The pain is so unbearable at times that Megan Stuart just wants to come off the field and cry.

The remarkable thing, though, is that she’s still on the turf for the start of every Syracuse field hockey game. Despite having severe shin splints that force her to miss close to half of the game, Stuart has started all seven games at forward for the Orangewomen.

The streak will continue this afternoon when SU travels to face No. 8 Penn State at 3 p.m.

‘I’m in the best shape and I get very frustrated,’ Stuart said. ‘It frustrates me to the point where I just want to come off and just cry. I feel like I’m not giving up, but I’m putting down my team.’

Stuart hasn’t had much of a choice. Every game after about 10 minutes worth of playing time, SU head coach Kathleen Parker pulls Stuart so she can rest her legs. Practice usually hurts as well, but it’s running on turf during the fast-paced games that makes the condition even worse.

‘She works hard, but it’s frustrating,’ Parker said. ‘I’ve got two or three people that are playing with the same problem. You play them for 10 minutes and then they have to come off the field because their legs are just so tight.’

‘I get tired 10 times easier than I usually would,’ Stuart said. ‘I just have to come off because of my legs.’

Losing valuable playing time from starters concerns Parker, but so does the fact that every time Stuart or another player comes out, the momentum someone had on the field is also lost.

‘Just as they get something good going,’ Parker said, ‘they have to come off the field and somebody else has to go on.’

Parker feels that she has the depth to counteract that problem, but at the same time, she said it’s frustrating.

While Stuart was concerned with how her legs were going to react, the Pennsylvania native was equally excited about returning to her home state to take on the Nittany Lions (6-1).

Stuart is one of 10 players on the SU roster that hail from Pennsylvania, making the game a homecoming of sorts. But in order to beat the No. 8 team in the country, it’s going to take a complete 70-minute effort from the Orangewomen (3-4).

‘We know we have to go out there with intensity,’ Stuart said, ‘And if we score first, then we always seem to do better.’

Published on September 22, 2003 at 12:00 pm