The Elizabethtown College women’s lacrosse team had a busy week two games back-to-back, Wednesday, March 11 and Thursday, March 12.
On Wednesday the team traveled to Neumann University, where they fell to the Knights with a score of 17-15. Both teams were in a battle over goals within the first 10 minutes of the game.
Neumann was the first to score and take a 4-2 lead over Etown with 16:03 left in the first half of the game. Sophomore Addie Stang, junior Dana Robidoux and junior Mary Nell Donahue helped the Blue Jays take a 6-4 advantage with less than 10 minutes left in the first half. Neumann had a strong pull the first half of the game, scoring six out of the final seven goals and led 10-7 at the half. The Blue Jays held on and tried to gain points after their deficit. First-year Carly Thompson and sophomore Megan DeMichele gained control and scored within the first few minutes of the second half.
With 14:38 remaining, Neumann was ahead with a score of 15-11. The Knights kept their composure with the remaining time and kept the lead finishing with a score of 17-15.
Following the Neumann game, first-year Katie Thompson had taken this time to reflect on her performance. She said that even though she made some beginner mistakes she and the team definitely showed how far they have come. “We work just as hard at the end of the game as we do in the beginning.” Thompson said. “We still have a lot of work to do. Because we are such a young team, it is sometimes hard to match up against teams that have played together for years, but that will only improve with time.”
After this defeat, the women’s team regained their composure and went against Lancaster Bible College the next day. Finding a balance between both halves, the team defeated Lancaster Bible 20-9. This non-conference victory allowed the team to shine. First-year Katie Thompson had a season-best eight points in the game. Less than two minutes into the game, she assisted Dana Robidoux’s goal. She also recorded her third assist of the first half with junior Molly Hurley’s first of three goals to make the score 8-0.
The game was 9-0 before Lancaster Bible had a chance to score their first goal against the Blue Jays. K.Thompson had a game-high eight points with three goals and five helpers. She is the current leader of the Etown team with eleven assists of the season. K. Thompson, first-year Eckenrode and senior Emily Young had four ground balls each and first-year Michelle Fuller made nine saves.
Looking ahead, K. Thompson is optimistic about the team success. “Even though we have improved dramatically from last year, no wins are guaranteed,” she said. At the same time, Thompson says that she believes that the team has the “element of surprise on our side.” She also sees that the week of practice before the Catholic University game will be worth the pain. “We will get better and stronger everyday so we can be prepared for Catholic,” she said. Sophomore Becky Graessle also commented that she believes the past two games were good prep for Catholic. “In the game against Lancaster Bible, we were able to work on some of the plays that we had been struggling with and that will really pay off in future games,” she said. DeMichele also noted that these games will help improve their skills so they are prepared to go against Catholic.
The team will travel to the nationally-ranked Catholic next Saturday, March 21 in a conference opener.
