Syracuse hasn’t forgotten last season’s abrupt end. The painful memory from Nov. 13, 2011, when the Orange fell to Maryland in overtime in the second round of the NCAA tournament, still lingers in the team’s mind.

“It’s the last time this team has lost, so we remember it. We remember overtime,” said forward Kelsey Millman.

“I can still see the goal, actually.”

While that memory still stings, the loss simultaneously motivates Syracuse and intensifies the team’s focus toward winning a national championship. As of Tuesday’s poll, Syracuse (9-0) is ranked No. 1.

But it’s a distinction the team would much rather hold in November.

For the senior class — one of head coach Ange Bradley’s strongest — it is the last chance to make its mark on Syracuse’s field hockey history and lead the program to its first title.

Regardless of how it plays out, it won’t be easy for the seniors when their college athletic careers come to an end.

“I get kind of emotional about it, actually,” said graduate midfielder Liz McInerney. “If I could be a student-athlete forever, I would.”

Back Iona Holloway said she is not looking forward to the time two months from now when she is no longer a college athlete. Goaltender Leann Stiver finds the idea of her final NCAA championship run nerve-wracking, but exciting at the same time.

A year ago, Heather Susek was in their shoes. Now on the sidelines as part of Bradley’s coaching staff, Susek said the seniors have the right approach in their final year.

“They’re pretty much going out there and doing everything they can,” Susek said. “They know it’s their last year and their last chance to fight for a national championship.”

In last season’s tournament 2-1 loss to Maryland, Susek assisted Millman on Syracuse’s lone goal. The Terrapins won the national championship a week later.

The loss was a heartbreaker for the players, who took little or no solace in knowing the best team in the country defeated them.

Millman described it as “a game where you didn’t think you deserved to lose.” Holloway said two months passed by before she felt like herself again.

Bradley said she hasn’t mentally recovered from her team’s loss to Maryland, where she was an assistant coach from 1997-2000. The Terrapins’ victory over North Carolina for the title provided her no consolation.

“No. Never makes it better. You never get over losses like that,” she said. “I hate to lose.”

But the Orange’s returning players headed into the offseason focused on finishing this time around.

“I think that the mental change within all of us is going to be the pushing effort that gets us to the national championship,” Stiver said.

Holloway and Millman both intensified their summer workouts. When the season was set to begin, Syracuse had a more physically fit leader on each side of the ball.

The No. 2 Tar Heels came to then-No. 7 Syracuse on Sept. 1, threatening to challenge the Orange’s 29-game winning streak at J.S. Coyne Stadium. Last year, the Orange traveled to Chapel Hill, N.C., and blew a 2-0 halftime lead to the Tar Heels.

The rematch a year later featured intensity comparable to a playoff atmosphere. Both offenses had opportunities, but neither team scored in regulation to send the game to overtime.

Freshman Emma Russell scored the game-winner, and the Orange players formed a celebratory dog pile in front of UNC’s cage.

“That win really did prove to us who we are as a team and how successful we can be,” Millman said, reflecting on the game three weeks later. “I think that was a really big confidence booster.”

If Syracuse’s triumph over UNC wasn’t enough to establish itself as a national contender, the shutout of No. 3 Princeton over the weekend confirmed it.

“Ange has done an incredible job elevating Syracuse hockey to NCAA national prominence,” said longtime Maryland head coach Missy Meharg in a statement via Maryland Athletics. “I am not surprised how well they are doing.”

For a team to win its first nine games and jump to the top of the national rankings, all the players have to work harmoniously.

“I couldn’t pick out our best player on the team,” McInerney said. “We just work so well together.”

Bradley credited her senior class as the catalysts of such healthy team chemistry.

“The thing that a senior brings is more experience and more leadership,” she said. “That is a big factor with our team, that we have a very good group of seniors that help us in many ways on and off the field.”

Syracuse has plenty of games to play before the NCAA tournament. But nothing is stopping the team from envisioning itself in the championship game in Norfolk, Va.

“I know that my teammates and I are doing everything we can to make sure we win a national championship this year,” Holloway said. “I’m really excited for this team and what we’re going to do.”

Published on September 27, 2012 at 2:54 am

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb