With Syracuse coming off a shutout loss last Sunday against St. John’s, Phil Wheddon didn’t work his players any harder. Instead, the SU head coach gave them a much-needed breather.

‘I gave them three days off,’ Wheddon said. ‘They’ve had three days off to recuperate a little bit. Get their minds around what’s about to happen this week. They’re well aware of the situation and they know they can achieve whatever they put their minds to.’

The situation coming up for the Orange (7-7-3, 6-5) is a quarterfinals matchup in the Big East tournament with Georgetown (14-5, 8-3) on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Washington D.C. The winner advances to the semifinals the following weekend in West Virginia. Both teams had first round byes. Georgetown is one of the top teams Syracuse faced all year, but SU is confident it can hang with the Hoyas. After having three days off over the weekend, the Orange is fresh and ready for its first appearance in the conference tournament since 2005.

Junior forward Jenna Rickan said she thinks the three-day break is the longest SU enjoyed all season. By not practicing for an extended period of time, she said it’s given the team a chance to reflect on the opportunity to play into the last week of October.

The players were surprised Wheddon gave them the extended resting period, but welcomed the chance to recover after a long regular season.

Junior midfielder Alyscha Mottershead said that while three days doesn’t seem like a tremendous amount of time off, it’s given players an itch to get back on the field and train with more motivation for the postseason.

‘We kind of knew it was coming but before he mentioned it I think everyone was a little excited,’ Mottershead said. ‘Definitely a little taken aback by it but we can see where he’s coming from with the idea.’

The rest was a nice change of pace both mentally and physically for the players, who haven’t had much time to relax since the season began.

Since Sept. 1, SU has played in at least two contests in five weekends. The only consistent off-day for the team has is Mondays. Mottershead said Syracuse has been going hard since the beginning of August, with some training days consistent with two-a-days.

‘It’s really nice for your body to have a break and just focus on the recovery of minor injuries or just aches and pains you have,’ Mottershead said.

Now, the rejuvenated Orange is focused on topping a talented Hoyas squad it lost to 3-1 on Sept. 23. After that game, Wheddon called the Hoyas the best team Syracuse faced all season.

The impressive Georgetown team had a historic season, earning the best record — 14-5 — in the program’s 20-year existence and outscoring its opponents 49-22.

For this matchup with the Hoyas to be different than the first, Wheddon said the Orange needs to expose their weaknesses.

The head coach said Georgetowan enjoys ‘gang defending,’ pressuring offensive players by sending multiple defenders at the ball. Wheddon said it’s critical to break that pressure early on and counter down the flanks.

And when they do that, Syracuse needs to find a way to find the back of the net, something it’s been lacking the last couple weeks in shutout losses to then-No. 7 Marquette and St. John’s.

‘You’ve got to have the end product,’ Wheddon said. ‘And that’s been failing us in the last two weeks. We haven’t had the end product as far as scoring goals go.’

But maybe with the additional days off, Syracuse can find that scoring groove when it needs it most in the postseason. Syracuse still has the chance to accomplish something special this season, and to do that, it will need to find its offensive rhythm.

And after having the time to think about this Sunday’s matchup, the Orange is motivated and excited for postseason play.

‘Just being able to be so thankful that we can still come out here and have something to play for,’ Rickan said. ‘We’re not just practicing for no reason.’

dgproppe@syr.edu

Published on October 26, 2011 at 12:00 pm