The usually loud and demonstrative Ange Bradley remained calm on the Syracuse sidelines Friday. The SU head coach didn’t need to give her players much instruction against Providence. They were just that dominant.

The Orange held Providence without a shot and prevented the Friars from gaining possession in the shooting circle for the entire 70-minute game.

‘To give up zero shots, it’s like throwing a no-hitter in baseball,’ Bradley said after Sunday’s game. ‘It’s pretty much unheard of in field hockey.’

The Orange defense led SU (9-2, 3-0 Big East) to an 8-0 victory over Providence (2-8, 0-2) Friday in front of 341 at the J.S. Coyne Stadium. The team continued its outstanding play at home Sunday to beat Massachusetts (2-8, 0-0 Atlantic 10) 2-0 in front of 278. The Orange prevented the opposition from shooting for the first three halves of the weekend and finished Sunday’s game having allowed just two shots and two penalty corners in a span of 140 minutes.

The strong defensive effort over the weekend was anchored by Amy Kee and Nicole Nelson, who played nearly all of both games.

Kee is SU’s vocal leader. She played into the 68th minute of Friday’s victory and until the final whistle Sunday, barking out directions throughout both games and keeping the defense in proper alignment.

Under her instruction, the Orange was ready to stop the opposing offenses by dismantling threats before they could develop. Kee credited the defensive success against Providence to the team’s hard work in practice last week.

‘From a defensive perspective, I was really pleased with that because we’ve been working all week on being more aggressive, stepping up, getting better organization at the back,’ Kee said on Friday.

Kee often rotates between back and midfield throughout games with Liz McInerney. Their versatility allows the Orange to adjust its formation immediately when there is a change of possession, which helps SU in stopping opposing offenses.

Nelson also made her presence felt playing alongside Kee on defense. She is also involved in the rotation.

‘We try to get, instead of having four backs, five into the mid,’ Nelson said. ‘So I kind of do become a mid at a lot of points during the game, but when we’re on defense I’m back at defense.’

This weekend, Nelson primarily played in a defensive role and made some key plays.

In one play against UMass in the first half, a Minutewomen ball handler sped toward the SU goal as a teammate cut in from the left side behind the defense. Nelson stepped up to challenge the attack near the 25-yard line and blocked her attempted pass with her stick to end the UMass threat.

A few minutes later, she stopped a potential counterattack when she took the ball away from a Massachusetts forward.

‘She does really well stepping up more aggressively into the pocket, intercepting balls,’ Kee said of Nelson after Sunday’s game. ‘She’s very good at reading the play and knowing where the ball is going to come next.’

And while SU’s backs played well in the two shutouts, Bradley was equally impressed by the play of her forwards and midfielders. By reshaping the team’s formation, Syracuse was able to ‘get behind the ball’ on all levels of the field and limit the opposition’s opportunities.

It seemed every time the Friars would gain possession, a swarm of Syracuse players was waiting to take it right back. And when SU had the ball, it waited patiently for its plays to develop while eating up time by the minute.

Though many of those chances did not result in goals, the Orange’s offensive possessions limited the time the opposition had to score, Bradley said.

‘We kept possession,’ Bradley said. ‘When you have the ball, you’re on attack. And when you don’t have the ball, you’re on defense. ‘

The best Syracuse could hope for is allowing two shots in a span of 140 minutes.

However, Kee said the Orange always has areas in which it can improve. SU could be setting up its formation quicker, and it can’t expect other teams to attack as directly as Providence and UMass, Kee said.

Bradley also felt the Orange had room for improvement.

Faster competition than the inferior Providence squad may have created problems, and her team will need to improve upon its flaws to achieve its postseason goals, she said.

Not every team will be the Friars or the Minutewomen as SU chases its postseason goals.

‘I always have to remember when we want to be a Big East champion and a national champion, so we’ve got to play speed that’s similar to ours,’ Bradley said.

sebail01@syr.edu

Published on October 1, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1