Yeowomen clinch nailbiter in double OT

With one minute left in sudden death overtime, senior Katherine Roberts' wrap-around-shot gave the women's lacrosse team a 13-12 victory over Lynchburg College.

Saturday, the team needed all the gas they could muster in a game against Coach Mindy Manolovich's alma mater.

"It's meaningful to come back and beat them," Manolovich said.

Sunday the team traveled to Bridgewater College and ran away with a 14-7 victory.

Against Lynchburg, after a ten-hour drive the team was a little dazed, and before their legs awoke they were down 6-1.

The team stopped trying to play an up and down game with Lynchburg, a game where, because of a shortage of legs, the team was at a big disadvantage. The team adapted and began to slow the game down so they could play their game, a smart game with lots of passes and patience. They went into the half down 8-4.

"The other team came back [from the half] with too much confidence," Manolovich said. "They underestimated our composure when down."

After the half, the Yeowomen came out smoking, scoring seven unanswered goals within eight minutes. With only five minutes left to play, the Yeowomen looked like they would breeze to victory.

Three Lynchburg goals later, the last at the end of regulation the team was forced to go into overtime. The same scenario occurred at the end of the second overtime period.

With a one-goal lead, the Yeowomen again failed to keep the ball away by playing keep away and with only 16 seconds left in the period Lynchberg found the net. The team capitalized on an incomplete pass left in front of the goal.

Finally with a minute left in sudden death overtime, Roberts challenged her opponent, mano e mano, and took her to school.

According to Manolovich the team picked up its hustle for ground balls and attempted to intercept passes instead of defending them.

"We had some real poor decisions in the first 20 minutes of the game," Manolovich said. "We worked on our denial defense. It was really successful." Manolovich estimated that the team intercepted 50 percent of the passes from that point on.

Co-captain senior Anne Ewens really stepped up on the trip, scoring a season-high of four goals to go along with two assists. Roberts also put in four, while senior Amy Kremen put in two.

According to Ewens, she was scoring more because the team did a good job of spreading out the offense and being patient.

Sunday against Bridgewater College the team rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win 14-7.

"Sometimes it takes a kick start to get aggressive," junior Cecily Beane said. "We were passing really well, just being aware of each other. Things were really clicking, things were really great. We are getting to know each other better, learning each others' strengths and weaknesses."

"I was getting beaten up," Ewens said. "I got angry and said 'fine if you are going to beat me up, I'm going to score.'"

In her game against Bridgewater, Ewens put in five goals and had three assists. Roberts again equaled Ewen's total of five goals, Beane added three and Kremen put in one.

Senior goalkeeper Alysia Oakley had a terrific game in goal, with 11 saves and, over the weekend, sophomore Sarah Bergman adapted well to playing deep defense.

"It was an added bonus to beat both these teams on senior day, their last game, on their own home turf," Beane said.

Saturday on parent's day, the Yeowomen play Ohio Wesleyan University for a first round bye in NCAC tournament, May 1-2. Sunday on senior day, the team hosts Canisius College.

"[Ohio Wesleyan] always thinks we have close games," Manolovich said. "If Ohio Wesleyan gets here and doesn't see fans they could get cocky."

Rattle them bones: Women's lacrosse players work out during a recent practice. The Yeowomen beat Lynchburg in a double overtime barn-burner Saturday. (photo by John Matney)