After four games in the Gary Gait era of Syracuse women's lacrosse, the No. 6 Orange has done everything expected of it, but little more than that. With only one challenge thus far in the season, SU has gone 3-1 with its lone loss on the road to No. 2 Virginia.
Syracuse will continue its season during Spring Break with two games against Hofstra and No. 11 Notre Dame on Sunday and Mar. 16, respectively. The Orange will head to South Bend, Ind., to face off against the Irish in its second road contest of the season.
Syracuse has dominated its opponents at home this season winning its three games at a combined score of 64-16. These opponents, Canisius, No. 13 Dartmouth and Binghamton, have a combined record of 4-6, leaving the Orange without a true test thus far inside the Carrier Dome.
While SU does not want to overlook a 2-1 Hofstra team, whose only loss came to No. 1 Northwestern, it is clear the biggest test next week will come against the Irish in South Bend.
Sophomore Halley Quillinan, who scored a career high six goals in her last game against Binghamton, knows how tough traveling can be on the team, but also knows it is something every team has to deal with. While not overlooking Hofstra, she said her team must toughen up on the road in order to be truly successful this season.
"Obviously traveling is hard, but we have away games, we need to learn how to travel," Quillinan said Tuesday. "We have to win on the road. First we have Hofstra, then we have a week to prepare for Notre Dame, but first we have to prepare for Hofstra this weekend."
Coming off the road loss to Virginia, Gait looked for his team to show more character when it is faced with adversity. Another example of this will come this season as the Orange will have to go on without one of its senior leaders in midfielder, Bridget Looney, who will be out for an extended period of time after sustaining a knee injury on Saturday at Virginia.
Gait sees the injury as a chance for his team to step up to a challenge. Looney brought more to the team than her ability on the field, and that will be a void SU will have to fill as they move on with the season.
"It's a huge loss, no question," Gait said on Tuesday. "I just think that hopefully we can take that loss and take it as a challenge to step up for her and really put it together for her. She was a leader on this team and gave a heart-and-soul effort that you want out of a captain."
Fellow captain Katie Rowan, a junior attack, knows the talent in the Notre Dame team she will face and sees it as a chance for her team to rebound after stumbling in its only road game this season. The trip out to South Bend will also mark the Orange's first game on the Big East schedule. Syracuse will look to repeat its victory in South Bend during the Big East tournament.
As Syracuse goes deeper into the season, it will be tested more just as it was against Virginia. Gait hopes his team can respond differently when put to the challenge as it will be without Looney and heading on the road against Notre Dame. He claimed his team became tense when the game got tough in Charlottesville, Va. Gait is looking for that to change.
"I tried to get them to throw some more fakes and work on things that we practiced so they can get comfortable and pull it off in big games," Gait said Tuesday. "I just don't want them to be tense, and they're just not trusting it yet."
jssutton@syr.edu
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