Last season, Kristin Aronowicz led the Syracuse field hockey team with 51 shots. But none were like the scorcher she’s now firing at SU’s coach and athletic department.

SU head coach Kathleen Parker has opted to leave Aronowicz off an upcoming team trip to Australia. Aronowicz is now ripping the decision, athletic department and Parker, citing four years of ’emotional and verbal abuse’ from the coach.

Because she graduates Sunday, Aronowicz has all but run out of time to resolve the issue. She has pursued legal alternatives, but those options appear to be dwindling, too.

‘I feel like nobody wants to help me out,’ Aronowicz said. ‘It’s a horrible feeling.’

The animosity between Aronowicz and Parker reached a crescendo April 6 when Aronowicz skipped the Orangewomen’s end-of-the-year banquet. Aronowicz’s mother, Helen, drove to Syracuse from her home in Exton, Pa., but hours before the banquet, they decided not to attend.

‘After four years of taking emotional and verbal abuse, I just didn’t think I could sit through the banquet,’ Aronowicz said. ‘It was a last-minute decision. I should have called coach first. I admit that.”

‘The thought of sitting there was unbearable. I just couldn’t go and sit there and look at this woman,’ Aronowicz’s mother said of Parker.

Parker declined to comment on the banquet, citing an unwillingness to ‘discuss the inner workings of my team.’

On April 9, Aronowicz’s parents received a letter explaining Parker’s disapproval with Aronowicz’s absence and her decision to keep Aronowicz off the trip. Aronowicz said she received the same letter two days later.

SU Director of Athletics Jake Crouthamel said Parker’s decision was not a direct result of the missed banquet.

‘This is not a disciplinary action,’ Crouthamel said. ‘It’s a decision made by the head coach for the good of the team.

‘(The missed banquet) may have precipitated it. It may have verified the decision. But it was not a disciplinary action.’

Stunned by the decision, Aronowicz met with Associate Director of Athletics Janet Kittell on April 18. At the meeting, Kittell told Aronowicz the decision was made after consideration of Aronowicz’s conduct during the last four years, not simply the skipped banquet, Aronowicz said.

Aronowicz said Kittell declined to elaborate. In a follow-up e-mail, Kittell denied Aronowicz’s request for a three-way meeting with Parker, Aronowicz said.

When contacted by The Daily Orange, Kittell declined comment.

Aronowicz fumed that no one in the athletic department has explained what she has done wrong during the last four years. She said she has never been suspended and has always been respectful with Parker.

‘I can elaborate on the stress that I’ve been put through for four years,’ Aronowicz said. ‘I can talk about coming out of meetings crying. But they can’t elaborate on this?’

Aronowicz also contacted SU Student Legal Services, and on April 23, legal services attorney Chris Burke talked by phone with representatives of the athletic department. Burke said the department remained steadfast in its decision to keep Aronowicz off the trip.

Aronowicz’s legal options were limited from the start. Her only chance was to argue that by barring her from the trip, SU athletics breached a contract.

‘You can’t go to court just because you think you’ve been treated unfairly,’ Burke said.

Players funded the Australia trip by working various SU-sponsored clinics and camps during the last two years. Instead of being paid, most players put their money in a department-controlled pot that went toward paying for travel and lodging expenses in Australia, Aronowicz said.

Aronowicz agreed to put her money in the pot and by doing so, may have entered into a contract whereby she was granted a spot on the trip, Burke said. Aronowicz could argue that, by not allowing her to go, the athletic department broke the agreement. But if Syracuse returns the money, Burke said Aronowicz cannot claim any damage.

Crouthamel said Syracuse mailed a check last week to Aronowicz for the money she earned working the camps and clinics.

‘There was never any question that it wouldn’t be returned,’ Crouthamel said. ‘She will be given every penny she is owed.’

Aronowicz estimates that, with interest, SU owes her about $1,500. As of yesterday, Aronowicz said she had not received the check.

The Orangewomen leave Wednesday for Australia, where they will spend two weeks playing games against Australian club and college teams. Most of the 2002 Orangewomen will go, Parker said.

‘It’s an educational experience, and it’s obviously a competitive experience,’ Parker said. ‘Australia plays some of the best field hockey in the world.’

Australia will not see Syracuse’s best player. Aronowicz has led Syracuse in scoring each of the past three seasons. This year, she tallied seven goals and an assist. With 91 career points, Aronowicz is fourth on SU’s all-time scoring list.

Nevertheless, Aronowicz said the athletic department told her that her presence on the trip would be detrimental to the team. Aronowicz contends Parker has caused the acrimonious relationship.

‘I’ve known girls who would yell back at her, but I never did any of that,’ Aronowicz said. ‘I sat there with my mouth shut while she told me I was awful and selfish.’

Aronowicz said during her biannual one-on-one meetings with Parker, the 25-year head coach would rip her unfairly. Aronowicz also cited an instance two years ago when, during a game at Penn State, Parker forced her to play through an injury.

‘I said, ‘Coach, I hurt my knee, I really need to come out,’ ‘ Aronowicz said. ‘She wouldn’t listen to me. Then, like 10 minutes later, she took me out. I went to the trainer, got it wrapped, went to coach and said, ‘OK, it still hurts, but I think I can play on it.’ She didn’t say anything. She just walked away.’

Aronowicz also bashed Parker’s coaching strategies and said she sometimes lacked the team’s support.

‘I think some people give her respect just because they think it’s right, just because they think she has authority over them,’ Aronowicz said. ‘I don’t think she has the trust of the team at all. No one’s going to say what they really think, even to other teammates. It’s hard to keep teammates quiet.’

Parker declined to discuss specifics. When asked to assess her relationship with Aronowicz, Parker said, ‘I suppose there’s always communication problems with players and coaches.’

SU goalie Audrey Latsko, a senior last season, opted off the Australia trip for personal reasons. She defended Parker, admitting her toughness while emphasizing her flashes of compassion.

‘Every player has ups and downs with coaches,’ Latsko said. ‘She’s a really nice person, and she can sort of be a mother figure sometimes.’

Latsko said she never took offense to things said during one-on-one meetings.

‘Definitely it’s constructive criticism,’ Latsko said. ‘I’ve met with her much more than twice a year, maybe more than five times a year. She’s had some good things to say, too. It’s a little bit of everything. It just depends on how mature you are and the way you take it.’

Parker and Aronowicz’s turbulent relationship has mirrored Syracuse’s inconsistency during the last two seasons.

In 2001, the Orangewomen won the Big East Championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Aronowicz garnered second-team All-America status, and Parker won the conference’s Coach of the Year award for the fourth time.

Still, Aronowicz briefly pondered transferring after the 2001 season, her last time playing with her sister Michelle, who was with Syracuse from 1998-2002.

‘Some coaches knew she was unhappy,’ Aronowicz’s mother said. ‘They never did anything formally, but they were willing to talk. She didn’t want to leave.

‘Everything outside the athletic department has been a positive experience. It’s almost like everyone’s afraid of (the athletic department).’

This past season, Syracuse performed below expectations, finishing 10-11 overall and 2-3 in the conference. SU qualified for the Big East tournament but bowed out to Connecticut, 1-0, in the first round.

Aronowicz started all 19 games she played last season. But a skipped banquet, at least in part, appears to have cost her a trip halfway around the world.

‘The decision is unfair because coach doesn’t know why I skipped the banquet,’ Aronowicz said. ‘She can only assume from what other people have told her. She never heard it from me. She never gave me the opportunity to tell her. She won’t listen to my side of it.’

Published on May 7, 2003 at 12:00 pm