Hanna Strong watched from the bench as Syracuse opened its season with an overtime victory over Colgate.

Strong, a sophomore midfielder, missed spring workouts leading up to this season and wasn’t quite ready to go. But in the second game of the season against Albany, she was back on the field for the Orange.

“When they put me in the second game, I wanted to come out really strong and show them that I deserved to be out there,” she said.

She did just that when she scored her first career goal in the 29th minute against the Great Danes. Strong and the Orange (2-2-1) take on Long Island (1-3-0) and Army (3-3-0) in West Point, N.Y., this weekend in the Black Knight Classic. Despite playing less than 200 minutes in four games, Strong has netted two goals and one assist this season for the Orange and is second on the team in points with five.

Strong did not have a goal or an assist in 18 games for the Orange in 2011. This season, she recorded a point in three consecutive games before the streak was snapped against Ohio State on Sunday.

“Last year, I was more intimidated to shoot and make a mistake,” she said. “This year, I know that if I don’t shoot, I’m not going to score.”

Senior Alyscha Mottershead knew Strong would be a contributor this season after she scored her first against Albany.

“She kind of comes on and changes the game,” Mottershead said.

Reaching this point wasn’t easy for Strong.

She injured her hip in the spring and was forced to sit out. Strong then had to work with the team trainer for months before she could begin preparing for the season.

Strong knew she would have to push herself to make up for lost time, and SU head coach Phil Wheddon has been on the same page.

“She didn’t play in the spring, so we’re trying to get her back to game fitness, and that’s a gradual process,” he said. “So we are on her a little bit harder.”

Strong has only been back for four games, but Mottershead doesn’t see any lingering effects from her injuries. Instead, Mottershead said she has seen Strong going 100 percent.

“You wouldn’t even be able to tell today that she’s had a little bit of a rough spring,” she said.

But such success isn’t new to Strong, who helped lead Monson High School to the Massachusetts state finals as a sophomore and an undefeated season as a senior.

Since the seventh grade, Strong played on the varsity team. So by her sophomore year of high school, she was already one of the more experienced players on the team.

“I kind of had to take leadership and be the motivation on the field,” Strong said.

Being such a young player on a high school varsity squad helped prepare Strong for the offseason. She has been playing for the New England Mutiny, a semi-professional team in Massachusetts, for the past couple summers, too.

“It was a big change because they were all in their mid to late 20s, and I was still 17 at the time,” she said.

Due to the folding of the Women’s Professional Soccer league, several professional players came down and played with the Mutiny. The experience made her a better player.

So has her long offseason. It provided plenty of hurdles for Strong, but her hard work is finally starting to pay off.

“It was a long recovery,” she said. “But it was worth it.”

Published on September 6, 2012 at 2:01 am

Contact Jack: jstruitt@syr.edu