April 7, 2008

With the Patriot League Tournament just around the corner, several key League games will take place this weekend. The same could be said about last weekend, as Lehigh defeated Navy and Colgate defeated Bucknell. Lehigh's Inneke Carmola, Kelsy Ferris and Jen Ingalls earned weekly honors, while Navy's Meg Decker did as well.

Patriot League Women's Lacrosse Release - 4.7.08

Offensive Player of the Week
Inneke Carmola, Lehigh So., A, Amsterdam, N.Y.
Carmola helped lead the Mountain Hawks to a crucial League victory at home against Navy. The 2008 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year scored four goals and tallied two assists during the game. She scored two goals in each half, including two in the second-half that came during a decisive 9-0 run that put the game in Lehigh's control.

Defensive Player of the Week
Jen Ingalls, Lehigh So., D, Moorestown, N.J.
Ingalls earns her first weekly award of the season following an impressive effort in Lehigh's win over Navy. The sophomore scooped up five groundballs and had five draw controls in the 15-12 victory over the Mids. She also led a stingy defensive unit that held the League's top-ranked scoring offense to just three second-half goals to preserve the victory.

Goalkeeper of the Week
Kelsy Ferris, Lehigh So., Annapolis, Md.
Ferris had a solid game between the pipes on Saturday as the Mountain Hawks defeated Navy to move into a tie for second place in the Patriot League standings. Ferris allowed 12 goals against in the game, but only three occurred in the second half. She had nine saves and a save percentage of 0.429 for the game as well.

Rookie of the Week
Meg Decker, navy Fr., M, Catonsville, Md.
Decker earns her second rookie of the week award this season following two strong games last week. In Tuesday's game against American, Decker scored four goals, including the game-winning goal in the 13-12 win. At Lehigh on Saturday, Decker scored three goals. The freshman is currently ranked third in the country in scoring by a freshman.

Honorable Mention

Lauren Dykstra, Lehigh
Fr., A, Mendham, N.J.
Dykstra scored three goals, all in the second half, in Lehigh's 15-12 win over Navy on Saturday.

Patriot League Notebook

Newcomers
The Patriot League welcomes two new head coaches this year. Caline McHenry takes over at Bucknell, while Cindy Timchal will be starting her inaugural year as head coach at Navy. McHenry was a standout student-athlete at Duke University, where in 2005 she was a First-Team All-American and a semifinalist for the Tewaaraton Trophy, which is awarded annually to the top player in the nation. Timchal enters her 26th season of coaching, after splitting the first 25 between Northwestern University and the University of Maryland. At Maryland, Timchal led her teams to seven-consecutive and eight overall national championships, and is currently the all-time wins leader in Division I history with 344.

All-Time Leader
Lafayette senior Madalyn Booth continued her assault on the record books after scoring three goals and recording five assists in two games last week. The senior now has 115 assists, which extends her lead on the Patriot League career list. Booth has also moved into sixth place on the career points list with 234, and sits just outside the top 10 career goals list with 122. Joining Booth in the hunt for the top 10 career goals list is Lehigh junior Sara MacIntyre, who recorded her 100th career goal in a win over Lafayette, and now has 111 for her career. American senior Jackie Lane is also in the hunt for the career points list with 155 for her career.

Quotable
"The draw controls in the second half were huge for us. Lauren Dykstra taking those draws for us was an absolute huge part of the outcome. We switched to a particular defense in that second half and that was a much better improvement over the first half. We moved into it quickly and were able to slow them down. Kelsy (Ferris) made some big saves in that second half as well."
Lehigh Head Coach Liz Brode Ota after the win over Navy.

2008 Patriot League Tournament
The 2008 Patriot League Women's Lacrosse Championship will once again use the two-day format that gives a day of rest in between the semifinals and the championship game for the top four teams in the Patriot League. The tournament will be held at the highest seed on Friday, April 25 and Sunday, April 27.

Team Notebooks

American
The Eagles dropped a pair of games last weekly, falling in League action to Navy and non-League action to Virginia Tech. Senior Lauren Aksionoff led the offensive attack with six goals, one assist, one groundball and three draw controls. Defender Tahra Johnson had eight draw controls and three groundballs in the two games as well. The Eagles will look to get back on the winning track when they travel to Richmond and Holy Cross next week.

Bucknell
The Bison had an 0-2 week to drop to 5-5 overall on the season. On Tuesday, the Bison fell 16-12 to Drexel and then fell 14-12 at home to Colgate on Saturday. Junior Bonnie Buechel had a strong week defensively for the Bison, scoring three goals and tallying six groundballs and seven draw controls in the two games. Freshman Julia Braun scored four goals and notched four assists in two games. The Bison travel to Navy on Saturday in a League game.

Colgate
The Raiders continued to move through Patriot League play without a loss when they defeated Bucknell by a score of 14-12 on Saturday. Sophomore Brie Moran scored four goals and dished out two assists in the victory, while Junior Molly Carroll scored a goal and scooped up three groundballs. Freshman Colleen Bubnack recorded one assists as well, which came on the game-winning goal. The Raiders host Lehigh on Saturday in a key Patriot League matchup.

Holy Cross
The Crusaders split a pair of games last week, as they fell to No. 19 Yale and defeated Lafayette. Senior Nikki Bolduc recorded totals of six goals, one assist, one groundball and six draw controls in the two games to lead the Crusaders. Freshman Meg O'Leary had weekly totals of three goals, two groundballs, three draw controls and one game-winning goal. The Crusaders will host Fairfield on Wednesday and will be fighting for their playoff lives against Amerian on Sat.

Lafayette
The Leopards continued their offensive struggles as they dropped three games last week against Marist (22-4), Iona (13-8) and Holy Cross (19-8). Senior Madalyn Booth recorded weekly totals of six goals, seven assists and 13 points to lead the Leopards. Lafayette, which has officially been eliminated from the Patriot Leauge Tournament, will travel to La Salle and host Villanova this week.

Lehigh
The Mountain Hawks picked up a critical League victory against Navy on Saturday, moving them into a second-place tie with American at 3-1. Trailing 9-4 at the half, the Mountain Hawks exploded for an 11-goal second half to put away the Mids. Sophomore Inneke Carmola scored four goals and dished out two assists, while Sara MacIntyre pitched in with three goals of her own. Freshman sensation Lauren Dykstra had three goals and one assists, with all of her goals coming in the decisive second half. Lehigh will face off against Colgate this week in a battle for first-place in the League.

Navy
The Mids had an up-and-down week as they picked up a key League win over American on Tuesday, and fell to Lehigh on Saturday. Sophomore Erin Rawlick scored six goals and handed out three assists in the two games, while also adding six groundballs and nine draw controls. Freshman Meg Decker scored seven goals, including the game winner against Amerian. The Mids will host Howard and Bucknell this week.