When Rutgers goalie Lily Kalata planted 30 yards outside her own goal, Liz Hogan decided to make a move.

Seizing the opportunity, Hogan delivered a 75-yard heave down the field. With two bounces on the turf, junior attack Tee Ladouceur scooped up the ball and delivered it into the unattended cage. The goal gave Syracuse a 6-2 lead and further swung momentum in the Orange’s favor.

After dropping two consecutive games, No. 7 Syracuse (5-3, 1-0) used a dominant first half for a decisive 17-10 victory against Rutgers (6-3, 0-2) in front of a crowd of 512 at the Carrier Dome Sunday. The win puts SU right back on solid ground heading into the bulk of its Big East schedule.

‘We wanted to come out today and just work really hard right off the bat because we wanted to show that we had heart and the hustle that we know that we have,’ senior attack Jackie DePetris said. ‘We wanted to start out strong, and that allowed us to score some early goals.’

Gone was the lethargic team that had suffered a letdown against No. 11 Dartmouth Wednesday. Missing was the slow start against No. 1 Northwestern. With the opening of the Big East schedule, the Orange sought to regain dominance. SU did just that after jumping to an early lead over Rutgers.

After the Scarlet Knights scored the first goal of the game, SU took control. The Orange scored five straight goals and continued to put its foot on the gas pedal.

Syracuse took a 13-5 lead into halftime. The 13 goals was its largest output in a single half all season.

‘I think our offense was a little bit more determined this game, to come out sharper and I think we were able to execute better this game,’ senior attack Christina Dove said.

The same team that struggled to put the ball in the cage against No. 11 Dartmouth was scoring in droves. The potent offense that people were accustomed to seeing had returned.

The Orange outplayed the Scarlet Knights for 30 minutes. The team was firing on all cylinders, using a shot differential of 10-1 to jump out to a four-goal lead 10 minutes into the game.

‘From day one, that was my goal, to create an offense that can attack from behind, up top, left, right and really create some balance on it,’ SU head coach Gary Gait said.  ‘So far they’ve done a pretty good job. We certainly have a couple players dominating, but everyone does their part and everyone gets opportunities. Hopefully we’ll all continue to improve and even get better on the offensive end.’

Syracuse was provided with scoring from six different players in the first half. SU used its firepower to scorch Rutgers from nearly every part of the attacking third.

Ladouceur led the way with five goals and an assist, all in the first half. There was absolutely no shortage of scoring in the first half as the Orange players put on a display.

‘The depth we have on attack is such a complement to our team and our coaching because we have that depth and that ability to sub in and have everyone score and have everyone have an opportunity,’ DePetris said. ‘Some teams have just one or two main scorers, but we know that on our attack, we have seven, eight or nine girls that can put the ball in the goal.’

SU beat Kalata enough in the first half that it may have relaxed a little in the second half. The Orange were outshot and outscored by Rutgers in the second half.

Luckily, Syracuse had padded its lead enough so the one-goal deficit in the second half was a non-issue. The Orange had led its game against No. 1 Northwestern at halftime last week before folding to the Wildcats.

‘Certainly a strong first half on the offensive end of the field and we’ll continue to work on our focus going into the second half,’ Gait said. ‘Hopefully we’ll continue to work on that and get some consistency throughout the 60 minutes.’

adtredin@syr.edu

 

Published on March 28, 2010 at 12:00 pm