior captain and whispered in her ear that she had never been in this position before.

‘To win a Big East championship,’ Taylor recalled.

edpaik@syr.edu

Published on November 7, 2008 at 12:00 pm