It may not have the fans that basketball does. Its games may not be as hyped as football’s are. But if you are looking for victories, the Georgetown women’s lacrosse team is a good place to start.
Fresh off of a 13-5 (5-0 Big East) season and a trip to the NCAA quarterfinals (they fell to Dartmouth), Head Coach Ricky Fried’s squad will be looking to turn the corner this season and make it to the Memorial Day Final Four.
The 2006 Hoyas will be without seven of their 2005 starters. Gone is midfielder Allison Chambers, who scored 35 goals to go along with 17 assists in her senior campaign. Also departed are third-leading scorer Catherine Elbe, who contributed 45 points to the 2005 Big East champs, and Sarah Oliphant, who had 39 points of her own. The fifth-leading scorer, attacker Hollis Pica (23 points), also received her diploma.
It wasn’t just the attack that lost key members, either. idfielders Lauryn Bernier (21 points) and Lauren Redler (16 points), both starters, have finished their collegiate careers. Starting goalie Sarah Robinson and her 8.6 goals-against average also graduated.
Despite the losses, however, the Hoyas return plenty of firepower and boast nine promising freshmen. Back on the Hilltop is junior attacker and leading scorer Coco Stanwick. With 59 goals and 20 assists, Stanwick led the 2005 Hoyas in scoring by a healthy margin – 79 points to Chambers’ 52 – and earned her fair share of national accolades. She won Big East attacker of the year, was named a first-team all-American by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association, was mentioned as a candidate for the prestigious Tewaarton Trophy, and was named Big East player of the week four times.
The compliments keep rolling in for Stanwick as the nation prepares for the 2006 campaign, as she was recently named pre-season Big East offensive player of the year.
The only returning attacker, Stanwick will need to take her already formidable game to another level. But according to Fried, that is just the logical next step.
“She has a real strong understanding of what we want to do on offense, as far as positioning, as far as where to go, and she relates to the other players very well,” Fried says. “[She doesn’t exude] the typical star aura; she knows she’s good, but she doesn’t need to talk about herself. . She contributes, she involves everyone else on the team, she understand that without everyone else on the team, she isn’t going to be successful.”
Joining her on attack this season should be junior Brittany Baschuk, who scored eight goals in limited time a year ago, junior Sara Zorzi, sophomore Caitlin Sotell, junior Schuyler Sutton and high school all-American freshman Bunny O’Reilly.
Though none of the five have much collegiate experience, they should come together over the course of the season to complement Stanwick and provide a potent offensive attack.
Still, Fried realizes that the offense will be a work in progress. In graduating so many offensive players, “you lose that continuity, you lose that leadership, you lose that athleticism, and that hurts,” he says. “It’s going to take us a little while to get into the flow of things offensively.”
The midfield position will be just as inexperienced as the attack will be. Senior Lucy Poole, senior Paige Andrews, sophomore Patty Piotrowicz, sophomore Zan Morley and the most game-ready freshmen, Bridget Noon and Jordan Trautman, have between them a single collegiate start. To have an impact on either end of the field, the midfielders will need to do some on-the-job training this season.
Defensively, the Hoyas promise to be more than capable of keeping their opponents in check. Junior Chloe Asselin, a third-team all-American a year ago and the preseason Big East defensive player of the year, leads an impressive crew of Hoya defenders.
Joining Asselin as the key defenders are senior starters Kristin Smith and Stephanie Zodtner, junior Laura Cipro, who started each of the 11 games for which she was available in 2005, and junior Alison Rogers, starter of seven games a year ago. Maggie Koch, a junior, will likely be Georgetown’s mainstay in goal.
Junior Megan Ellis, sophomore Karla Herrera, sophomore Amelia Wesselink and freshman Margot Ellis should also figure into the Hoyas’ defensive plans. Fried says he looks for the Georgetown defense to be even stronger than last year’s version.
As far as the second-year head coach is concerned, 2006 should be a good opportunity to build upon his rookie campaign. “Each year is a little different because the teams are totally different,” he says. “Last year I came into the situation where we have seven seniors, so that helped me tremendously getting acclimated to the college game.
“This year I know I’m in charge, they know I’m in charge, so it’s a little different. This is my first recruiting class, the freshmen coming in. So I think the biggest difference will be dealing with personalities. It’s a totally different team.”
The Hoyas have run the table to win the Big East in four out of the last five seasons, and Fried’s squad can certainly anticipate a large target on their collective backs. No. 14 Syracuse and newcomer No. 15 Loyola (Md.) look to be Georgetown’s most significant competitors.
Challenges won’t come just from the Big East, however. Ranked No. 10 by Lacrosse Magazine, Georgetown faces seven of the nine teams ranked ahead of them, including No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Boston University, No. 4 Virginia, No. 5 Princeton, and No. 7 North Carolina.
Still, make no mistake about it: Fried and the Hoyas are aiming high. “Our goal is obviously to win the national championship,” he says, “but first [we have to] win the Big East, get to the tournament and then play those four games and hopefully be there in the end on Memorial Day weekend.”
To get there, Georgetown will need to prepare itself both mentally and physically for the rigors of a long season.
“The biggest thing we have to be able to deal with is the highs and lows of a season and a game,” Fried says. “[We need to be better at] letting go of the mistakes we make and moving on to the next play, to focus on the positives.
“I think when it comes down to the playoffs, there’s a little bit of luck that becomes involved, but we need to make some of our own luck. .We have to play at a consistent level, and I think the biggest thing is when we’re not playing our best, find a way to work the game in our favor.”
In addition to a growing offense and a veteran defense, Fried looks forward to newfound fan support to help push his team toward its ultimate goal.
“I think the biggest thing that’s going to help us is that we’re right in the center of campus [at the ulti-Sport Facility], so hopefully we’ll get some more students out at the games [and have a] little more of a college atmosphere,” Fried says.
They may need work on offense. They may need to gel more on defense. Their goalie may not be ready right away. But with the impressive level of young talent combined with standouts Stanwick and Asselin, not to mention Fried’s maturation as a coach, the intense early season practices may be a good indicator that, come May, the Hoyas may be ready to achieve their goal and emerge victorious from the Final Four.
