The women’s lacrosse team will try to snap its three-game skid tomorrow at Schoellkopf Field at 3 p.m., when it takes on Brown. The Red (7-4, 2-2 Ivy) lost a tough match to No. 11 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome on Wednesday, while the Bears (4-6, 2-1) defeated Boston College earlier in the week. With only four games remaining in the regular season, this weekend’s contest is a must-win for the Red as it seeks a berth in a third-straight NCAA tournament.
“We have to get back on track mentally. We’re really kind of down, we just lost three tough games. We had chances to win all of them and we didn’t win,” said head coach Jenny Graap ’86.
Wednesday night marked the return of two starters for the laxers in senior co-captain Erica Holveck and junior Kate Hirschfield. Both made their presence known on the field, as Hirschfield recorded a goal and an assist, and Holveck provided good speed in the transition game and saw more attack time.
Going into the half down by four, the Red burst out of the gate in the second with a torrent of shots and put up two straight goals to cut the Orangewomen’s lead in half. Senior Sarah Averson brought the Red within one with nine minutes left in the game, but Syracuse ended the game with three straight goals to win its 12th straight contest at home.
Brown comes into tomorrow’s contest having won three of its last four games. The Bears are led by senior Bekah Rottenberg, who leads the team in scoring with 17 goals and 10 helpers. Junior Christine Anneberg has scored a team-high 20 goals, while in net, sophomore Julie Southard has a 11.11 goals against average and a .459 save percentage. Cornell came away with a 13-9 win last season, and holds a three-game winning streak against the Bears.
With two of its remaining four games against teams ranked in the top 20, the Red needs to get back on the winning track and gain some momentum going into the postseason.
“I think it’s important to get back in a groove and into a positive mode. [We have to have] fun out there and enjoy ourselves and not be overwhelmed with frustration,” commented Graap.
The Red will most likely be without senior Sarah Fischer for tomorrow’s game, however. Fischer, second on the team in scoring with 18 goals and seven assists, did not play against the Orangewomen, and her scoring touch will be missed.
“[With Fischer out] what you’re seeing now is more middies getting into the offensive end. Erica Holveck and Katie Lavin get more attack time because we bump the midfielders up a little bit and let them come into the attack,” said Graap.
Next weekend, the Red plays its final road game when it travels to New Haven, CT to take on Yale in a contest that will be televised on the College Sports TV Network. The laxers’ next home game will be April 28 against Stanford, with Harvard coming to town May 3 to cap off the regular season.
Archived article by Jonathan Auerbach