Apparently, three weeks wasn’t enough time for the Syracuse women’s soccer team to be ready for the season opener. Last night, in its final preseason practice, the Orangewomen needed an extra 15 minutes.

Now they’re sure.

‘Everybody came into preseason in shape,’ sophomore goalie Emily Kowalczyk said. ‘After three weeks of practice, I think that we’re ready.’

Unfortunately, the team won’t have long to rest in its assurance. The Orangewomen host Binghamton tonight at 7 to open their season at Syracuse Soccer Stadium.

The Orangewomen should take comfort in the fact that they are playing under the lights.

‘The day before we practice in whatever conditions we’re playing in the next day,’ senior forward Nina Scalzo said. ‘It’s nice, though. We love playing at night.’

Sure, it’s fun, but how much can it really help?

‘With a lot of people here, it does help a lot,’ Scalzo said. ‘Some of (my teammates) have never played at night, especially in high school.’

‘We want to keep the same atmosphere under the lights,’ senior midfielder and captain Erica Mastrogiacomo said. ‘It definitely helps. It gets us in the right frame of mind for the game.’

As comfortable as the Orangewomen are with their game plan and their preparation, they are in the dark about their opponents despite having played and beaten the Bearcats in Binghamton last season.

‘Coach says we don’t know anything,’ Scalzo said. ‘We don’t know their lineup. But I’m sure they’ll give us a good game.’

What they do know is that a victory against the Bearcats won’t be easy to come by.

‘They gave us a really good game last year,’ Mastrogiacomo said. ‘It was really close.’

So close, in fact, that SU needed to take the game into overtime to break a scoreless tie.

But the Orangewomen are also hoping for a victory so they can retain state bragging rights.

‘It’s always a little more competitive when you play a New York team,’ Mastrogiacomo said, ‘because you want to go out and prove that you’re the best in New York.’

‘Every team in New York fights for the No. 1 spot,’ Scalzo said. ‘Thank God, we’ve held it for a long time.’

And they hope to keep it, as well as start the new season off on the right foot.

‘The first game really dictates the season a lot,’ Scalzo said.

Mastrogiacomo, however, disagrees.

‘A loss always hurts the record,’ she said. ‘But I don’t think it would hurt the team morale. If we lose, it’s just the first game and we’ll have to learn from it. I’m sure we’re not going to go out there and play perfect, but as long as we learn from it, we’ll take it from there.’

Either way the Orangewomen are ready. At least mentally.

‘We’ve been preparing so long and so hard,’ Scalzo said. ‘We’re just ready to beat up on someone besides ourselves.’

Published on August 28, 2003 at 12:00 pm