For the first time in a long time, the Syracuse women’s soccer team walked off of the playing field at Manley Field House last night with its head held high. The Orangewomen had just clobbered their opponent in what was their last exhibition game of the preseason. They scored with ease and waltzed past defenders.

After the game, the Orangewomen’s confidence soared, their smiles sparkled and their cheerful laughter rang.

‘This is the most upbeat preseason that I’ve been through,’ senior midfielder Erica Mastrogiacomo said. ‘We’re really anxious for (our first game) Friday night to come.’

To be fair, SU faced an under-16 team from Canada.

But a win’s always positive, especially following a dismal 2002 season with a 3-11-3 (0-5-1 Big East) record. It was SU’s worst season in its eight-year tenure, and the first without a winning record or 10 wins.

Seasons like that are tough to forget. But that’s just what the coaching staff has tried to get the team to do this preseason.

‘The positive thing is that we haven’t referred to last season at all,’ assistant coach Tracey Britton said. ‘I know that it’s behind us. We don’t need to mention it. We know what it feels like.’

The players are convinced that this is not the same losing team.

‘It’s reassuring knowing that we can win,’ senior Nina Scalzo said. ‘It’s a new season and we’re going to surprise people. We are so deep, we just have so much talent and we all work well together.’

The Orangewomen plan to change their style of play to a faster, more offensive approach. Last season, the Orangewomen scored 19 goals all season, placing them last in the Big East in scoring and 34 goals behind league-leaders Connecticut and West Virginia.

Instead of having just one striker, as they did in previous seasons, they now boast three forwards. SU hopes to get the ball to the forwards using the quickness and speed of the newcomers.

The most important addition may be Scalzo, who returns to the team after missing the final 17 games of last season due to personal reasons. She’s hoping to reestablish herself as the offensive force that she was in 2001 when she led the Orangewomen in goals scored.

‘Having Nina back is huge,’ Britton said. ‘She’s a natural goal scorer. She’ll finish anything that she gets her feet on.’

With senior forward Natalie Galas, last year’s leading scorer, and new recruits like junior-college transfer Shana Thomas, who scored 24 goals last season as a sophomore at Monroe Community College, SU is primed to improve on last season.

Junior Shannon Myers and sophomore Emily Kowalczyk combined last season to finish fifth in saves in the Big East. With more shots being taken by the Orangewomen’s improved offense, the goalkeepers can expect to face fewer attempts and improve their goals against average.

Though Syracuse expects to be an improved team, it’s opponents aren’t expecting much. Big East coaches predicted SU to finish fifth out of seven teams in the Big East Northeast.

The players, though, don’t care too much about their opponents’ point of view.

‘Obviously you want to be picked to finish a little bit better,’ Mastrogiacomo said, ‘but we realize where we stand in everyone’s eyes. But other teams might not expect what we’re about to give them.’

Said Scalzo: ‘We’re going to turn heads. It’s fun being the underdog.’

Published on August 25, 2003 at 12:00 pm