With Syracuse holding a comfortable 11-2 lead early in the second half, Michelle Tumolo stepped into the spotlight.

In just her second collegiate game against Stanford last Sunday, the freshman scooped up a pass from junior attack Tee Ladouceur. In one fluid motion, Tumolo took the ball off the turf and threw the ball over her left shoulder and behind her head into the net.

The behind-the-back shot was the highlight in a weekend full of offensive transition and success for a young SU attack. An attack that took its first step of the season in replacing last season’s offensive output thanks to the departure of the program’s leading scorer, Katie Rowan.

‘Gary Gait is our coach and he teaches us those things – you have to have some flash and fire in you,’ Tumolo said. ‘It felt good and it just shows I can do those things and other girls on our team can do those things.’

SU (2-0) will look to take the second step in progressing offensively when it travels to Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday to face No. 13 Virginia (1-1). The Cavaliers hold a controlling 8-3 series record against Syracuse.

And Tumolo’s shot best signified one thing. That somewhere down the road some of the firepower lost could eventually be rekindled.

Tumolo has started the season tied with a team-high 12 points. She posted a three-goal and four-assist effort against Colgate and a one-goal, four-assist performance against Stanford.

Along with Tumolo, fellow freshman Tegan Brown played well enough to perhaps have secured a starting spot in the midfield. Brown came to Syracuse from Australia, where she is a member of the national team.

‘She’s still making a few adjustments to the style of play here in the U.S.,’ SU head coach Gary Gait said. ‘But when she gets it down she’ll be a real threat to score because she goes hard to the net on and off the ball.’

Gait knew that many of the freshmen have potential. He placed four in his starting lineup for the first two games against Colgate and Stanford. After two games it has seemed to pay off.

Brown saw her first shot hit the back of the net about five minutes into the second half against Colgate last Friday. She collected two more goals over a period of two minutes. Two of her three goals came off of passes from Tumolo.

‘Scoring my first goal in the Dome was a big high. It was awesome and it just kept going from there,’ Brown said.

After SU’s 17-5 victory over Colgate Friday, Gait harped on the fact that Tumolo is the first ‘blue-chip’ recruit that the Orange has brought in during his three-year reign at SU.

‘She’s a real threat to score, but she’s good at keeping her head up and finding the open player when the double comes,’ Gait said. ‘She started off the first weekend doing a great job and hopefully she can continue.’

And after thrilling her teammates with that no-look goal against Stanford in just her second collegiate game, the pressure will be on Tumolo to raise the bar even higher.

But Tumolo believes she will be ready.

Said Tumolo: ‘You never know. I’m full of secrets.’

adtredin@syr.edu

Published on February 25, 2010 at 12:00 pm