The fundamentals the Syracuse field hockey coaching staff stressed all week can still be improved upon to some extent.

But matters didn’t help when weather conditions – and Providence’s aggressiveness – nearly soaked SU. Nonetheless, the Orange sneaked out with a 1-0 victory over the Friars at Coyne Field in Big East competition Friday.

‘The field was particularly soggy tonight,’ SU assistant coach Mary McCracken said. ‘They needed to be stronger on the ball on a slower surface. They adjusted to that well, but it took us a little bit of our game plan.’

The turf’s dampness from the continuous rain was bad enough. It forced SU to spread out the field. The Friars’ continuous pressure only made matters worse. Still, SU (10-5, 3-1 Big East) was fortunate to tack on an early goal 7:40 in the first half. Senior Brittany Carriero dribbled the ball in the right corner when, suddenly, three Providence defenders surrounded the forward. Carriero found Paige Sullivan wide open in the center of the attack circle. The senior forward netted the ball in for the 1-0 advantage.

Both squads also had to adjust to the high number of dangerously hit balls. The whistles weren’t blown on many of the hits. SU, in particular, is used to different calls referees look for.

‘It’s the way these officials call it, or don’t call it as this case would be,’ SU head coach Kathleen Parker said. ‘You just have to play the way the officials call it. We went right from that official last Friday to a couple women on Sunday at Lafayette who called everything. Anything that was an inch off the ground they called it dangerous.’

Throughout the first half SU looked to maintain control by initiating pressure and scoring opportunities on the visitor’s end. The Orange fired 14 shots and had six corners, but the Providence defense never folded.

‘You can look at their record but it doesn’t really matter when you come into this game,’ McCracken said. ‘When it’s a Big East game, they’re going to give everything they got. I didn’t think tonight would be 1-0. We had more opportunities, but I’ll take it.’

In the second half Providence (2-9, 0-3) was technically sound, carrying its defensive pressure to the offensive end by moving the ball well and trying to attack SU’s zone defense.

‘They executed their game plan pretty well,’ Parker said. ‘They like to seal off up field and just hit the ball hard and have their forwards seal off and just go with it.’

Published on October 15, 2004 at 12:00 pm