A little bit of laughter overtook a feeling of disbelief heading into overtime for Lindsey Conrad and the rest of the Syracuse field hockey team Sunday. As the team prepared for yet another overtime session, the absurdity of the situation began to seep in. They were about to go into overtime. Again. For the fourth game in a row.

Despite the importance of the situation, the odds of it happening again were almost laughable. Four overtime games in a single season aren’t common. Four in a row. Rare. Four consecutively to start the season – all at home. Unthinkable to the point of amusement.

‘We were kind of laughing at the beginning (of the overtime session) because we haven’t played a game on our home field that ended in regulation since last year,’ Conrad said. ‘We were just like, ‘OK we are used to this, we know what to do. Let’s just end it early and conserve our legs.”

With the previous experience of three overtime games – all within the last 10 days – to help propel it, No. 8 SU defeated No. 7 Michigan State 2-1 Sunday in overtime. The Orange (5-1) also downed No. 9 Old Dominion in overtime Friday 2-1.

The stretch of overtime games ties for the longest in program history, as the 2000 team under head coach Kathleen Parker played four in a row as well. The 2000 team lost three of those games however, and only one of them was at home.

Comparatively, SU only played two overtime games last year – its last two of the season in the NCAA tournament, a 3-2 victory over Princeton, and a loss by the same score to Wake Forest in the final four – neither at J.S. Coyne Field.

‘I guess it’s quite rare,’ freshman back Amy Kee said. ‘It really helps a team mentally.’

Sunday, the freshman Kee converted both goals for Syracuse, including the game winner 2:52 into overtime, on penalty corners. Two days earlier, the forward Conrad sealed the game for the Orange with a goal with only 1:23 remaining in the extra session.

SU feels that the span of tight, elongated games has come at a crucial time – a time in which the team has been trying to find its true identity. Junior back Maggie Befort thinks that they finally found it Sunday, thanks in some part to the cohesion that accompanies playing over 70 minutes.

‘Today was the first day and game together that we really clicked and had a lot of chemistry on the field,’ Befort said. ‘We are still working on scoring early and scoring often, and limiting defensive penalty corners. But that will come. I think the best part of today was more about learning about ourselves.’

The Orange also hopes the extra minutes the team is logging now and fighting through will help them in big games towards the end of the season. SU’s goal is to return to the final four.

Hard fought nail-bitters against four ranked teams, all in just ten days, are sure to help give a young team a little more experience.

And a 3-1 record in that span will provide confidence.

‘They will definitely help,’ assistant coach Guy Cathro said. The more tight games you are in, and the more you come through, it lets the girls feel that type of pressure. That type of intensity that when it comes to the big games at the end of the season will only be good for us.’

Overtimes or not, Conrad and the rest of the Orange are just happy to have come out of the weekend with two hard-fought victories. After a week of intense practices where the ante was raised, the Orange took care of business heading into Big East play next weekend against Louisville.

‘We definitely visualized winning both games,’ Conrad said. ‘It was a tough weekend, we just wanted to come out and prove we can win games.’

Even though a trend is starting to develop, Befort isn’t looking forward to a potential record-breaking fifth consecutive overtime game Friday. Four seems like enough for now.

A team can only play so much.

‘Of course it gases us, and eventually it’ll catch up to us,’ Befort said. ‘We can’t play overtime in every game, but for now because we took care of business.’

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on September 13, 2009 at 12:00 pm