In every win the Syracuse women’s soccer team has had this season, there has been one staple: Senior midfielder Jen Taormina has scored a goal. In the Orange’s win over DePaul Sunday at the SU Soccer Stadium, she scored two.

The Orange (5-5-3, 1-3-1) defeated the Blue Demons (4-8-1, 1-4), 3-2, finally getting its first Big East win of the season.

Syracuse had 25 shots as opposed to DePaul’s 11, along with dozens of other opportunities to score, but Taormina and sophomore Sara Grimsgaard were the only two who could follow through and find the net. The rest of the team struggled to score, even missing several open opportunities, but Taormina was on target to provide all the offense the Orange needed.

DePaul grabbed the lead at the beginning of the first half, scoring after 20 minutes into the game. With 9:55 left in the first half, Taormina ripped a shot through a crowd of players, past the goalkeeper and into the goal, helping the Orange get on the scoreboard.

‘Jen’s got a tremendous soccer brain,’ SU head coach Pat Farmer said. ‘Her first goal came from that. She saw where the ball was going to rebound to, got started before anyone else and then hit it with her off, left foot. She just knows soccer.’

Taormina frequently used her speed to beat opposing players to the ball. Her quickness this year may have developed because the 5-foot-3 midfielder played in a men’s soccer club league in Syracuse this summer, as opposed to a women’s league. Farmer said she chose to play with men in order to teach her how to accelerate quicker and play the game on a different level.

The Orange’s second goal came in the second half by midfielder Grimsgaard, who headed the ball into the goal off an assist from midfielder Dana Bergstrom.

‘Heading the ball is a result of a lot of power from your stomach,’ Grimsgaard said. ‘I had eye contact with Dana, and I saw the ball coming. I had an advantage because of my height. It just all clicked, and I scored.’

Two minutes after Syracuse scored its second goal, DePaul midfielder Tara Strickland scored over SU goalkeeper Eliza Bennett-Hattan’s head to tie the game 2-2. The lack of concentration prompted Taormina to shout criticism toward her teammates.

‘I scream sometimes when I shouldn’t scream just out of frustration,’ Taormina said, referring to some of the mistakes SU made. ‘But the girls know once you’re in the game, if you just keep going, sometimes things can flip. No one takes it personally.’

Taormina’s play spoke for itself. She had four shots, including a play in the second half when the ball appeared to go in the net that would have counted as her third goal. Several players were crowding around the goal, and Taormina kicked it toward the net, but the ball didn’t go in all the way. The crowd rose to its feet thinking the Orange had scored, but instead DePaul took it back up the field.

‘I just feel like when you score, you get more motivation, and I make it my responsibility to pick the team up,’ Taormina said. ‘I try to keep them going, even if we are ahead because the other team could still come back, so it’s about staying positive.’

Taormina’s second goal, the game-winner, came in the 81st minute of the game, a wide-open shot from the center of the box. Midfielder Chelsea Berry assisted Taormina, who kicked it in past the tips of the goalie’s hands. The two goals in a single game were a career high for Taormina.

‘Jen’s soccer game is tactical,’ Farmer said. ‘We rely on her to see some of those penetrating balls. She can see where the ball needs to go or where it’s going to get knocked down to; she figures it out a little bit quicker than most people.’

Despite the win, Farmer thought the team also needed to be more aggressive. Syracuse had 13 fouls against the Blue Demons, but Farmer made a distinction between fouling and the aggressiveness that Taormina shows so often.

‘Fouls have to do with physically confronting another player,’ Farmer said. ‘Aggressiveness means running out of position, guessing where the ball is going to come and taking a chance. Taormina does a lot of that for us.’

Published on October 7, 2007 at 12:00 pm