It would have made sense if Lindsey Conrad and Leann Stiver took some time to adjust.

The two players had not traveled with the Syracuse field hockey team for the past two weeks, missing out on three games and valuable minutes of playing time because of what head coach Ange Bradley termed as an ‘internal team matter.’ But when Bradley called their numbers this past weekend, both players delivered.

‘I’m proud of them,’ Bradley said. ‘They did what they needed to do. They stepped up and were able to help a team get a job done. They did their jobs, they did their role and they helped us get a win.’

Stiver, a sophomore goalkeeper, started both games in net for the Orange this weekend, with Conrad, a senior forward, providing some much needed energy off the bench. Stiver turned in perhaps the best performance of her career, shutting out No. 4 Connecticut 1-0 in double overtime on Saturday, clinching a regular-season Big East title in the process.  On Sunday, the team followed suit with a 3-2 victory against No. 14 Boston College.

Bradley said Stiver didn’t know she would be playing this weekend until the morning of the UConn game, and both players earned the chance to play this weekend because of what they did in the week of preparation leading up to the game.

‘They had a good week of practice,’ Bradley said after the victory of Boston College. ‘Leann stepped up big yesterday. … Lindsey coming off the bench causes a lot of problems for teams, because she has the ability to be a game changer.’

The two players had combined for 21 starts in the first 11 games — Conrad came off the bench against Rutgers — and were viewed as cornerstones of the Orange’s squad. Both players were a part of a group of four players who didn’t travel with the squad two weeks ago to a match against Albany.

Bradley declined to comment on the reason the players did not travel with the team two weeks ago, classifying the situation as an ‘internal team manner’ throughout. Of the two other starters who were involved, senior back Maggie Befort was with the team last week and senior forward Shelby Schraden has yet to see playing time again.

Conrad did not regain her starting position this weekend and did not register a point in either of the Orange’s games, but she was still able to make her presence felt. Against the Huskies, she was brought off the bench after 11 minutes. And within three minutes, she had already created two separate scoring chances in the Connecticut zone.

The two-time All-American was also part of the seven-player unit that started the overtime session against the Huskies, and she played a majority in both the overtime periods. With seven minutes left in the first overtime, she worked through the defense at the top of the penalty circle and blasted a shot off the far-left post, nearly ending the game.

Despite her lack of a point, Conrad said she was happy to be back on the field.

‘It’s nice to be back with the team and just playing, having fun again and playing all together,’ Conrad said. ‘This was an awesome game to come back to.’

Like Conrad, Stiver had her best ready for the Huskies.

Stiver made numerous diving saves, including two major stops at the end of the first overtime when the team was down a player after a yellow card. The 11-save performance was a career best for Stiver and was the first time an SU goalkeeper had registered that many saves since 2007, when Heather Hess did in a 3-1 win over American.

Stiver said there was nothing different about playing this week as compared to games past, and she wasn’t made aware that she would be starting either game up until pregame warm-ups right before the game.

‘There was a little bit of an adjustment,’ Stiver said. ‘But we had been practicing throughout the whole time. So we were just getting back to it through practice.’

And with two of her starters from the beginning of the year back in the lineup and her team coming off perhaps its best weekend of the season in clinching at least a share of the Big East title, Bradley couldn’t help but be satisfied.

Said Bradley: ‘We’re a team.’

rwmarfur@syr.edu

Published on October 24, 2010 at 12:00 pm