Gary Gait made one thing clear from the start of his press conference at Syracuse women’s lacrosse media day Feb. 3.

After two final four appearances in the last three seasons, he knows his team is getting close to being the best. This year, Gait wants to be the best. And to do that, he has put together an arduous regular-season schedule that will test the playoff moxie of a team already knocking on the national championship door.

‘We’ve been close,’ Gait said. ‘One-goal losses last year to Virginia and then to Northwestern, the No. 1 team in the country, means we’re getting close. But now that we’ve added a couple more teams, that gives us more chances to get over that hump and really go to the next level.’

Gait opened his media day press conference by saying if Syracuse is going to become the best, it is going to have to play the best.

And that starts with Maryland, the defending national champions. SU will go up against a team that captured seven straight titles from 1995-2001 and another in 2010. In fact, there have only been three national title games since 1989 that haven’t featured at least one ACC team. Gait was pleased to finally get an ACC team on the schedule when Maryland head coach Cathy Reese agreed to the match.

‘I’ve been trying to make a conscious effort to add another ACC team,’ Gait said. ‘And I keep asking every year, and I’ve been turned down several times. Cathy Reese down at Maryland finally came back and said, ‘We’d love to play you. That’d be great.”

The March 12 contest in Maryland will mark a rematch of Syracuse’s 14-5 semifinal exit last year.

‘First and foremost, we want to get back to that final four,’ senior goaltender Liz Hogan said. ‘Hopefully win it this time and get to the national championship game. I think that’s our ultimate goal.’

To do that, SU will still have to navigate a road-heavy first half of the season. Syracuse will host Colgate this Thursday in its season opener. Then it will travel to Stanford for a game Sunday, return home for Virginia a week later and then begin a six-game, 23-day stretch of away games beginning with Maryland and ending with Dartmouth.

When it’s all said and done, SU won’t play a third home game until April 8.

‘That’s pretty much one continuous road trip,’ Gait said. ‘And I think by the end of that, we’ll have a real idea of what the 2011 team’s all about.’

For Syracuse, a team now ranked No. 5 in the country, winning away from home comes with the territory.

‘We haven’t really been on the road this much before, but no excuses, right?’ senior attack Tee Ladouceur said. ‘The national championship game isn’t going to be in the (Carrier) Dome, so you better learn to win on the road.’

The entire team has tunnel vision. The goal is clear: Get to the national championship. In Ladouceur and goalie Hogan, SU has two seniors pacing a Syracuse team eager to be a part of the final two, not just the final four. Both Ladouceur, who set career highs in points, goals and assists last season, and Hogan, who was recently named Big East preseason Defensive Player of the Year, will figure prominently in the team’s championship aspirations.

But until then, the test will start with perhaps the toughest regular-season schedule in recent memory. But it’s a schedule that, if steered properly, should bring Syracuse much closer to the seemingly attainable promised land.

‘It’s going to depend on how they come together as a group and how they react to pressure,’ Gait said. ‘In the end, hopefully, it’ll all move in the direction we’re hoping, and we’ll be looking at the end of the season fighting for a championship.’

zoirvin@syr.edu

 

Published on February 14, 2011 at 12:00 pm