Binghamton’s first shot of the game Tuesday whizzed past Syracuse goalie Amber Pardee-Hill. It seemed like a bad start for a defensive unit already allowing nine goals and more than 27 shots a game.

But by the time the Bearcats took that first shot, almost 14 minutes had gone by. The Orange already led 8-0 and its offense never slowed down.

Thirteen players combined to score 23 goals, tying a school record, in No. 12 Syracuse’s 23-4 win over Binghamton in front of 136 at the Carrier Dome. Eight Orange players scored at least twice.

The offensive outburst came as a result of solving fundamental problems that plagued Syracuse in its 10-8 loss to then-No. 6 Virginia Saturday.

‘We won the draw-controls all game, so we were able to control the tempo right from the beginning,’ SU attacker Ashley Pike said. ‘We just valued the ball more tonight.’

Attackers Kristin Brady and Meg Mosenson led the way with a hat trick apiece. The goals were the first by Mosenson since injuring her knee on March 28, 2006.

‘It’s so nice to be back on the field and moving again,’ Mosenson said. ‘I’m starting to feel comfortable, and it was great to get out there with everyone, especially in a big win.’

With the men’s basketball regular season concluding last week, the team was finally able to take advantage of a week of practice on the full field, as the basketball court was removed from the Carrier Dome turf.

Playing on only half the field was especially detrimental for a team that relies heavily on speed and transition opportunities. When the offense is right, the ball moves from one side of the field to the other before the opposing defense is able to recover and set up.

Tuesday, it was right. Syracuse (2-2) forced 21 turnovers to create an astounding 55 shots. The Orange controlled the ball for virtually the entire game, creating easy scoring chances seemingly at will.

‘We improve every day that we’re on the big field,’ Syracuse head coach Lisa Miller said. ‘We run, and we really haven’t been able do it. A lot of our problems were because we weren’t able to get up and down like that.’

Those problems were slow starts and poor fundamentals that especially plagued the team in Saturday’s loss to Virginia. The Orange played a full 30 minutes for the first time this year, jumping out to a fast start and never looking back.

Syracuse has started slowly, routinely taking 10 minutes to warm up. When the Orange finally started hot Saturday against the Cavaliers, it became sloppy and allowed three straight goals at the end of the first half to relinquish a modest 4-2 lead.

Not the case Tuesday. SU attacker Jill DePetris scored the game’s first goal less than two minutes in. Binghamton took a timeout at the 22:40 mark, already trailing by six. By the time the teams went to the locker room at halftime, Syracuse had out-shot Binghamton, 31-4, and led 14-2.

After committing 15 turnovers against Virginia, the team vowed to clean up its act sooner rather than later. The Orange tied a season-low 10 turnovers and improved to 12-of-14 on clears against the Bearcats, after converting a dismal 6-of-14 clear opportunities against Virginia. Miller said practicing on the full field helped the team work on spacing, thereby improving the turnover and clear numbers.

‘Amber played a lot smarter with the ball in her stick,’ Brady said. ‘And we were much better at getting open for her to throw it to us, but we still have a lot to work on there.’

They’ll have to improve quickly because the Orange travels to Washington, D.C., to take on No. 10 Georgetown in its next game Saturday. Syracuse is 0-2 against ranked teams this season but lost by a combined three goals.

With another three days of full-field practices still to come, the Orange thinks this time it’ll be able to get over that last hump – especially if the offense performs the way it did Tuesday.

‘We’re going to be ready,’ Pike said. ‘We have a lot to work on, but we’re going to be ready.’

Published on March 6, 2007 at 12:00 pm