The fate of Syracuse’s season was out of its hands as Maryland lined up for a penalty corner late in overtime.

Only allotted three defenders per overtime rules, the Orange was outnumbered. The Terrapins just had to execute on the play to score and advance to the final four.

After Katie Gerzabek swung the ball into Harriet Tibble atop the shooting circle, the junior back launched it past the undermanned SU defense and into the net.

‘There’s just more spaces open,’ junior back Iona Holloway said. ‘Maryland had a very strong, straight strike in regular time, and so in overtime they have more spaces, and the girl just rocketed it into the corner. And a well-executed, straight strike is always going to go in.’

The score brought No. 3 Syracuse’s (19-4, 5-1 Big East) season to an abrupt end, falling in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive year. But for a team that dominated its regular-season schedule and won the Big East tournament by defeating rival No. 5 Connecticut, the season was still a successful one.

After a pair of early-season losses to No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 Old Dominion, the Orange reeled off 11 straight wins, including five over ranked opponents by a total margin of 57-9.

For Holloway, there was never any doubt that the team was a national contender.

‘I think that to say that we didn’t have success would be really putting our team down of what we did achieve,’ Holloway said. ‘We had a really good regular season. We competed very well with top teams in the country.’

One of those teams was Connecticut.

The Huskies defeated SU 3-2 in overtime Oct. 23 to hand the Orange its first loss in a month and a half. But just two weeks later, in the Big East tournament championship game, Syracuse seized its vengeance.

The Orange scored three times in the first 18:59 of the game to build an early lead. And Holloway and fellow back Amy Kee shut down UConn’s star forward Anne Jeute to preserve a 3-2 victory in the second half.

‘We beat UConn on our field to win the Big East championship, and we played a brilliant game that day,’ Holloway said.

The Orange followed up with another impressive performance in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.

Against Richmond, senior forward Heather Susek tallied the only two goals of the game, raising the Big East Co-Offensive Player of the Year’s season total to 19. She and junior forward Kelsey Millman tied for the team lead in scoring, dramatically improving from last season when the pair combined for 11 goals.

‘I think performance-wise, individually looking back it was a successful year,’ assistant coach Natalie Barrett said. ‘I think a lot of people made great strides. Players who didn’t have a lot of experience in the past stepped up, got some good experience.’

Freshmen Jordan Page and Lauren Brooks were two of the young players who contributed for the Orange. They combined for nine goals and shined in crucial victories.

Brooks knocked home the initial goal in both of SU’s Big East tournament victories and earned Most Outstanding Player for the tournament. Page assisted on Susek’s second goal against the Spiders to seal the NCAA tournament opening-round victory for SU.

But Syracuse fell short against the Terrapins.

Millman scored in the 63rd minute to tie the game 1-1, but SU was unable to score in the remainder of regulation and overtime, falling when Tibble scored in the 84th minute.

‘It was heartbreaking, honestly. It was a heartbreaking loss,’ Barrett said. ‘To see the seniors collapse, upset about ending their career, and to see the rest of the girls walk off the field, it’s just one of the hardest things as a coach to watch, knowing that their season’s ended and for some of them their career’s over.’

Holloway said the team fought valiantly for all 83-plus minutes and that it was an improvement from when the Orange competed ‘horribly’ last year, when it was eliminated by Ohio State. When Tibble blasted that shot, there was just nothing SU could do to stop it.

‘We played a really good game, and unfortunately, they scored before we did in overtime,’ Bradley said. ‘We were two even teams.’

sebail01@syr.edu

Published on November 16, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1