Coming off of the most successful season that the UR women’s lacrosse program has ever had, this years squad will look to maintain their position amongst the nations upper tier.
With a loss of six starters to graduation a younger team has a formidable tak ahead of them. Last season the Yellowjackets compiled a 14-4 record which included a New York State Championship title and trip to the East Coast Athletic Conference semifinals.
UR will face familiar competition this season. Last year’s team played 12 of the 15 regular season teams that this year’s squad will face. Last season the Yellowjackets compiled a 9-3 record against these teams and will look to improve upon this successful mark.
The 2003 roster boasts only one senior, co-captain Susan Murray. Murray will lead the very young team along with the other co-captains — juniors Stephanie Bristol and Katie Riegel. The younger players on this team will really have to step it up if the women are to reach the ECAC’s or the NCAA tournament. The future of the team lies in a core of sophomores — including Rachel Hawley, Amy Hein, Erin List, Emily Riegel, Elizabeth Sack, Cody Schraft and Jess Colbourne. “This group has really shown an extensive work ethic — including hard work in the weight room and working on on-field skills,” head coach Andrea Golden said. This work ethic earned many of these sophomores solid playing time in UR’s first game.
In their first regular season game, UR faced off against ClaremontMudd Scripps College and came away with a convincing 13-8 victory to go to 1-0 on the season. Claremont was 4-1 going into the game and had a win over a solid Ohio-Wesleyan team.
“Going into the Claremont game, we know that they were a young, emotional team. They tend to score in streaks,” Golden said. “Our goal was to contain their offensive weapons and we were successful.”
The defensive efforts of junior Kelly Glajch, Sack and Schraft combined with the goalkeeping of Bristol to hold Claremont to eight goals.
“Goalkeeping is so important to any team and it is evident that Bristol and freshman Carrie Voycheck are dedicated to the position and will help establish a solid defensive unit,” Golden said.
Look for UR’s defense to combined with a balanced offensive attack and keep this young team established within the nations best.
Fitzsimmons can be reached at afitzsimmons@campustimes.org.