It’s a situation the Syracuse field hockey team has strenuously prepared for, but never hopes for. In a game as big as this, a breakdown was the last thing the Orange wanted to happen.

With a slim one-goal lead over No. 10 Louisville (6-3, 1-1 Big East) and 25 minutes remaining, Syracuse seniors Maggie Befort and Shelby Schraden were both sent off with yellow cards only 12 seconds apart. The No. 9 Orange (6-3, 2-0) had allowed its early momentum to shift in Louisville’s direction, and now the team was down two starters for nearly five minutes of a crucial stretch of the game.

With the conference lead on the line and tempers flaring, the Orange refused to panic. The young SU defense held the Cardinals’ high-scoring offense to only two shots on the man-down opportunity, and sophomore goalkeeper Leann Stiver was perfect in net as both penalties were killed.

‘Everyone stayed organized, and we kept the ball almost the entire time on the other end of the field,’ junior midfielder Nicole Nelson said. ‘We’ve been down before in a game, and it’s gotten a little crazy, but we stayed composed, and that helped because we stayed in the game.’

Though the Cardinals took the lead with 14 minutes to play, the improbable penalty kill provided a shot in the arm and prevented Louisville from running away with the game. The Orange rode the momentum from its defense to tie the game with fewer than six minutes left, and eventually won 4-3 on a goal from junior midfielder Martina Loncarica in overtime.

The forceful switch that came from the penalty kill may have started with Stiver, whose aggressive mentality as captain of the defense stays consistent, regardless of the pressure of the situation. She and the defense maintained their tempo after they killed off the penalties, and the rest of the team fed off of that energy.

‘When we’re down, it puts a lot of pressure on the defense,’ Stiver said. ‘Once (Befort and Schraden) came back into the game and we were at full strength, we realized we didn’t have to be as reserved in our playing style, and we could go back and attack and be more aggressive.’

For Befort, the attitude and urgency displayed during the man-down stonewall comes from SU’s extensive preparation for that situation. Head coach Ange Bradley has been emphasizing this aspect of the game since the team was in a similar spot in an earlier loss to Virginia.

Befort said the key to being prepared when the situation came up against Louisville was by recreating in practice the emotional frustration that comes before players are sent off. However, Befort said despite the positive result on Saturday, preparation for man-down situations is also designed to teach self-control when things are getting out of hand.

‘Even in practice, it gets pretty competitive and pretty heated,’ Befort said. ‘(Coach Guy Cathro) is umpiring, we’ll yell, ‘Hey Guy, what was that?’ He’ll say ‘Off!’ and we practice playing a man down. We’re learning to keep our mouths shut and control what we can control.’

Though Bradley is proud of how her poised young defenders handled the mismatch that keyed the momentum swing, she also knows they were ready because of previous experiences that have become a pattern. The events with Louisville show why playing down has become an important aspect of Bradley’s practices, but they also show why she needs to continue emphasizing how to avoid these situations.

‘You can say a lot of things (about playing down), but we’ll stick with composure and coolness,’ Bradley said. ‘We show video of the times that we’ve been up players and down players, so we put that into drills and practice. It’s something we clearly need to do more of.’

jakrakow@syr.edu