The Syracuse women’s soccer team has been an offensive machine, averaging 2.43 goals, a mark high enough to rank it third in the Big East in that category.

Tonight, though, that all might change, as the Orangewomen face Albany , their first defensive-minded opponent of the season, at Syracuse Soccer Stadium at 7.

‘We can’t get frustrated if they’re all defense,’ defender Megan Huez said, ‘and we can’t let down at all.’

Maybe Albany’s defense will shut down the Orangewomen (5-2-0, 1-2-0 Big East). Maybe.

‘They’re going to be doing something we haven’t faced yet,’ forward Nina Scalzo said. ‘We’re going to have to work the ball around and exploit them.’

Because Albany (0-6-1) only plays one forward, Orangewomen defenders will be able to step up and provide offense as well, which they’re looking forward to doing.

‘We’re going to have a lot of offensive opportunities with our same formation,’ defender Erica Mastrogiacomo said. ‘Probably a lot more shots on goal and, hopefully, a lot more goals.’

Tonight’s game will serve as a Big East break for Syracuse. Though the Orangewomen aren’t looking past tonight’s game against Albany’s winless squad, they understand the importance that a win may have on their Sunday matchup against Seton Hall, as well as the rest of their season.

‘This is the end of our home stretch,’ Huez said. ‘We start on the road this Sunday, so it’s very important so we can finish our home record strong. And we just need it for our record. Every game now is so important.’

Her co-captain agrees.

‘A win would be a great way to start a road trip when we’re facing another Big East opponent this weekend,’ Mastrogiacomo said. ‘We just want to get another win under our belts.’

The Orangewomen also hope to play well together as a team, like they did in the second half of last Sunday’s 2-1, come-from-behind victory over Virginia Tech.

Mastrogiacomo, who played the entire game Sunday, got to watch the game from a different perspective when she saw its television rebroadcast on Time Warner.

‘I saw the last half of the first half and the whole second half,’ she said. ‘In the first half, you could just tell we had no rhythm. In the second half, we found it. And once we did, the other team just had no idea where we were coming from, and we were just getting in all day. We want to have that same mentality, going hard for every ball with a lot of energy.’

With energetic pregame warm-ups, the team hopes to recapture some of its magic from last Sunday. The rest will come from team cohesiveness and hard work.

‘A lot of last game we just worked hard for each other,’ Scalzo said. ‘We’re going to continue to work hard because we’ve seen how successful it was.’

Though their game tonight may not be against the toughest of opponents, playing with the same vigor as they did last weekend may help the Orangewomen continue to earn some recognition.

‘We just want to establish our dominance in our region,’ Huez said. ‘That just looks better for us regionally and nationally.’

Published on September 24, 2003 at 12:00 pm