Real Orange Heroes: Syracuse Women's Field Hockey & Men's Cross Country Teams

DOC Gross-haters, there's a serious wrench in your plans to get rid of the man deemed responsible for the state of Syracuse Orange football (which ain't as bad it was two weeks ago, mind you). That wrench is called Every Other Sport At Syracuse, where we're apparently the greatest school to ever do things athletically.

Case in point, the Men's Cross Country team and the Women's Field Hockey team, both of whom won Big East titles over the weekend.

We start with the ladies, who ended a pretty spectacular regular-season in style, besting once-beaten UConn to win the crown.

"It feels great going out and getting the win for our seniors," head coach Ange Bradley said. "Going out of the BIG EAST Conference, it's awesome to have Syracuse in there. Now we have to get to the tournament and to NCAAs."

It was fitting on Senior Day at Coyne Stadium that two of the Orange's goals came from those honored in a ceremony prior to the game. Graduate student Liz McInerney scored the game's first goal and senior captain Kelsey Millman recorded the second, putting the Orange ahead for good.

The Orange finish the regular season 16-1, which is the 2nd-best season mark ever (18-1 in 2008).

The team now heads to Trager Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky for the Big East Tournament, which begins Friday. No. 1 Syracuse will face No. 4 Providence in the first semifinal at 5 p.m. while No. 2 Conn will play No. 3 Louisville at 7:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, let's doff our caps in the direction of the men's cross country team as well. For the third time in four years, they won the conference crown.

Leading the way for the Orange was freshman Martin Hehir who was the individual BIG EAST Champion, running to a first place finish with a time of 24:37.20.

The SU men finished with 37 points, 30 points in front of second place Georgetown. The men had a program-high six harriers named All-BIG EAST. Hehir was joined by Joe Whelan, Ryan Urie, Reed Kayzsek, Griff Graves and Robert Molke as SU's All-BIG EAST selections.

The women's cross country team finished six in the Big East, nothing to sneeze at. Sarah Pagans was named to the All-Big East team for the third straight-year.

Finally, a special shout-out to the men's soccer team. They ended their regular season with a 1-0 win over St. John's to finish 12-5 (5-3), their winningest season since 1988. The Orange hosts their first postseason game in program history on Saturday, Nov. 3. against an opponent TBD.