The Syracuse women’s soccer team isn’t too happy. And rightfully so.

It didn’t have the best weekend.

Of the two games the Orangewomen played – both against Big East and Northeast division opponents – they didn’t win either.

After SU lost, 2-0, to Boston College on Friday, the Orangewomen knew they needed to turn their play around for Sunday’s matchup against Providence. Instead, Syracuse tied Providence, 1-1. And to make matters worse, both games were played at home.

Syracuse (8-4-1, 2-1-1 Big East) isn’t disappointed in the way it played Sunday, just saddened by the outcome.

‘The second half against Boston College, we didn’t have that strong of a performance,’ midfielder Kelly Bailie said. ‘But we bounced back from it (against Providence) really nicely.’

In fact, the Orangewomen bounced back by out-shooting the Friars 18-9. The shots just kept clear from the back of the net.

In the 39th minute, SU defender Maureen Tohidi lofted a pass into the box to midfielder Anne-Marie Lapalme, who made a quick move and blasted a shot past Providence goalie Caroline Haines. The shot from 15 feet out was SU’s only goal.

‘We’re kind of disappointed and frustrated because we should have won,’ Lapalme said. ‘We outshot them and doubled their chances. They had a good keeper, but we should have won. We just couldn’t finish today.’

Expectedly, in a game filled with elbowing, knock-downs and a surprising amount of soccer balls hitting players in the face and stomach, there was significant referee interference.

None of the Orangewomen feel that the referee involvement was unwarranted, except one call.

In the 53rd minute of the game, a Friar midfielder was hit squarely in the face by an attempted SU clear ball. Play continued with the Providence player stumbling slightly, bringing her arms to the ground to help balance herself. Referee Peter Koch stopped play to check on the player, awarding Providence (5-5-3, 0-1-2) a free kick. The Friars quickly used that to their advantage, hitting the ball in front of the SU net, where Providence’s Leah Vieira scored the tying goal.

‘We got a little bit unlucky on that call when he gave them an indirect and they scored off it,’ Bailie said. ‘I thought the call was a little harsh, but we should have defended it better, to be honest.’

Lapalme, however, is adamant that the call never should have been made, at least not while play was still going on.

‘You can’t do that,’ Lapalme said. ‘You have to wait until the ball is out of bounds. You can’t just give a free kick. We were like, ‘What the hell?’ That was a really bad call.’

Neither Syracuse nor Providence seemed to control the game after the controversial goal.

Though they didn’t lose, the tie was equally frustrating for the Orangewomen.

‘We really wanted to win to prove to everyone that Friday was just a bad game,’ Lapalme said. ‘With a win (against Providence), we would have made it to the tournament for sure. Everyone else is just doing so-so. A win would have helped a lot.’

Published on October 13, 2003 at 12:00 pm