The toughest part of Saturday’s scrimmage for the Syracuse women’s lacrosse team was just getting out of town. Part of Interstate 81 was closed Friday because of the morning snowstorm, so arriving at Princeton, N.J., was unusually treacherous.

Once the team reached Princeton, there were no problems on the field. The No. 17 Orange beat No. 5 Princeton, 14-9, in a scrimmage. It then knocked off Temple, 10-4, in its only tuneup before the regular season starts Saturday at No. 9 Dartmouth (The Big Green is tied with the Tigers for the No. 6 ranking). Neither the Princeton win nor the Temple win counts in SU’s final record.

Statistics were not kept, but the scrimmage served perhaps a more important purpose. Because of the inclement weather and travel delays, SU had a unique opportunity to bond and socialize in a relaxed atmosphere before the pressure of actual games.

The team normally goes out for dinner the night before road contests. Sensing her squad was tired and grumpy from a long, stressful day on the road, head coach Lisa Miller allowed the team to order pizza right in the hotel.

‘It was a good time to just hang out because it was so casual,’ senior Melissa Pearsall said. ‘Especially being older because there are so many younger players on the team this year, I need to get to know everybody.’

There are more freshmen (nine) on the roster than any other class. Of the 27 players on the team, 16 are freshmen and sophomores.

The extra time on the bus and untraditional dinner didn’t seem to affect the Orange on the field. Princeton is one of the best teams in the country and a team Syracuse may have to deal with again in the postseason.

Because of the basketball schedule at the Carrier Dome, the team has been practicing on only half a field – a problem for a squad expecting to rely on a fast-paced transition offense – so the scrimmage was the first chance for the Orange to get out and run the field.

‘We wanted to hold our own against a pretty polished unit and try to run on them,’ Miller said. ‘It worked because we did a good job with ball control and putting away our opportunities.’

Saturday was the debut for the freshmen, and two upperclassmen were impressed with their performances. Pearsall said highly touted Halley Quillinan did an especially good job taking the draws and giving Syracuse possession.

The scrimmage was also the starting debut of sophomore walk-on goalie Amber Pardee-Hill. Though she anchors a team that should score a lot of points, she is an unknown addition to the defense.

‘She made some basic saves, some difficult saves and some shots she wishes she could have back,’ Miller said. ‘She stayed in behind the defense like we wanted and should keep getting better.’

In both scrimmages, though, SU struggled in the first half. Although the Orange managed to come back and win, it will not be able to recover from such slow starts against strong teams like Dartmouth in the regular season.

Junior Kristin Brady thinks much of the problem is mental. Knowing it was a scrimmage didn’t help, either. Miller said she went into the day with the same expectations she would have for a real game because Princeton is one of the best teams in the country, but it took time for her team to respond.

‘We need to start thinking about Dartmouth right now, not the day before or a couple hours before the game,’ Pearsall said. ‘We need to concentrate better and remember that next time it’s going to count for the rankings.’

Though Miller wanted the atmosphere to resemble that of a real game, because of the difficult trip and the lighthearted attitude of the team – Miller couldn’t remember the score of the Temple game without consulting her team first – it was still a scrimmage.

And that’s a good thing, because even though Miller said this was the first time in several years she couldn’t find a glaring problem after the first scrimmage, there are still kinks to work out on the field. She assured the problems would be solved by Saturday, whatever those problems are.

‘I’m not going to talk about what we need to work on,’ Miller said. ‘If I do, Dartmouth will be reading this right when it comes out.’

Published on February 20, 2007 at 12:00 pm