WLAX | Gait disappointed in Orange's response in defeat at Virginia

By: Christopher James

Posted: 3/4/08

Taken out of its comfort zone and trailing for the first time all season, Syracuse wilted Saturday instead of relying on the Gary Gait trademark of creativity that had blossomed in a 2-0 start to the season.

The No. 6 Orange lost to No. 2 Virginia, 13-8, on the road. It's the second straight year Syracuse held a first-half lead, only to lose to the Cavaliers. Sophomore Brittany Kalkstein tallied four goals against Syracuse, after having a hat trick last season in the Carrier Dome. Katie Rowan had three goals for SU.

The Orange is back in action tonight against Binghamton at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

After averaging 21 goals in the first two games, the Orange's eight-goal performance left the head coach Gait less than thrilled.

"It's how you respond to adversity," Gait said. "We need to develop a little more character and respond to things when they don't go our way."

The Syracuse (2-1) offense simply didn't have the ball enough. In the second half, Virginia (3-0) had an 8-5 advantage in draw controls - and those three were a huge difference.

Closing to within 5-4 at halftime, Syracuse watched Virginia steadily pull away in the second half behind a slow, deliberate offense that controlled possession. Cavaliers' head coach Julie Myers had emphasized keeping the ball out of the hands of the potent Orange offense last week. Her team capitalized on that strategy after halftime, winning those three more draw controls than Syracuse that translated directly into three Virginia goals.

"We knew at any point that Syracuse could rattle off 20 goals," Myers said after the game. "We wanted them to get frustrated with not having possession as much as they were used to."

Senior attack Kristin Brady said the game provided an excellent learning experience as SU struggled to adjust to the host's slower style of play. Unable to put together any scoring streaks, the Orange was taken out of its game.

"Sometimes I feel like we slowed our game down because they slowed theirs down," Brady said. "We just needed to go at them."

Gait said his team did a good job on defense of doubling quickly in the first half, forcing the Cavaliers into mistakes and not allowing the slower pace to affect it. In the second half, SU simply couldn't keep up.

Last week Gait said he had been eager to unleash some new offensive formations and moves he had held back in the season's first two blowout wins. Trailing most of the game and taken out of their element, Gait said his players still were unable to show off some of the creativity they had been working on in practice.

"I think we tensed up to be honest," Gait said. "We started gripping our sticks real tight. We had some great opportunities, but we went back to what we know. … We became predictable."

The game also presented a learning experience for the defense and freshman goalie Liz Hogan. Brady said she was extremely impressed with the defensive effort given the long stretches Virginia held the ball for.

Hogan said she tried to communicate with her defense to keep focus during the Cavaliers' sustained possessions. Moments earlier on Monday, Hogan and her defense were very vocal as their voices reverberated throughout the Carrier Dome during practice.

"It's definitely hard mentally to stay in it," Hogan said. "Your defense has to be ready not just watching the ball but watching what they're doing, too. That can get draining over several minutes."

Gait said Hogan can take the lessons from Saturday as she saw shots she had never seen before. The first chance is tonight against a decidedly less-talented Binghamton (2-2) team. But Syracuse will be without the services of senior midfielder Bridget Looney, who suffered an undisclosed knee injury on Saturday.

Gait said he wants to see his team adjust to adversity better and be comfortable taking risks in games against top opponents. The next chance for that is when No. 1 Northwestern comes to the Dome March 24.

"I think we are right there," Gait said. "We need to be ready to adapt to anything and then it's really about developing the confidence to know you belong at this level."

chjames@syr.edu