Lena Voelmle had to ask.

The sophomore midfielder stopped the rest of the Syracuse midfield during Tuesday’s exhibition against Western Ontario College to pose a question: how can we keep our shape together?

‘It’s not just a right mid or a left mid, it’s all one diamond together. We need to be moving off each other,’ Shannon Taylor responded.

They got results.

The Orange field hockey captain answered for the three underclassmen on the midfield and No. 18 Syracuse may turn to her again at Sunday’s 1 p.m. season opener against No. 8 Old Dominion in Collegeville, Pa.

‘The midfield is your engine room, and it’s the core of your system,’ head coach Ange Bradley said. ‘… And (Taylor’s) the heart.’

Every team requires time to learn the basics of the midfield – how to attack, how to retract, how to win – the second-year head coach said.

‘Last year’s group, we didn’t have that kind of time,’ Bradley continued.

When Bradley came to Syracuse, she found a system left by former head coach Kathleen Parker. She found herself with an unfamiliar bench and unable to play three transfers who came with her from Richmond.

So this season is a reunion of sorts. A year after her appointment, Bradley has Taylor, a starting midfielder and an Atlantic 10 Conference Offensive Player of the Year, again on her roster.

All but one midfielder remains the same. And Taylor, a transfer from Richmond who can now start after redshirting last year, is the only upperclassman of the unit. She’s the senior whose stick can translate Bradley’s game to younger peers at the same position.

‘We have a little bit more skill and speed,’ Bradley said. ‘They move the ball pretty darn well, better than most teams in the country. They freelance, they feel spaces and they can setup forwards for simple goals.’

Taylor said the difference is: ‘We have the mentality to just go after it.’

A retooled and younger midfield has found strength in preparation and intuition, but Taylor said the lineup needs better discipline in keeping with Bradley’s diamond formation.

If anything, the young midfield needs to grow from the experience and become stronger, Bradley said. But for Taylor, this will be her first and last season for the Orange, and the coach knows it.

So as Syracuse heads to Collegeville for the big early-season showdown, Bradley will be looking to see who steps up for the squad.

‘Ultimately, one will move into the distribution role – the core role – that Shannon’s playing this year and that’s what I’d like to see,’ Bradley said.

Even with a young midfield, the Orange kicks off the year with a bit of a swagger. Syracuse hadn’t won a season opener in three years until Bradley came. Three of the four midfielders hadn’t started for the Orange in that position. They weren’t in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) poll, and now they’re ranked No. 18.

‘It’s a really great start,’ Bradley said. ‘But it’s so much as where you finish as where you start.’

edpaik@syr.edu

Published on August 28, 2008 at 12:00 pm