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The Syracuse field hockey team opened its 2014 campaign with a four-game series in Ohio over Labor Day Weekend, finishing the trip a perfect 4-0.
The team's lone scare of the weekend came in the season-opener on Friday, when the ladies needed overtime to get by Ohio State. Goals scored by Jordan Page and Alyssa Manley gave Syracuse an early 2-0 lead, but Ohio State answered with two goals of its own to force the extra session. It was Emma Russell's goal -- scored six minutes and 49 seconds into sudden death -- that sealed the Orange win.
In the three games that followed, Syracuse outscored its opponents -- Miami (Ohio), Ohio, and Kent State -- by a combined score of 18-2. Notable games were had by Lauren Brooks (two goals against both Miami and Kent State), Annalena Ulbrich and Jordan Page (each with two goals against Ohio), and Russell (hat trick against Kent State).
Sophomore goalkeeper Rebecca Congel, usually the backup to junior Jess Jecko, earned her first career shutout in the 7-0 win at Kent State on Monday.
The team returns to Syracuse today and now has only eight days before its first in-conference game, scheduled for next Friday. That's when the Orange will travel to Chapel Hill to battle North Carolina, who, in the preseason coaches poll, was selected to win the ACC in 2014.
But, first things are first: Syracuse's home-opener is slated for Saturday afternoon versus Albany at J.S. Coyne Stadium. If the Orange can win that game and Sunday's game against Ball State, it will mark the third consecutive season they start at least 6-0.