By Zach Waltz
Staff Writer
After dropping all three of its games last week, the women’s lacrosse team will head to George Washington today for a 4 p.m. duel. Coach Ryan Lynn said the team will match up well against the Colonials (7-5, 2-1), but the Bonnies (5-7, 0-3) will have a hard time adjusting to the turf field, which plays much differently than grass.
“It’s a little tough because the game will be on turf, and we’ve been practicing on grass,” Lynn said. “However, it doesn’t hurt us as far as the major concepts of offense and defense. Fielding ground balls on the grass should be harder, so we should do fine in that aspect. Our practices have had heavy emphasis on tougher in the draw circle and fielding ground balls.”
The team’s next matchup is against the Richmond Spiders (4-9, 1-2) Sunday at noon. Lynn said Richmond will match up against the Bonnies a lot like George Washington, and the key to success for the Bonnies right now is the basics.
“Everything for us right now is getting back to the fundamentals and us being able to maintain possessions and gain possessions off of their mistakes and turnovers,” Lynn said. “Any ball that hits the ground, we have to be after it and keep it in our offensive end.”
The final game of the week is home against the Detroit Mercy Titans (2-11) on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Lynn said the Bonnies should have an advantage because they are used to playing on a grass field, whereas the Titans are not.
“Detroit was a win for us last year, but we have to come out firing,” Lynn said. “They’re used to playing on turf, and we’ve got them on grass. This is probably the first time they’ve been on grass, so we have to use that towards our advantage.”
The Bonnies lost to the Temple Owls (8-4, 3-0) last Friday by a final score of 18-3. Lynn said the team needs to be better at cashing in on their opportunities because many possessions are wasted on turnovers.
“Our effort is 100 percent there,” Lynn said. “It’s just getting after some of the smaller opportunities, and we need every possession possible. We really need to look to control the ball on the offensive end. We can do that by focusing on those key categories, like ground balls and draw controls, that allow us to have long possessions.”
Sophomore attacker Jenna Schlagenhauf, junior midfielder Erin Thomas and senior attacker Marybeth Madia each had one goal. Freshman midfielder Carrie Kubasta had the Bonnies’ only assist on the night.
The team’s next game culminated in a 13-7 loss to the Saint Joseph’s Hawks (7-5, 1-2) on Sunday. Freshman midfielder LeighAnn Stauffer tallied two goals for the Bonnies. Thomas, sophomore attacker Mackenzie Jordan, junior defender Lily Timilin, junior attacker Lauren Michaels and freshman attacker Mikayla Place also contributed goals. Sophomore midfielder Taylor Ventre led the Bonnies with two assists.
Lynn said turnovers were the Bonnies’ biggest downfall in their home opener.
“Saint Joe’s was our first game on the grass here at home,” Lynn said. “We were really excited about that after we practiced on it for three days straight. In the first half, we were battling. The only statistic that was out of our favor was turnovers. In the second half, we came out flat and lost control of a lot of possessions.”
The team’s final game this past week against the Bucknell Bison (3-11) ended in a 17-9 loss. Schlagenhauf led the team with three goals, raising her team-leading total to 29 on the season. Jordan and Madia both scored two goals. Schlagenhauf and junior midfielder Elspeth McGarry both had two assists.
Lynn said the offense struggled to maintain possession, which led to the defense being overloaded.
“Draw controls and ground balls were a major issue,” Lynn said. “I think our offense played a very solid game, but we never maintained possession for a long time. All the goals were quick goals, which we needed because we were behind, but we needed to slow it down so the defense didn’t have to play as much and conserve energy.”
