Elizabethtown College’s women’s lacrosse team opened its season on Wednesday, Feb. 20 with a win over Dickinson College. The continually close-scored game ended with the Blue Jays taking the win with a final score of 13-11. However, their second game of the season ended in an overtime battle that cost the Blue Jays their second victory, making their record 1-1 overall. The game against Dickinson also served as a positive start to new Head Coach Rob Brooks’ career with the program.
Contributing to the team’s success included senior Becky Porter with three goals and four assists and fellow senior and captain of the women’s lacrosse team Emily Butler, with five goals. In addition, junior Michelle Grosso scored two goals, and first-year Gabrielle Genuario added another point to the scoreboard during her career-debuting game. “It was a great feeling to contribute two goals in the Dickinson game,” Grosso stated. “It helped us reach our goal of beating them after a tough loss against them last season.”
Despite a few early mistakes, the team was able to take a step back and focus on what they needed to accomplish. “We worked really hard to play together,” senior Madeline Jackson stated. “We were having some trouble with transitions, but then started to communicate better to help move the ball more quickly up the field.” After participating in three scrimmages before the official start of the season, the team was able to recognize what skills required additional attention. This was one of the team’s biggest advantages to starting the season with a win. “We saw what we needed to work on and improved throughout the week,” Jackson continued. “We realized which types of defense work for our team and learned how to work together in our offensive sets.”
Although the game was relatively close in score, Brooks was still content with the outcome. “Our coach was very proud of the Dickinson game and how we got into a groove. [We] held up against them and got a win for our first game,” Grosso stated. This feeling of approval led to additional motivation for the team’s next game, against McDaniel College, the program’s second non-conference match of the season. “[Brooks] was proud of us for pulling out the win,” Jackson said. “Dickinson is an emotional and scrappy team, just like McDaniel will be in our upcoming game. He told us we would have to fight back just as hard on Saturday as we did today.”
On Saturday, Feb. 23, the women’s lacrosse team traveled to Maryland to face-off against McDaniel. The game, which extended into overtime, ultimately ended with the losing score of 14-15. “We were up by three [goals] two different times and let them come back,” Jackson said. “We controlled the game, but they just happened to get the goal in overtime. It was just unlucky.”
Genuario and Butler contributed to the score once again with two and three goals, respectively. Grosso also scored her third goal of the season, and Porter assisted three of the goals scored throughout the game. Sophomore Caitlin Knight and junior Katelyn Reeb also added one goal each to the team’s final tally.
“[Brooks] actually responded very positively toward the McDaniel game, even though we lost,” Grosso said. “We got a couple of calls from the refs that put us at a real disadvantage, and he knew that. He said that we played a really good game, and we can only take it and improve on the things that we messed up on.”
The team’s next game will be on Saturday, March 9 against Sewanee University in Tennessee. This game will take place over the program’s spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C. “As a team we are ultimately trying to win another championship this season,” Grosso concluded. “To accomplish this, we need to go into every game with a level head and play lacrosse like we know how to.”