March 1, 2011

Patriot League Women's Lacrosse Weekly Release (2.28.11) 

Center Valley, Pa. — If there was any question to whether the Navy Midshipmen would struggle without the 2010 Patriot League leading scorer, it’s been answered.

Navy has scored 71 goals in five games (14.20 avg.) to lead the Patriot League, and sophomore Jasmine DePompeo and freshman Aimee Gennaro have led the way. DePompeo has scored 16 goals and nine assists to lead the Patriot League with 25 points, while Gennaro is right behind her with 24 points (17 goals, seven assists).

The Mids have run out to a 5-0 start in the overall standings and have now won 25 of their last 29 regular-season games dating back to 2009.

Gennaro, who was last week’s Rookie of the Week, stepped up to be named this week’s Offensive Player of the Week. Teammate Claire Olechowski, a sophomore, was named the Defensive Player of the Week.

The Mids will be tested this week with a contest against No. 2 Northwestern at 7 p.m. Thursday in Annapolis, Md.

The Wildcats are 3-0 to start the season, winning contests against No. 10 Notre Dame (14-11), No. 3 North Carolina (7-6 in overtime) and No. 11 Vanderbilt (17-6).

For Navy coach Cindy Timchal, it’s a matchup against her former team — a school that she led to the NCAA Tournament in 1983. She coached the Wildcats for nine seasons before moving on to Maryland where she won eight national titles. Maryland is ranked ahead of Northwestern at No. 1.

With a win, the Mids will likely move into the national poll after receiving votes in the latest IWLCA Coaches poll.

Lafayette was the last team to open its season, playing two games last week and dropping both by a one-goal margin.

Freshman Ana White had a strong week in the midfield for the Leopards and was named the Rookie of the Week, and American’s Emily Stankiewicz was named the Midfield Player of the Week.

Team Notebooks

American The Eagles went 1-1 last week, defeating George Washington 17-8 Wednesday before falling to UMBC 13-10 Saturday. American limited George Washington to four goals in each half and easily cruised to the win. Kimberly Collins led the way with five goals and an assist, while Bernadette Maher, Emily Stankiewicz and Chiara Speziale all netted hat tricks. UMBC jumped out to a 9-5 lead shortly after halftime and withstood an American 5-2 run that cut it to 12-10 with 10:23 left. Lisa Schaaf led the Eagles with three goals and Stankiewicz and Samantha Marshall each scored twice. American will take to the road for the first time this season with trips to Richmond Wednesday (4 p.m.) and Old Dominion Saturday (1 p.m.).

Bucknell The Bison gave up six second-half goals to Robert Morris to drop their only contest last week. Robert Morris won 9-5 in Lewisburg, Pa., Sunday, holding the Bison to just two goals in the second half. The two teams played to a 3-3 tie after one half, but three consecutive goals helped Robert Morris take control. Julia Braun led the Bison with two goals, and freshman Ali Carey had a goal and an assist. Bucknell will travel to State College, Pa., for a 4 p.m. contest against Penn State Wednesday. The Bison also will travel to Philadelphia for a 1 p.m. game against Drexel.

Colgate The Raiders continued to pour in the goals, scoring 20 more in a 20-14 win over Vermont Sunday. Colgate has scored 51 goals in three games. The defense, however, has given up 48 goals. Colleen Bubnack led the Raiders against Vermont with six goals and three assists, while Katie Sullivan had five goals. Kate Bergstrom added two goals and four assists and Amanda O’Sullivan had two goals and three assists. Bubnack leads the Raiders and is ranked third in the Patriot League after three games with 13 goals and six assists. Colgate will return to the field with a road contest at Cornell at 4 p.m. Wednesday and a home game against New Hampshire at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Holy Cross The Crusaders went 1-1 last week, falling 8-5 to New Hampshire Wednesday and beating Yale 12-5 Saturday. Taylor Zebrowski led the Crusaders in the loss with two goals, and she scored two goals and two assists in Holy Cross’ win. Cassie Rudden had three goals and two assists, and Sara Hennessey also had a hat trick as Holy Cross took a 7-3 first half lead. A 5-2 edge in the second closed out the win for the Crusaders. Holy Cross keeper Amy Martin recorded eight saves in the two games to move into the top 10 of the Patriot League’s all-time saves list. Holy Cross will compete at Fairfield at 4 p.m. Tuesday and at Boston College at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Lafayette The Leopards opened their season with two one-goal losses, falling 13-12 in double overtime to Marist Wednesday and 9-8 to La Salle Saturday. Against Marist, Ana White, who had four goals, scored with 37 seconds left to tie it and force overtime, and after Marist took the lead again in overtime, Addie Godfrey, who had three goals, scored with 1:20 left to force a second overtime. Marist scored with 1:09 left to win it. Godfrey scored twice and White had another goal in the loss to La Salle. Lafayette led three times in the wild back-and-forth game, but fell behind with 9 seconds left in the first half and trailed the rest of the way. Lafayette will travel to Monmouth for a 3 p.m. contest Wednesday and host Davidson at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Lehigh The Mountain Hawks fell to 1-1 overall with a 10-9 double overtime loss to Delaware Saturday. Lauren Dykstra scored three goals and had an assist as the Mountain Hawks rallied from an early 6-0 deficit to tie the game at 8-8 with 15:38. Delaware took the lead seven minutes later only to have Lehigh’s Kelly Draper tie it at 9-9 with 2:56 left. The two squads played a scoreless first overtime and were 11 seconds away from a third overtime when Morgan Leonard scored to end it. Lehigh keeper Alex Fitzpatrick made 14 saves, including one in the second overtime. Lehigh will host Saint Joseph’s at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and travel to Florida for a 1 p.m. contest Saturday.
Navy The Midshipmen remain the League’s lone undefeated squad, improving to 5-0 with two wins last week. The Mids handled Bryant 22-7 Friday and held off High Point 11-8 Sunday. Jasmine DePompeo scored five goals and had two assists against Bryant, while Molly Hamilton, Aimee Gennaro and Kathy Young all netted four goals. Caitlin Mandrin Hill had a goal and four assists. Gennaro added another four goals in the Mids win over High Point, and Young scored twice. Mandrin Hill also had a goal and two assists. Navy will host No. 2 Northwestern at 7 p.m. Thursday and make its first road trip with a noon contest Saturday at Robert Morris.

Patriot League Notebook
Four for Dykstra?
Rookie of the Year. Defensive Player of the Year. Offensive Player of the Year.

Prior to this season, Lehigh senior Lauren Dykstra would have had to suit up as a goalie to add a fourth major award to her resume.

But instead, an offseason change in awards has opened up the possibility of her winning the newly created Midfield Player of the Year award. Selected as the 2011 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, Dykstra opened the season with five goals against Marist and won the inaugural Midfield Player of the Week award.

A few more of those will make a chance for four a real possibility, and she can do it without goalie pads.

Targeting 242
Lehigh midfielder Lauren Dykstra has scored eight goals in the Mountain Hawks’ first two games to move her career total to 193, which ranks seventh in Patriot League history. She is two away from taking over sixth place, four from fifth and seven from third.

Once she gets goal No. 200, she’ll be looking to pass Patricia Sutton, current Holy Cross assistant coach, who finished with 215 goals, and after that, she’ll turn toward Lehigh’s Jill Altshuler’s 242 goals. Altshuler’s record has stood for 14 seasons and Dykstra needs just 53 more goals to break the long-standing record.

And that’s not an impossible figure considering the 54 goals Dykstra scored last season. She also moved up to eighth on the Patriot League’s all-time points list with 225.

Climbing the Hill
Navy senior captain Caitlin Mandrin Hill recorded six assists in the Mids’ two wins last week to move to No. 8 on the Patriot Leagues all-time list in career assists.

She has 71 assists through five games, and if she can equal her total from last season (32), she will finish in the top four. The record for assists is 134 (Madalyn Booth, Lafayette, 2005-08), which is a bit out of reach; however, second place is only 26 assists away.

Fresh start at Navy
No Erin Rawlick? No problem for Navy.

Navy solved the problem by simply reloading.

Freshmen Aimee Gennaro and Molly Hamilton have combined with sophomores Jasmine DePompeo and Kathy Young to lead the youthful Mids to a 5-0 start.

The quartet has combined for 50 of Navy’s 71 goals in five games. Gennaro, who was honored as the Offensive Player of the Week after winning the Rookie of the Week award, leads the team with 17 goals. DePompeo has 16 goals, and Hamilton and Young have nine and eight, respectively.

They all will be tested this week as the Mids face No. 2 Northwestern at 7 p.m. Thursday.

2011 Patriot League Championship to be televised on CBS College Sports Network
CBS College Sports Network will televise at least 11 Patriot League men’s and women’s lacrosse contests during the 2011 season. In addition, CBS College Sports Network will televise the Patriot League Women’s Lacrosse championship game for the first time. The women’s championship game is slated for at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 30.

CBS College Sports Network will televise two Patriot League women’s lacrosse regular-season contests in addition to the championship. The first game features defending champion Navy hosting Colgate at noon Saturday, April 9. On Saturday, April 23, at 3 p.m., the Midshipmen welcome 2010 runner-up and regular-season champion Lehigh to Annapolis. Both contests will take place at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium

Timchal stands atop all-time NCAA lacrosse win list
After posting a 17-4 record in her 28th season as a Division I women’s lacrosse coach, Cindy Timchal has taken over sole possession of the NCAA all-time wins list. Timchal entered the 2010 season tied with Pat Genovese of William Smith, but with 384 wins, she stands alone.

Cindy Timchal became the first coach in NCAA history to lead three programs to the NCAA Tournament. Last spring marked her NCAA-best 22nd national tournament appearance. Her 384 wins are the most by any NCAA lacrosse coach, men’s or women’s, spanning all three divisions.

Only two Division I lacrosse programs have qualified for the national tournament faster than the three years it has taken the Navy women. A Timchal-led Northwestern squad in 1983 and North Carolina in 1997 each earned berths in their respective program’s second varsity season.

The Navy women’s lacrosse team became just the second women’s team in any sport at the Naval Academy to earn a Division I NCAA Tournament bid.

Navy favored in preseason poll
Fresh off their first Patriot League championship, the Navy Midshipmen were selected to win their second in the 2011 preseason poll, which is voted on by the League’s coaches and women’s lacrosse sports information directors.

Navy earned nine first-place votes and 69 points in the poll to take the top spot. Lehigh, which had four first-place votes, was second with 63 points. Colgate also had a first-place vote and 53 points. American (37) edged out Holy Cross (36) for fourth place, and Lafayette (23) and Bucknell (13) rounded out the poll.

Patriot League Women’s Lacrosse Weekly Awards 

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
AIMEE GENNARO, NAVY Fr., Attack, Havertown, Pa. 
Gennaro was last week’s Rookie of the Week and she continued her torrent offensive onslaught, scoring eight more goals last week, moving her total to 17 for the season. She also had three assists and four groundballs in Navy’s two wins that improved the Mids to 5-0. She has had multi-goal performances in all five of her games this season.

MIDFIELD PLAYER OF THE WEEK
EMILY STANKIEWICZ, AMERICAN Jr., Midfielder, Longmeadow, Mass.
Stankiewicz wins her first weekly award of the season, totaling eight groundballs, six draw controls and six caused turnovers in two games. She also scored five goals and a game-winner for American, which went 1-1 last week. Four of her draw controls and caused turnovers came in the Eagles’ 17-8 win over George Washington.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
CLAIRE OLECHOWSKI, NAVY So., Midfielder, Annapolis, Md.
Olechowski wins her first and Navy’s second Defensive Player of the Week award, helping the Mids hold its opponents to 15 goals in two games. She recorded nine groundballs and six caused turnovers in two wins. She also scored a goal.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
ANA WHITE, LAFAYETTE Fr., Midfielder, Swarthmore, Pa.
White led the Leopards in the midfield, recording five goals, seven groundballs, eight draw controls and six caused turnovers in two one-goal losses. 

HONORABLE MENTIONS
KIMBERLY COLLINS, AMERICAN So., Attack, Princeton Junction, N.J.
Collins scored six goals in two games, including five in a 17-8 win over George Washington. She also had four draw controls, two caused turnovers and a groundball. She also had an assist.

KATIE SULLIVAN, COLGATE Fr., Attack, Cockeysville, Md.
Sullivan scored five goals in Colgate’s 20-14 win over Vermont. She had the game-winner and added a groundball and a caused turnover. The five goals were a career-high and it was the seventh time she has scored multiple goals.

ANNIE BOYLAN, HOLY CROSS Sr., Midfielder, Andover, Mass.
Boylan totaled 10 groundballs, five draw controls and one caused turnover to lead Holy Cross. Eight of the groundballs came in Holy Cross’ 12-5 win over Yale. Boylan also scored three goals in the Crusaders’ two games.

ADDIE GODFREY, LAFAYETTE So., Attack, Princeton, N.J.
Godfrey scored five goals and an assist in two games for the Leopards, who lost two one-goal contests. Godfrey also had two groundballs and two draw controls.

COLLEEN BUBNACK, COLGATE Sr., Midfielder, Syracuse, N.Y.
Bubnack had six goals and three assists for the Raiders in a 20-14 win over Vermont. She also had two draw controls and one caused turnover.

KATHY YOUNG, NAVY So., Midfielder, Berwyn, Pa.
Young scored six goals and had two assists in two wins for the Mids. She also recorded four groundballs, two draw controls and two caused turnovers.