Bridget Daley stood on the sidelines and watched Northwestern celebrate winning the national championship. She watched the Wildcats storm the field at LaValle Stadium after defeating the Orange 8-6 on the biggest stage in collegiate women’s lacrosse.
It’s an image that Daley vividly remembers, and one she and her teammates will use for motivation this year as they enter the NCAA tournament. The Big East champion Orange (16-3, 8-0 Big East) enters the tournament as the No. 4 seed and will play the winner of Boston College (12-7) and Dartmouth (10-7) on Sunday at 3 p.m. at the SU Soccer Stadium.

“I have it ingrained in my mind,” Daley said. “You never want to feel like that. But we’re lucky to have another chance, another season. …We’re not going to stop for anything until we get there.”

It will be a tough task for the Orange to get back to that point, especially without senior leader Michelle Tumolo, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear on April 16. But the team has won all six games it has played without her this season behind junior attack Alyssa Murray, the Big East Attack Player of the Year, and senior defender Becca Block, the Big East Defensive Player of the Year.

And the bitter taste the national championship game loss left in the mouth of Daley is surely shared by the duo of award winners and the rest of the returning contributors.

“It definitely fuels the fire,” said junior midfielder Amy Cross. “We carry those emotions. We want to get back to that same place again, the Final Four. But we’ve just got to focus one game at a time and hope that we’ll be able to play well enough to get there.”

Junior goalkeeper Alyssa Costantino called it one of the toughest losses she has ever had.

“Losing that championship was obviously very disappointing,” Costantino said. “You kind of just use that to motivate you to never feel like that again. So definitely taking that emotion and never wanting to feel like that ever again to want to win this one.”

To prepare to get back to that stage, SU jam-packed its schedule with the fiercest opponents in the country. The Orange played nine games against teams currently in the top 20 in the country, including Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 6.

“We played the best teams in the country at the beginning of the season and gained some valuable experience,” SU head coach Gary Gait said. “We’ve been able to work on some things and make some corrections and put ourselves in a position where we feel pretty good about the way we’re playing going into the playoffs.”

One major factor that SU has this year that it didn’t last year is freshman attack Kayla Treanor. She stepped into the lineup and had an immediate effect, leading the team with 59 goals and ranking second with 78 points.

“This is like one of the best classes that have ever gone through Syracuse,” Treanor said. “They’re so successful and they lead our team on and off the field. It’s an honor to play with them and I’d love to see this class walk out as national champions.”

One word comes to mind for the Orange seniors: revenge. They’re out for it. The Orange played 13 games against teams in the tournament and posted a 10-3 record in those games. The team knows what matters is now, and the sour taste of how last season ended will push them to even greater heights.

“We’re confident. We’re also hungry,” Daley said. “We do have a final goal in mind, and that’s the national championship.”

Published on May 8, 2013 at 3:00 am

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu