Syracuse women’s soccer head coach Pat Farmer sat in his office before Sunday afternoon’s game sipping a soda and reviewing all the pointers that he just gave his team about how the Rhode Island team was going to play. In the background, he heard singing and cheering. It was the sound of the 28 members of his team partaking in their normal pre-game ritual.

The girls blast their favorite song and stand in a circle, with some members of the team in the middle dancing.

Despite a soaked field at SU Soccer Stadium, Syracuse got prepared for the game against Rhode Island the same as always, but this time the weather rained on their parade.

The Orange suffered a disappointing 3-1 loss, after coming from a home-opening win over Fairleigh Dickinson Friday. The rain was steady throughout the entire first half, and it got heavier after halftime. Throughout the afternoon, the Orange made several mistakes in the slippery conditions.

‘Some of those goals we shouldn’t have let happen,’ SU forward Lauren Jentzen said. ‘We didn’t look ready to play today.’

Like many of her teammates, Syracuse goalkeeper Eliza Bennett-Hattan had a tough time handling the wet ball – Rhode Island’s (2-1-1) third goal went through her legs. The Rams’ second goal, scored by freshman forward Jessica Babice, bounced off the post and then into the goal.

The lone goal for the Orange (2-2-0) was scored off a penalty kick by Karrah Benson in the 65th minute.

‘I don’t like playing in the rain, the ball sticks around and you can’t judge it, but we have to learn to anticipate more,’ Jentzen said.

During Farmer’s pre-game meeting with the team, he warned them that Rhode Island would play a lot of diagonal balls and a very fast game.

‘They failed to put a lot of what I said into action during the first half,’ Farmer said.

The Rhode Island offense often had the Syracuse defense turned around. Farmer said the rain affected the players that aren’t as technically proficient because the ball skips a lot more.

‘Most of us are used to playing at Syracuse for two or three years now, so we are used to playing in the rain in the fall,’ Jentzen said. ‘So the rain is no excuse for a loss.’

Jentzen had no problem with the mud. She slid into the ground trying to get any ball she could. Jentzen had several attempts at goals, including in the 52nd minute when she beat the Rhode Island goalkeeper to the top of the box, but another Rams defender blocked her shot.

Coming off a win Friday, morale was high for Farmer’s squad, but the Orange was unable to recover from its slow start.

‘The energy in the locker room is always high,’ junior defenseman Lauren Cappelli said. ‘Today’s loss wasn’t because of us being tired; it’s something we need to learn to identify and work through it.’

Cappelli said yesterday morning’s ritual was no different from Friday’s match, but the team came out ‘too flat’ at the beginning of the Rhode Island game.

Jentzen said the pre-game ritual is important to the team, but it would never affect the outcome of the game.

‘In the locker room, we were excited,’ Jentzen said. ‘We came off Friday’s win and were trying to repeat it, but despite all the pre-game rituals, we still came out slow.’

Published on September 9, 2007 at 12:00 pm