Kelly Driscoll made sure the Orangewomen’s streak of domination would end.

Driscoll slipped a shot past SU goaltender Audrey Latsko as Villanova defeated Syracuse, 2-1, in the second round of penalty strokes Friday night. Driscoll’s shot ended Villanova’s 10-game losing streak to Syracuse (8-6, 1-2 Big East). On Sunday, SU defeated Pennsylvania, 2-1.

Villanova (7-6, 2-1) last beat Syracuse in 1992, though last season it went to double-overtime with SU winning, 4-3. Syracuse junior Jackie Sheaffer netted the game-winner last year, but even she couldn’t prevent the Orangewomen from dropping their second straight Big East game this year.

“We weren’t as productive as we should’ve been,” Sheaffer said. “The surface (at Villanova) was different. It was more bouncy and not as fast. We were just trying to adjust to it.”

Apparently, Syracuse adjusted too slowly.

Syracuse and Villanova took turns on the attack, but the statistics didn’t reflect it. Villanova outshot Syracuse, 22-6, and collected three more penalty corners.

“I thought it was a pretty even game, but the statistics don’t lie,” head coach Kathleen Parker said. “I don’t know how I felt the game went. I haven’t looked at the film yet.”

When Parker does, she’ll see that Latsko had a busy day.

“(Villanova was) really aggressive,” said Latsko, who recorded 15 saves. “We were the better team, but the outcome didn’t show it. We just have a lot of trouble scoring.”

Latsko failed to stop Christina Lugones from scoring her fifth goal of the season, off a corner from Villanova.

Kristen Strocen and Sarah Francis fed Lugones, who drilled the shot past Latsko to give Villanova a 1-0 lead at 43:59.

With time winding down, Parker turned to Missy Grosman to save SU.

Grosman did, temporarily, finding the back of the net with help from Sheaffer and sophomore Lindsay Kocher at 61:26.

“Kristin (Aronowicz, the normal corner hitter) wasn’t on the field,” Parker said. “I called (Grosman) up and it was a good second effort on her part. It was almost a broken corner.”

“I thought (Meredith Gettel) scored,” Grosman said. “The shot deflected off some people and then hit the back of the net. Sometimes you get lucky.”

But unlike last year, SU failed to convert when it counted most.

The loss puts Syracuse on the brink of missing the Big East tournament. Syracuse, fifth in the six-team conference behind Connecticut, Boston College, Providence and Villanova, would be out of the playoffs if they started today.

“(The loss) makes our situation very cloudy,” Parker said. “We have to win our last two (Big East) games if we want control of our own fate.”

The first of the two games comes Friday when SU hosts Providence. Syracuse defeated the Friars last year, 1-0. In its first game at home this month, SU will try for the same result.

“We’re definitely making it harder for ourselves,” Grosman said. “We have to worry about winning the rest of the Big East games and hope that some teams lose.”

Published on October 15, 2002 at 12:00 pm