The Syracuse women’s soccer team secured its first victories of the season during the weekend with a pair of 1-0 wins against Fordham and Binghamton. Senior goalkeeper Eliza Bennett-Hattan recorded consecutive shutouts in the victories.

On Friday night, the Orange (2-2-1) traveled to the Bronx to face Fordham. The game remained scoreless until the 76th minute when freshman midfielder Tina Romagnuolo scored from 20 yards out. The goal was Romagnuolo’s team-leading fourth of the season.

The squad won its second straight game on Sunday, defeating Binghamton on an own goal in the 47th minute. The deciding goal slipped past Bearcats goalkeeper Erin Iman after bouncing off of a defender. Bennett-Hattan recorded her 18th career shutout in the victory.

The win at Fordham was the road win for the program since October 2007. The team will try to extend its winning streak this weekend with road games at Colgate and Niagara.

Cross country

The Syracuse men’s and women’s cross country teams started the season on the right foot as the men ran second and the women placed third in Hamilton, N.Y., Saturday at the Harry Lang Invitational.

On the men’s side, junior Steve Murdock captured first place in the men’s 6,400-meter run, posting an impressive time of 20:28. Joining Murdock in the top-10 was sophomore Patrick Geoghegan, who placed third with a time of 20:44. The Orange men (40 points) finished in second place behind Bucknell (26).

For the women, sophomore Lauryn MacFawn set the pace, finishing second in the 4,400-meter run with a time of 16:22. Senior Stefanie Slekis also finished in the top-10 for the Orange, capturing third place with a time of 16:26. Bucknell (32 team points) won the event, followed by Colgate (44) and SU (58).

The Orange men and women will be back in action next Saturday, Sept. 19, when they head to Colgate to compete in the Colgate Invitational.

Volleyball

Syracuse volleyball came up short at the Cleveland State Invitational this weekend, losing both matches in five sets.

On Friday, Sept. 4, the team took on Michigan State in the opening round of the tournament, losing the first two sets before storming back to force the decisive fifth set. The Spartans, however, were able to accelerate to a 15-10 set victory to clinch the win.

The Orange (4-2) was unable to recover from its first loss of the season the next day when it blew a two-set advantage in a 3-2 setback to Cleveland State. Despite storming out to a 7-3 lead, the Orange couldn’t maintain and lost its second straight heart-breaker.

On Friday, the team will travel to Kingston, R.I., to participate in the Rhode Island Tournament where they will face Brown on day one and both Rhode Island and New Hampshire the following day.

–Compiled by The Daily Orange sports staff

Published on September 7, 2009 at 12:00 pm