Women’s Lacrosse Looks To Continue Tradition

by Ian Haynes

With two-tenths of a second left in the second overtime of last year’s women’s lacrosse North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, Denison sophomore Jamie Fox put home a shot for a 12-11 win over the Yeowomen.

“A win would have taken us to the NCAA Tournament,” Assistant Coach Blake New said. “We had a good season and I think we have developed somewhat of a tradition over the last few years.”

The Yeowomen will combine old faces with new ones as they look to make it back to the conference championships this year. Seniors MarySara Salvania, Kathryn Lanouette and Alexandra Grindle will captain this year’s team, which is made up of six seniors, two juniors, four sophomores and five first-years.

“We have seven or eight returning players from last year’s team and seven or eight inexperienced players. We are going to have to play people around and tweak the lineup until we find the one that works,” New said.

Annabeth Macy and Maya Leonard-Cahn are the other two seniors on the team. Macy is a defender and Leonard-Cahn plays midfield. Attacker Selena Kansal and midfielder Laura Kent-Monning are the lone juniors for the Yeowomen.

Sophomore Caroline Sturm will play defense for Oberlin this year while sophomores Briana Quinn and Marianna Leavy-Sperounis will rotate between midfield and defense. Sophomore Kelly Berry will primarily play attacker for the Yeowomen.
This year’s first-year class is comprised of three midfielders, an attacker and a goalkeeper. Lan Sasa and Jennifer Rushlow will join Maggie Douglas at midfielder while Susie Armitage plays attacker and Alexis Stoller guards goal.

“Douglas could be a possible scoring threat for us this year. She needs to know that she can step up and take the scoring load,” New said. “Stoller will contribute in goal for us this year too. She will most likely split time with [Grindle],” he continued.
With an inexperienced team, the Yeowomen will need valuable game experience if they are to accomplish the goals they have set for the season. “We lost both of our go-to goal scorers last year. It will be a test for us to have people step up and score goals,” New said.
“Our definite goal is to get back to the NCAC Championship and win. Our play early on will determine how we prepare for conference play,” New said, “We will need to do a good job of finding our strengths and hiding our weaknesses early in the season.”
The Yeowomen will open up next Thursday at home against Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania.