Janelle Stegeland reminisced with her fellow defenders at practice Wednesday. The moment was certainly a memorable one.

In the NCAA tournament two years ago, Stegeland, then a sophomore, and the Orange went to Washington, D.C., for a first-round matchup with Georgetown, a team it had played twice in the previous two weeks. SU returned with a 15-8 victory.

Standing on the Carrier Dome turf Wednesday, the group of upperclassmen defenders recognized how important it was to get back to that moment.

‘We were saying, ‘How much fun was that game?” Stegeland said. ‘We want that feeling again. We want to bring them to the Dome and show them what Syracuse lacrosse is all about.’

On Saturday, Stegeland and No. 2 Syracuse (9-2, 3-0 Big East) have a chance to do just that as the rival No. 11 Hoyas (8-4, 4-1 Big East) come to SU in search of their second consecutive win over the Orange and fourth straight in the regular-season series. To break that streak, SU will look to maintain its game-by-game approach, which has led to eight straight victories, the highest ranking in program history and seven wins over top-10 opponents this season. But GU, which has had SU’s number recently, poses a formidable challenge.

Last year’s loss to the Hoyas was part of a disappointing campaign for the Orange in which it failed to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in five years. Stegeland said before this season that a flawed ‘big picture’ mentality was at least partially to blame for the team’s mediocre performance in 2011.

So from the first day of preseason training this year, the Syracuse players have made a concerted effort not to look ahead on the schedule.

And heading into this weekend’s matchup with GU, the mentality is no different.

‘I don’t even know what game comes next after Georgetown,’ junior attack Michelle Tumolo said. ‘The next game is Georgetown, so that’s what I’m focusing on. That’s what our whole team motto is, and we’ve all been focusing on doing that.’

The Hoyas boast a pair of impressive wins over No. 3 North Carolina and No. 15 Pennsylvania this year. Each of their four losses came against nationally ranked opponents. And, like the Orange, they’re hot.

Georgetown has won its last four games, averaging 19.8 goals per game. One week ago, it thrashed Cincinnati 22-4, the same score by which Syracuse defeated No. 6 Dartmouth on Monday.

If the Orange wants to earn another win Saturday, it will need the same type of effort.

‘Obviously everything connected really well in our Dartmouth game,’ sophomore Amy Cross said. ‘We just want to build off of that, keep the pace really fast and just keep our offense and our defense together.’

A win over Georgetown would pull SU even atop the Big East standings with Loyola (Md.), which it plays April 27. And in the Big East tournament, which will be held in the Carrier Dome starting May 3, the Orange is likely to face at least one of the two teams once more.

However, Stegeland, Tumolo and Cross all said despite the respect they have for future foes, the Hoyas are the team’s sole focus this week.

‘Our goal this year is we take one game at a time,’ Stegeland said. ‘So right now we’re only thinking about Georgetown. We’re not thinking about the Big East tournament.’

sebail01@syr.edu 

Published on April 12, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1