WSOC | Syracuse gladly takes in Hamm's Hall of Fame induction

By: George Williams

Posted: 8/31/07

There wasn't but a whisper in the air as 5,000 onlookers eagerly awaited the introduction of soccer legend Mia Hamm. Hamm was the reason everyone had gathered in Oneonta, N.Y., to celebrate the National Soccer Hall of Fame's induction ceremony.

As Hamm's former college coach, Anson Dorrance, presented her to the record-setting crowd, situated not too far away was a group of young women dressed in matching blue and orange attire.

"It was pretty awesome," senior Lauren Jentzen said. "I mean, I've been to a couple national team games, but I mean, you see them from the field. To be that close was pretty cool."

The Syracuse women's soccer team members got the rare chance to see their childhood heroes up close at last weekend's induction ceremony, at which Hamm and three others, including Julie Foudy, were enshrined into the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

SU head coach Pat Farmer hopes the Hall of Famers' messages resonate in the minds of his players as they prepare for the upcoming season. The Orange plays its first game of the season tonight in Rochester (Mich.) and travels to Michigan State on Sunday.

Farmer worked out the idea to attend the ceremony when Hall of Fame spokesman Jack Huckle contacted him about the event. It was something Huckle had been asking Farmer about for quite some time, and Farmer said he was unbelievably pleased for his team to have the opportunity to represent Central New York soccer.

Along with participating in the induction ceremony, SU played an exhibition game against Army. Though the team lost 1-0, Farmer said he was thrilled with the atmosphere of the event.

"It wasn't just sort of a low-key scrimmage," Farmer said. "It wasn't. It was a lot of people, a pretty special venue, and a lot of different things going on. You don't often get that. You usually go into your first big game, especially on the road, not feeling anything like that in the preseason."

After last season's disappointing 4-12-3 finish, the women's soccer team will take any extra sort of motivation it can get.

For many of the players, it was their first time visiting the National Soccer Hall of Fame and truly a surreal experience.

"When I was younger, (Hamm) was always a role model to me," senior captain Jen Taormina said. "I wasn't a forward like she was, but her dedication and absolute hunger for the ball was pretty incredible. To see her about a foot away from us was just incredible, something I'll probably never see again in my lifetime."

Dorrance, who coached Hamm for four years at North Carolina, was one of a number of speakers. In his speech, Dorrance discussed what separated Hamm from others. One such memory hit home with Taormina.

Once when Anson was driving, he came across Hamm practicing a drill alone outside. The exercise, Taormina said, was similar to a fitness test that she and her teammates run quite frequently.

"To know that Mia Hamm was actually doing one day what we do was kind of cool," Taormina said.

Hamm has always been recognized as one of soccer's least selfish players. Foudy, Hamm's former teammate, spoke about this in her acceptance speech, noting Hamm's inclination to always put her teammates ahead of herself.

Farmer found all the speeches held a central theme.

"They talked about their teammates, and all the things they remembered were silly things that happened amongst their team," Farmer said. "They could have really easily talked about how cool it is to win the World Cup and go to the Olympics and 100 percent of the people there will never get that opportunity, but everybody's on a team."

One of the main things last year's squad lacked was the "giddiness" to get through an entire season, Farmer said. SU lost three overtime contests last season, and Farmer admits these losses took a toll on the morale of the team. Syracuse was just one overtime goal away from hosting a first-round Big East tournament game last year. Instead, they failed to qualify.

Farmer believes last weekend's experience at the Hall of Fame will give his players an extra edge when it comes to the playing field this weekend.

"I'm expecting us to be competitive and eager to get going in the box, little bit better attacking attitude," Farmer said. "They're playing harder. They're sort of fed up with two years of not winning games."