For the last two years, the Syracuse field hockey program has been at the head of the class in the Big East conference. A shared regular season championship, a conference tournament championship and a combined 12-1 conference record, are some of the highlights SU has attained.

The Orange (15-2) has clinched a share of another regular season championship already this year, thanks to a 5-0 mark in conference. But the team does recognize that there still is more left in order to erase any doubt of their conference supremacy.

It starts this weekend, as one thing that has eluded the team for eight years is at stake–an outright Big East regular season championship.

‘It is really important, it was one of the first goals that we set for ourselves this season,’ SU head coach Ange Bradley said. ‘We wanted to be the outright Big East regular season champions, we weren’t that last year. Two other teams have that trophy and I told them that in the locker room today. I want the 2009 one to be just Syracuse, I don’t want to share it with Connecticut.’

With a victory over conference bottom-feeder Rutgers (2-15, 0-5 Big East) at 1 p.m. this Saturday at J.S. Coyne Field Syracuse, goal will be secured that.

To say Syracuse is a heavy favorite in Saturday’s game would be putting it lightly. SU has defeated eight different Top 20 teams on the season. Rutgers on the other hand has yet to win a conference game and has only amassed four goals in conference play all season. A number eclipsed two-fold by Syracuse in its 10-0 conference victory over Georgetown, a team Rutgers lost to on Oct. 9.

The thought of an outright title, however, is what the lone SU senior on the field, Tracy Deitrick, hopes will keep the team in check.

‘Again, our focus is to be Big East regular season champs, and we are going to do whatever we can to complete that goal,’ Deitrick said. ‘We are not going to take them lightly depending on their record.’

Along with the incentive of the undisputed championship Saturday comes Senior Day, the annual ceremony for the team’s departing players. This year Deitrick will be joined in playing her final game by graduate student Ashleigh McGowan, as well as junior Lena Voelmle.

Voelmle, a fourth-year student with junior standing on the field, decided to forgo her final year of collegiate status a few weeks ago. As a result, she feels her pseudo-senior day will provide even more incentive for her and the team to play hard, despite the opponent.

‘It’s a big day for all of us, Voelmle said. ‘The people who were here that first year with Ange, we started from nothing, and built up to what we are. We went through the most transition.’

By the end of the game Saturday, Syracuse hopes they will have secured something they didn’t last year in the undisputed regular season conference championship. Looking ahead however, they do realize they need this win for one more thing to occur.

It is something they attained last year along with three other teams in the country who were selected–homefield advantage in the opening two rounds of the NCAA tournament. With a loss this weekend, it would considerably drop their RPI (4). A drop in RPI likely means a loss at a chance at hosting those first two rounds, scheduled for Nov 14-15.

Just like the outright championship, that is something Voelmle does not want to have to live without.

Said Voelmle: ‘That’s what we want: to play at home. Not travel.’

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on October 29, 2009 at 12:00 pm