Michelle Tumolo’s parents normally have to drive four and a half hours from Mullica Hill, N.J., to see her play in home games.

But this season, the sophomore Tumolo’s family will have the opportunity to watch her play without leaving home. Five of Syracuse’s games will be televised this season, the most in program history.

‘I’m really excited because my family gets to watch them,’ Tumolo said. ‘I mean, they can’t make every game, so they get to watch the TV games.’

The jump from just one televised regular-season game last year is an indication Syracuse is becoming more nationally recognized. Two of the games, at home against Notre Dame and on the road at Georgetown, will be shown nationally, whereas the other three will be available on local programming. SU head coach Gary Gait said it is exciting to get the attention for the program and the sport. But there are some inconveniences that go along with the recognition, such as imposing cameras and television timeouts.

Ernie and Carol Tumolo are not the only ones the team hopes to target with its TV appearances. Gait hopes the exposure gets more attention from recruiting targets.

‘It gives the opportunity for everyone to watch, young players that are potential recruits and parents,’ Gait said.

The games selected are highly anticipated matchups based off last year’s results, particularly Notre Dame. In its game against Notre Dame last year, SU was down 6-0 at the half and went on a tear. The Orange scored five unanswered goals, only to have a shot in the last 20 seconds of the game turned away in an eventual 6-5 loss.

SU captain Liz Hogan said the games chosen to be televised will be some of the best matchups of the season. She is excited about what this means for women’s lacrosse as a whole.

‘Those are some of the top games,’ Hogan said. ‘And it’s also good because they’re all ranked teams, so the people who are viewing get to see the best of the best, which is exciting for the sport.’

The players do not anticipate the presence of the cameras to be a distraction because they are used to having SU Athletics cameras present on the field for most of their games. Most of those cameras are not too close to the players, Tumolo said.

But for the goaltender Hogan, the potential problems arise when the team runs deeper into the NCAA tournament. Last year, the cameras were much more present on the field. And in her goal.

‘In the final four, they put them in the goals and get close, but it’s the final four,’ Hogan said. ‘There are a lot of things going on. … It’s a little different, but nothing too life changing.’

The prime issue SU players have with the televised games is the increase in the number of media timeouts. There are three more throughout the game than usual, which can alter the pace of the game. It also allows coaches to be more strategic about calling timeouts because they can rely more on those called for TV.

‘It can really shift momentum,’ Hogan said. ‘If you’re going on a 5-0 run and the other team doesn’t want to burn a timeout, they can just wait for the TV timeout.’

Gait’s experience as a professional coach has afforded him some familiarity with the TV timeouts. He said that time can be valuable for making adjustments and keeping his team focused.

‘You get more opportunities to coach,’ Gait said. ‘And who doesn’t want to coach more? That’s our job.’

The first test of how the Orange will react to playing on TV comes Sunday, when No. 12 Virginia comes to town. This game will be broadcast locally on Time Warner Cable. Although it will not reach the Tumolos down in New Jersey, it will be the first step in SU’s increased exposure locally and nationally. Something Gait is excited about.

‘One day we’d love to have every game on TV,’ Gait said. ‘And maybe that will be the case one day, but we’ve done a better job this year, and we’re working toward that.’

alguggen@syr.edu