Syracuse looked sharp in its final tune-up before Big East play, traveling to Cornell and sweeping the Big Red, 3-0.

The Orange (7-8) has now won three straight matches – a solid platform to build off of as it prepares to begin its Big East schedule Sunday at Rutgers. SU’s next five matches will be against conference foes.

Three Orange players tied for the team lead with eight kills – freshman Erin Little, sophomore Hayley Todd and junior Kacie MacTavish. Little also led the team with seven blocks. April Quigley played distributor, doling out 31 assists. Syracuse dominated in attack percentage, converting 30.6 percent of its attacks compared to a 15.4 percent mark for Cornell.

The Big Red (1-6) had a chance to steal the opening set for Syracuse, leading for much of the frame. But Syracuse stormed back, tying the match at 21 before eventually prevailing, 25-22.

The momentum carried over to the next two sets. SU streaked out to a 5-1 lead in the second set and never led by less than three, winning the frame, 25-18. The clinching set was close early, before the Orange went on a five-point run to take a 15-11 advantage. SU cruised from there, sealing a 25-20 win with kills from Little and Morton.

Loncarica named ECAC player of the week

The awards continued to pour in for No. 2 Syracuse field hockey midfielder Martina Loncarica. The freshman was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference player of the week Wednesday.

Loncarica tallied 11 points in Syracuse’s (8-0) weekend wins over then-No. 11 Louisville and New Hampshire. In the 3-0 win against the Cardinals, the freshman assisted on all three Syracuse goals – tying the school record for assists in one game for the second time this year.

Two days later, Loncarica registered three goals and two assists in the Orange’s 10-0 drubbing of New Hampshire. The eight points tied for second on SU’s single-game list.

Loncarica has already garnered two other awards this week – Big East player of the week and womensfieldhockey.com rookie of the week.

-Complied by sports editor John Clayton

Published on September 24, 2008 at 12:00 pm