Don’t worry if you missed it, the day the Syracuse women’s soccer team turned itself around faster than anything not spitting exhaust. You were sleeping when it happened.

‘Preseason, first day,’ remembers Brooke DeRosa.

‘Early in the morning, like 8 or 9 a.m.,’ says Erica Mastrogiacomo.

‘That’s when I knew this year would be different,’ recalls Megan Huez.

The Orangewomen showed up that summer day to the Manley Field House track in their most comfortable running shoes, but they were still pained by the previous season – a 3-11-2 season, a last-place finish in the Big East, a scrapbook of woe cluttered with contrition and controversy.

Then the real pain started. It’s called The Gauntlet, the annual fitness test. The seniors knew all about it. The newcomers had only heard about it. Run a mile in 6:30 or less. Rest four minutes. Then, run a half-mile in 3:30 or less. Rest one minute. Get back up, ignore your screaming muscles and run a quarter-mile in 1:45.

Officially, The Gauntlet determines who joins the fitness club, and nobody wants to be in the fitness club, being that its meetings are generally hellish and pre-sunrise. Pass this test and fitness club is avoided.

Unofficially, The Gauntlet lets head coach April Kater know who worked hard over the summer, and gives her the first idea of how (or if) her team will shape together.

So maybe this is why a few of the veterans on a Syracuse team that’s now 8-3-0 figured this year would be different: More players passed the fitness test than ever before. Within a day, they were even bragging to alumni. Suddenly, the 2003 Orangewomen had created a hook to which they could attach their hopes and optimism.

Says senior Anne-Marie Lapalme: ‘We were like, Oh my God, we’re going to be (ITALICS)good(ITALICS) this year.’

Since SU began the season, its collected more wins than any other school in its seven-team division of the Big East. It sits in first place, needing just one more win to clinch a .500 record. And the difference between this year’s team and last year’s? Like nightmare and day.

In 2002, the Orangewomen had their worst season ever. Injuries and low morale splintered the team, several players now say, and to compound problems, one of SU’s top offensive players, Nina Scalzo, sat out 17 games for personal reasons. Syracuse scored just 19 goals all season; this year, just past the midway point of the schedule, SU already has 25.

‘From my point of view, someone trying to lead the team, I know I was frustrated,’ says Mastrogiacomo, now a senior. ‘It was very hard at times. People were like, ‘Oh, good try.’ Or ‘Oh, you’re close.’ But so what? I was frustrated. I was mad. I was upset. I was sad we were losing. I was like, ‘I’m losing a year of my soccer career.”

Nobody wanted to waste another year, so each player, before leaving Syracuse for the summer, dedicated herself to a regimen of training. Kater mailed packets detailing expectations and requirements to the newcomers – just one freshman and five college transfers.

With little roster turnover, it’s easy to assume the same basic team from 2002 turned up for The Gauntlet at the end of this summer. But that’s not entirely true.

‘First, our attitude is definitely different – everyone came in really fit and ready to play, so it’s a completely different mentality,’ defender and midfielder Huez says. ‘Then, all the players who were injured last year really came back healthy.

‘Most of us are used to winning. We were on winning teams in high schools, and being that I’m a senior now, my first two years here were winning years. So last year was a really tough time, and it was a real challenge. It was a bad year, and we wanted to make sure it would never happen again.’

To help, Kater shifted to a more aggressive, attacking offensive style. The players took care of the rest. They pummeled Binghamton in the season opener, 7-1. They’ve strung together a pair of three-game winning streaks. Different year, different team. Now, the Orangewomen say they expect to make the Big East Tournament, maybe even win the darn thing.

Even after losing a stomach-dropping game to Rutgers on Friday – the Scarlet Knights scored with eight seconds left in overtime – the Orangewomen came back with a 2-0 win against St. John’s on Monday.

After a win like that, give them a short rest. Then watch them run through the remainder of a remarkable season.

Chico Harlan is a staff writer for The Daily Orange, where his columns appear each Tuesday – except today! E-mail him at apharlan@syr.edu.

Published on October 7, 2003 at 12:00 pm