By Zachary Waltz
Staff Writer
The women’s lacrosse team finished its season with back-to-back losses to UMass, (15-2), and La Salle (10-6), dropping their final record to 6-11 overall with a 0-7 record in the Atlantic 10.
Head Coach Ryan Lynn said the UMass game was a tough matchup, and the team lost confidence in its ability to score early in the game.
“UMass is always a very tough game for us,” Lynn said. “I think that we struggled to get on the board quickly, and we lost a lot of confidence in the first half.”
Lynn said the Bonnies came out strong against the Explorers in the first half, but they became stagnant in the second, which cost them their momentum and the game.
“We were fired up because it was senior day, but we had a little bit of a lull in the second half, and it really ate away at us,” Lynn said. “It all comes down to playing a solid 60 minutes. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do that.”
Lynn said he was not pleased with how the year ended, but the team was playing good lacrosse at the end of the season.
“We ended badly,” Lynn said. “The last three games of the season we started to battle and accomplished some of the things we set forth as our main goals like ground balls and draw control. The thing is that it didn’t show on the scoreboard.”
Lynn said, in retrospect, the team learned important lessons this season.
“We learned a quick start to the season doesn’t necessarily forecast what is ahead,” Lynn said. “We also learned that the scoreboard isn’t the ultimate deciding factor in a game. You can’t let losses defeat your energy and attitude because it becomes contagious, which makes it twice as hard to battle and get back to winning ways.”
Lynn said that the girls need to work hard over the summer to come back and play better.
“We have to focus on the summer,” Lynn said. “The summer workout packets will go out this week, and they’ll start their workouts. We need to focus on conditioning, stick work, and all the fundamentals. That way, when we come back in the fall, we can work some of those fundamental skills to make better players and improve the offense and defense. Another important factor is getting work in while we have the ability to be outside. It’s frustrating with the facilities we have because we only have a small pocket of time to play outside. It really affects our play in the preseason and even going into the regular season.”
Lynn said the incoming freshman class is very talented, and the team will also have a lot of returning key players.
“The freshmen coming in are a very strong class,” Lynn said. “We also have most of our top people returning. However, we have a little bit of a setback on the defensive end because we’re losing two starters that have started for a number of years, so we’ll have to figure out who fits in well down there. We’re hoping that the fundamentals will help us build up to knock off some teams or at least be a little more competitive in the A-10.”
