Ange Bradley and the Syracuse field hockey team hasn’t had a break all season. Since the start of the campaign in late August, the team has played every weekend. Eight out of the 12 games have been against ranked teams, and three of the other four were against teams who received votes in the polls. A real grind.

But this weekend, Bradley and the Orange (11-1, 2-0 Big East) may be able to loosen up a bit. This will be the closest thing the squad gets to a break all season. SU will host two teams much lower in caliber than almost all of its previous opponents. Syracuse plays Georgetown (1-10, 1-1 Big East), a team it beat 16-0 last year in College Park Md., Friday, and Ivy League opponent Dartmouth (5-5, 2-1) Sunday.

‘We got to use the weekend to get the wins,’ Bradley said. ‘We need the wins.’

The drop off in quality competition comes at the proper time for SU, as the team will play undoubtedly its most anticipated game of the regular season next weekend at No. 7 Connecticut. The Huskies are without a doubt Syracuse’s biggest traditional rival.

The rivalry only escalated last year in the two contests, between a pair of the countries premier programs.

In the first meeting last year at J.S. Coyne Field, the Orange faltered 1-0 in front of 862 fans, the largest crowd in program history. A tough defeat to swallow considering the Orange’s undefeated ascendance to the No. 1 ranking in the country.

‘I’ve been through many losses and, you know, it’s great to be undefeated,’ Shannon Taylor, SU’s current volunteer assistant coach and last year’s leading scorer and All-American said following the loss. ‘But it’s good that we have the loss now rather than at the end of a tournament. You move on, you learn from it. It’s just like a mistake.’

Less than a month later, the Orange was able to fix that sole mistake from 2008 and not falter at the end of a tournament. SU got its revenge in the Big East tournament championship game with a 1-0 win.

So the upcoming weekend against lesser teams may have come at the right time. But how will Bradley and company avoid the inevitable possibility of a trap game? With that, a trap weekend.

‘They can’t look forward,’ Bradley said. ‘What we have before us is Friday, and that’s all we have. This opportunity. So that’s not who we are.’

With a win over the Hoyas Friday, the Orange will ensure itself a spot in the postseason Big East conference tournament. It might seem like a small feat for the team considering all of the recent success and victories over top opponents, but Bradley still feels the team must be focused enough to sew it up.

The Orange is supposed to easily make the conference tournament. It’s a hurdle of much lesser height than even most of the ones they have traversed this season.

But it’s one they must pass in order to get to the others.

‘We are focusing on us getting a Big East win. That’s really important,’ Bradley said. ‘If we do that, we pretty much solidify a spot in the playoffs. And the next three games depend where we finish from positions one to four.’

If for some unexpected reason Georgetown or Dartmouth upset SU this weekend, Bradley knows who the blame will fall on. Her shoulders will carry the load.

Just like she feels they have through every loss with Syracuse – including that let down against rival Huskies almost a year ago.

Said Bradley: ‘That’s not what we do and if they (the team) do that (overlooks Georgetown and Dartmouth) then I’m not doing my job.’

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on October 11, 2009 at 12:00 pm