After going 3-11-3 in 2002, the 2003 Syracuse women’s soccer team wasn’t looking for miracles, just improvement.

In fact, the Orangewomen started the year with just one goal: get the new season off to a good start.

‘We’ve just taken a completely different mentality attacking this year,’ assistant coach Tracey Britton said prior to the team’s first game Aug. 28 against Binghamton. ‘The players have absolutely done their part in terms of putting last year behind us. It’s a new team in every aspect.’

After Syracuse won seven of its first nine games, though, things quickly became stale again. In the last nine games of the season, the Orangewomen won only two of their games and won one of their final seven. The team that had worked so hard to shed the memory of its previous season reverted back to old form.

The turnaround for Syracuse (9-8-1, 2-3-1 Big East) came 10 games into the season, in a home matchup against Rutgers.

Heading into the game, Syracuse was riding its second three-game winning streak of the young season. The Orangewomen were confident and ready to prove themselves to their doubters, heading into the stretch against Big East in-division opponents.

‘Every game we’re trying to make a statement,’ co-captain Erica Mastrogiacomo said before SU began playing its Big East opponents. ‘We want to show them how we’ve improved and that we’re ready to play. Just show the conference that we’ve arrived.’

Yet against Rutgers, the team started out flat. The two teams played to a scoreless tie, at least for 90 minutes. The play was the same back-and-forth possession battle, too. Then, with just 7.9 seconds remaining in the game, Rutgers was able to score the game-winning goal.

The loss to Rutgers came in just the second game of Big East Northeast Division play for the Orangewomen. The loss did more than just hurt SU’s record, it changed the team morale.

The chips on their shoulders had been traded in for bags of ice.

After a handful of demoralizing losses and with a number of players nursing injuries – including Mastrogiacomo – the players seemed less confident when discussing upcoming opponents and less excited when discussing early-season success.

‘It’s very frustrating because we know we have a good team and we know we could do so much more,’ co-captain Megan Huez said after Syracuse lost to Princeton in its final game of the season. ‘When it turns out this way, you’re always disappointed and never satisfied because we should be in the Big East tournament and should be going to the NCAA tournament.’

But when comparing this season to their last, the players couldn’t help but feel somewhat proud of their turnaround. After all, Syracuse’s original goal was to start things off well – which it did.

‘In the beginning of the season, we were winning on the road,’ Mastrogiacomo said after suffering her season-ending knee injury against Miami on Oct. 19, in what was the final game of her SU career. ‘It was a big gain for us because those are the toughest games to win. Personally, I’m happy.’

Published on November 2, 2003 at 12:00 pm