By Ryan Signorinio
Staff Writer
Despite the team having eight seniors, the St. Bonaventure University women’s lacrosse team is in the midst of a youth movement.
“It’s really integral to our success moving forward that we incorporate as many underclassmen as possible in our rotation, so that they can start to see time and they can start to get seasoned, because when the seniors leave, it’s going to be a pretty hefty hole to fill,” said second-year head coach Chelsea Rosiek, who took over the team last January.
Through the Bonnie’s first five games, the team has only managed one victory, which came over Army West Point 12-11, but has shown up well in the previous two games. The team went into halftime with a lead against Radford University and tied against Longwood University, but ended up falling behind in the second half and losing.
Rosiek said it was tough losing both games, and the main goal she has for the team this weekend is to get the lead early and retain it.
“We’ve done a great job from coming from a second-half team, where we turn on the burners, but it’s too little, too late, to a first-half team, where we’re having the lead at halftime,” Rosiek said. “It’s about maintaining that lead into the second half, so that’s the focus for this weekend. Get a lead and keep a lead.”
The team’s underclassmen have played well thus far into the season. Sophomore midfielder Rylee Arnold has two goals as does her sophomore teammate, attacker Olivia MacDonald. Freshman midfielder Hannah Nagowski and sophomore defender Kathryn Yoder have both started all five games.
Nagowski said getting more underclassmen playing time not only makes the players themselves better, but also it pushes the rest of the team to get better and fight for playing time.
“It shows that every class can contribute and put points on the board,” Nagowski said. “The seniors have done a great job of helping the freshman get used to the Division I style of play.”
Freshman midfielder Destinee Johnson said the most important thing she has learned so far from her teammates is to never take the game for granted and play each game like it is their last.
“[They’ve taught me] to not only play for yourself, but to play for the 26 girls standing beside you. Every person on our roster plays a role in our success,” said Johnson. “The seniors have truly made us feel like each and every one of us is important in rebuilding our program and becoming the team we want to be.”
For Nagowski, the seniors have taught her to play selflessly and she emphasized how much the seniors have pushed to ensure the freshman are playing their best.
“I’ve learned from them to put in 100 percent at everything we do, from lift, footwork, film assignments and practice,” Nagowski said.
Bonaventure will play its first two games at home at the Marra Athletic Fields Complex, starting Friday at 1 p.m. against Siena University and Sunday at 12 p.m. versus Robert Morris University.
Johnson called all her teammates competitors and believes that will be an advantage in the first home game.
“Robert Morris is a team we played in the fall, so it will be nice to see how we’ve grown from then to now. We competed very well against them then and expect nothing less for Sunday,” said Johnson. “Siena is more foreign to us, but with that being our first home game of the season, we will definitely have a ton of energy and come out more than ready to play.”
Rosiek said these teams are a bit of rivals, because they play both every year, and the games are typically close.
“They’re teams that we continuously play, so I think there’s a rivalry that forms naturally, because you see them every single season,” Rosiek said. “It’s not like they show up one year on your schedule, and then you don’t play them for three years.”
Nagowski is expecting the team to come out with a win as the team is excited to show the campus what her team can do in its first home game.
“I go into every game expecting a win and I know so does the team. Every win feels amazing and every loss fires us up to work harder,” Nagowski said.
signorra15@bonaventure.edu
