Today, the women’s soccer team, after a week and a half hiatus, looks to improve its record against upstate rival Syracuse. After a rough season last year, this one, so far, has been a promising as the Red opened with an impressive 3-0 victory over Lafayette. The squad will have its work cut out for it today, however, as it faces a tougher opponent in the Orange — currently ranked 18th in the nation carrying a 3-1 record (with its only loss coming from powerhouse UCLA, ranked 2nd in the nation). Head coach Berhane Andeberhane, having seen Syracuse play this season said, “They are a very strong team. They have no weaknesses.”
The Red is eager for the challenge as it looks to avenge a heartbreaking overtime loss, 2-1, to Syracuse last year. Andeberhane said the game last year showed that the team “could play even” with a strong Orangemen. He indicated that the women this year “are better than they were last year” and that he is “very pleased with the improvement the team has made. They are more focused and more professional.”
In preparing for today’s game the Red has been working hard this past week, focusing on “team tactics,” which make greater use of the mid-field and the backfield. The team will look for stalwart performances offensively from sophomore striker Alicia Doolittte, senior striker Andrea Madison, and junior midfielder Caitlin Ramsey (named last week’s Cornell AIr Force ROTC Athlete of the week) who each tallied a goal in the season opener. The Red will look to senior co-captain Julie DeMichele and classmate Ellen Daly to anchor the defense.
Freshman goalkeeper Katie Thomas who held Lafayette scoreless, will need another strong performance between the pipes.
Andeberhane emphasized that above all a team effort is needed to defeat Syracuse. “Everyone needs to step up in today’s game,” he stated.
There is also the difficult task of dealing with the recent tragedies in New York and Washington. Andeberhane indicated that the team got together and expressed its thoughts and feeling about the recent tragedy. He explained that the practices were taxing last week but the team pulled together and by Monday was closer to a normal routine. DeMichele said that the team “was trying to get it out of our heads as much as possible.”
The team also missed out last week on playing in a tournament in Hawaii. The Red was scheduled to play UC-Riverside and Hawaii. Andeberhane expressed some concern over possible loss of momentum heading into today’s game seeing as the team has not played since September 9th. He remained confident, however, that the team was ready and eager to prove itself this season.
“We are excited to be playing again,” said co-captain Sarah Olsen.
Archived article by Chris Callanan