May 22 — Gary Gait has had a hand in plenty of dynasties. As a player, his Syracuse teams were 51-5 and won three straight NCAA titles. As an assistant coach at Maryland, the women’s lacrosse team won seven championships and lost 16 games in nine years.

Now he’s on the other side – his Syracuse women’s lacrosse team is the clear underdog to three-time defending national champion Northwestern in the national semifinal Friday.

And he knows exactly what it will take to come away victorious.

‘We know we have to play our perfect game,’ Gait said in a conference call Tuesday. ‘We have to limit our mistakes. We have to capitalize on our opportunities.’

That’s the tall task looming for a Syracuse squad making its first-ever trip to the final four. SU takes on No. 1 Northwestern – which holds an 81-3 record over the past four years – at 6 p.m. at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson, Md.

No. 2 Pennsylvania and Duke will play in the other semifinal following Syracuse’s game. The winners play in the national championship Sunday at 7 p.m.

Gait’s directive for the perfect game comes for obvious reasons.

Northwestern’s impressive record notwithstanding, the Wildcats (19-1) possess more experience in this situation than Syracuse (18-2). Under head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller, NU has made the final four for four consecutive years.

Then, there’s the first meeting between the two teams earlier this season, a convincing 19-7 victory for the Wildcats on March 24. Northwestern outscored Syracuse, 14-3, in a lopsided second half thanks to a huge advantage in draw controls. Gait said Northwestern simply played SU into submission.

So what to do?

‘I don’t think we’re going to reinvent the wheel here,’ Gait laughed. ‘I think we’re just going to make some tweaks, a few changes, and hopefully we’ll have a little better game than we did the first time.’

Gait is banking on more preparation time making a difference. Plus, he expects more from junior Katie Rowan.

Rowan, who leads the nation with 142 points, and holds every major offensive record in Syracuse history, managed one shot against the Wildcats. That’s all.

Hiller isn’t anticipating the same result this time.

‘She’s just so unbelievably dynamic,’ Hiller said of Rowan. ‘She can do anything on the field and I think we were able to limit her. But this is a big stage and I’m sure she’s going to step up. We’re going to try and play good team defense and see what we can do.’

Rowan has been challenged all season long by her head coach to step up in key opportunities. Since the no-show against Northwestern, Rowan scored 11 points in a 15-goal rout of then-No. 6 Georgetown. In the first round of the NCAA tournament, she scored an NCAA-record 13 points. And in the game that put SU in the final four, she had a point on three of the team’s last four goals.

This, among other things, is encouraging to Gait in the wake of the 19-7 drubbing.

Gait admitted he’s viewed the game tape from the team’s first meeting plenty of times in the past week. He said he would relish the fact that he has a whole week to prepare for Northwestern this time around. In the week before Syracuse’s loss to the Wildcats in March, the Orange played three games.

Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel said sufficient preparation is the most important factor in dealing with Northwestern’s vaunted defensive unit. Because, she said, the Wildcats put so much pressure on the ball, opposing teams need to be able to see the whole field and not fall into ‘the black hole.’

Hiller isn’t worried that Gait has a whole week to prepare and dissect Syracuse’s past failure.

‘We’re doing the same thing,’ Hiller said. ‘We’re using the time we have to prepare and be as thorough as we can to come up with a gameplan to beat such a great team and coaching staff.’

Karin Brower, head coach of Pennsylvania, the only team to beat Northwestern this season (an 11-7 victory on April 27), agreed.

‘You can’t play your typical offense against them,’ Brower said. ‘They don’t let you settle the ball, they don’t let you relax and just swing it around. They are constantly doubling you, so you have to prepare in a totally different way for Northwestern than anybody else.’

Northwestern allowed seven goals per game, second lowest in the nation only to Penn’s six.

And that defensive pressure, amongst the rest of the daunting numbers – those 81 wins and three straight titles included – is not lost on Gait.

‘It’s not like we’re expected to win or do well, so why not go out and have fun?’ Gait said. ‘We play our best when we are relaxed and comfortable, so we might as well come in and not put the pressure on. Hopefully it will work.’

magelb@syr.edu

Published on May 21, 2008 at 12:00 pm