By Erin Izydorczak
Staff Writer
The lacrosse team lost in the last three Atlantic 10 conference games, but it is showing a lot of improvement, according to Coach Ryan Lynn.
“I think we have become better as a team. We have battled to the very last second in each of the game,” Lynn said.
In the first game against Saint Joseph’s University, the Bonnies lost 11-7. Senior midfielder Lily Timlin received a pass from freshman midfielder Taylor Fallon to put the Bonnies in the lead less than a minute into the game.
Then, the duo of sophomore midfielder LeighAnn Stauffer and sophomore attacker Mikayla Place added two more goals, and Fallon scored off a free position shot to make the score 6-4.
In the second half, Fallon, Timlin and Place each contributed an unassisted goal; however, the goals weren’t enough to get the win.
Senior goalie Sara Schlagenhauf made four saves to keep the team in the game.
On Sunday, St. Bonaventure faced La Salle University and lost 13-6.
The Bonnies came out hard in the beginning, and Fallon, with an assist from freshman attacker Gabrielle Bradley, scored the first goal.
Then later on the first half, Stauffer, Place, and sophomore midfielder Mary Maestri each scored a goal with assists from Stauffer, Place and another from Bradley.
In the second half, Fallon and Timlin both scored another goal. Overall, Schlagenhauf made nine saves.
Afterward, the team traveled to Pittsburgh to face Duquesne University on Thursday and lost 15-7.
In the first half, Stauffer scored two, and Place and Bradley each scored one with assists from freshman midfielder Scarlet Jaworski, Bradley and freshman attacker/midfielder Maddison Appel.
For the last 30 minutes of the game, Place scored two unassisted. Meanwhile, Bradley assisted Maestri’s goal.
“The first ten minutes they were primarily on defense with one man down,” Lynn said. “With the added pressure, the defense realized that they couldn’t make a mistake. So they relied on each other in order to get the stop and the ball back.”
On offense, the top scorer Stauffer has reached 26 goals and one assist so far in the season and is pretty proud of her team as a whole.
“We started off pretty strong then I think the little things like the passing and the catching hurt us,” Stauffer said. “We let them score four goals at time, and we couldn’t catch up. However, the defense holds it together for us and if they didn’t, the score would be completely different for us. The best part about our team is that no one wants to give up on the field.”
The Bonnies are set to finish out the season by playing University of Massachusetts on Friday, and they are scheduled to play their first game at home on Sunday against Richmond University at noon.
Currently Massachusetts is number one and is undefeated in the A-10 conference with five wins. Also, Richmond’s team conference record is 4-1 and is ranked third in the conference.
“We got to do the fundamentals correct, and that is how we are going to knock off teams like UMass who is ranked 10th in the NCAA,” Lynn said.
For the last two games, the team is determined to never give up no matter who they play.
“(We’re) going out there and has nothing to lose,” Stauffer said. “We are going to play a good team we are going to fight for everything just like the way we have been the rest of the season.”
