May 23, 10:13 p.m. TOWSON, Md. – Gary Gait couldn’t have been more pleased with his team’s first-half effort. Syracuse’s defense had, for the most part, stifled Northwestern’s attack, keeping the Orange within one goal.

There was hope that Syracuse could dethrone the Northwestern dynasty.

Then the second half began.

Northwestern scored nine unanswered goals and simply dominated control of the ball in its 16-8 thumping of Syracuse to advance the program to its fourth straight championship game.

The Wildcats – now 82-3 in the past four seasons – will play either Pennsylvania or Duke on Sunday night, looking to win four titles in a row.

Meanwhile, Syracuse (18-3), the neophyte contender in the Final Four, was left with few answers to explain the inability to solve the Wildcats in the second half.

‘We felt good at halftime,’ Gait said. ‘We were down one, playing with them. Things were pretty even. But then you go out, you hope for the best. Things didn’t go that way.’

It was especially discouraging considering the back-and-forth first half, after which Syracuse trailed Northwestern (20-1) by one, 7-6. And it was even more frustrating considering the result earlier this season, when SU similarly trailed the Wildcats by one goal at the Carrier Dome on March 24, only to be blown out in the second half.

The two games were nearly mirror images. And both times, the athleticism of Northwestern wore down a Syracuse lineup, one that Gait has constantly maintained has depth as its only weakness.

The Orange offense, the most prolific in the nation, with an 18.51 goals per game average, managed two second-half goals – all in garbage time with the game already decided. Syracuse’s first shot in the second half didn’t come until 3:04 remained.

Yes, 27 minutes without a shot on net.

The nation’s leading scorer, Katie Rowan, was held scoreless against Northwestern – again. She had two shots on net, one more than in the previous meeting.

‘It was easy to fall apart because we didn’t have the ball,’ Gait said, matter-of-factly.

Without the ball, Rowan and the rest of the offense were rendered useless. The junior Tewaaraton Trophy finalist had a great chance to put Syracuse up by two with 6:30 left in the first half, but Northwestern goalie Morgan Lathrop stoned her at point-blank range.

Rowan was marked all night by sophomore midfielder Maggie Bremer. Northwestern used slides and double teams to throw Rowan off, which has seemed to become the Wildcats’ specialty.

‘We were trying to slow it down a little in the first half, and I thought we did,’ Gait said. ‘I thought we stayed pretty fresh, but that doesn’t mean the ball is going to hit your stick.’

Gait had to laugh when he saw the final statistics – the second-half draw controls were listed as even. (‘I don’t know who handles these stats, but I’m pretty sure the draw controls weren’t 6-6 in the second half.’) Unofficially, Northwestern won the first six draws in a row and scored on every possession to make what was a 7-6 game a 13-6 blowout with 18:38 remaining in the second half.

And all of the Northwestern pressure, which the Syracuse defense admirably held its ground against in the first half, manifested into an onslaught at the beginning of the half.

‘They are very athletic,’ defender Lindsay Rogers said. ‘They were faster and quicker off the start, which allowed their possessions to be longer.’

In the first half, the Syracuse defense was able to handle the prolonged Northwestern control. Northwestern had two four-minute possessions with the ball that didn’t result in scores.

The cuts and drives by the Northwestern attackers were eliminated. But, admittedly, containing the Wildcats in the first half took a lot of energy out of the Orange.

Northwestern head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller stressed to her team the need to increase its intensity at halftime. It did.

‘The difference in the second half was we were more aggressive and wore them down,’ said Wildcats attack Hillary Bowen, who scored six goals (four after halftime). ‘Everyone on the team stepped up their level of aggression and that made a difference.’

Gait noticed the defensive breakdowns immediately as the second half began. He called two timeouts in an attempt to stop the constant pressure. But whatever the coaching staff and defenders tried to implement, the Northwestern offense overcame.

Once again, it came back to having possession.

‘They anticipate very well, and they stay over the ball,’ SU senior Kristin Brady said. ‘Even if we did get a draw, they checked it right out of our sticks. They’re very tenacious.’

Now Syracuse is left with this particularly bad taste in its mouth as the offseason hits. The Orange reached the Final Four for the first time in school history, but the inauspicious debut will not be soon forgotten.

Said Rowan: ‘I think we’ll remember this game.’

magelb@syr.edu

Published on May 29, 2008 at 12:00 pm