April 25, 2011

Patriot League Women's Lacrosse Weekly Release (4.25.11)

Center Valley, Pa. — The Colgate Raiders had to wait about 2 1/2 hours Saturday after their 20-7 win over Bucknell to find out their fate.

As soon as Lehigh upended Navy, the Raiders were rejoicing in Hamilton, N.Y., because that is where they’ll remain throughout the 2011 Patriot League Tournament.

Locking up the No. 1 seed, Colgate (8-6, 5-1) will face American (9-7, 3-3) in the first semifinal at 4 p.m.

Lehigh (10-6, 5-1 Patriot League) will be the No. 2 seed and Navy (12-5, 4-2) is third, which means the two teams will rematch at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Both semifinal games can be viewed on Patriot League All-Access.

The championship game, set for 3 p.m. Saturday, will be telecast live on CBS Sports Network.

The rematch of Lehigh and Navy was made possible by offense of midfielder Lauren Dykstra and the defense by back-up goalie MaryLeah DiNisco. With the 15-13 win in a game that was televised on CBS Sports Network, Lehigh denied Navy the chance to be the No. 1 seed.

Dykstra scored four goals to move her season total to 68, the most in the Patriot League this season. She was named the League’s Offensive Player of the Week.

DiNisco, who came off the bench to take over at goalkeeper when the score was tied at 8-8, was named the Defensive Player of the Week.

Colgate’s Courtney Miller was named the Midfield Player of the Week and Lafayette’s Ana White was the Rookie of the Week.

Team Notebooks
AMERICAN The Eagles won easily in its two non-League games, beating up on Liberty 23-3 and Davidson 23-5 to close out the regular season. Kimberly Collins and Bernadette Maher led the Eagles, scoring a combined 14 goals in the two wins. Collins had eight goals and two assists and Maher had six goals and an assist. American will be the No. 4 seed in the tournament and will face No. 1-seeded Colgate at 4 p.m. Thursday in the Patriot League Semifinals.

BUCKNELL The Bison closed their season with a pair of losses, including a 20-7 defeat at Colgate Saturday. Bucknell also lost 16-7 to Columbia Wednesday. The Bison finish their season at 3-13, boasting four 20-goal scorers, including three underclassmen. Sophomore Madison Hurwitz and freshman Ali Carey each scored 29 goals, and freshman Katelyn Miller had 24 goals. Senior Julia Braun finished with 27 goals. Keeper Alyssa DeLorenz tallied 205 saves in 952 minutes.

COLGATE The Raiders were held in check for the first 17 minutes of their contest with Bucknell, leading by only three goals with 13:21 left in the first half, but Colgate scored 10 straight goals, including eight in the first half to put the Bison away. Kate O’Sullivan scored three of her four goals during the run and Kate Bergstrom had one of her five goals. Courtney Miller also had a hat trick and two assists. Colgate locked up the No. 1 seed and will host fourth-seeded American in the Patriot League Semifinals at 4 p.m. Thursday.

HOLY CROSS The Crusaders closed out their regular season with a wild 18-16 win over Lafayette Saturday in a game that featured five lead changes and eight ties. After it was tied at 12-12, Holy Cross strung together the biggest run by either team Saturday, scoring seven straight goals in less than nine minutes to make it 17-12 with 4:56 left. Kat Sutton scored three of her five goals and Meg O’Leary had two of her three during the run. Sutton finished the season with a team-best 35 goals.

LAFAYETTE The Leopards’ late rally fell short as a 7-0 run by Holy Cross in a span of nine minutes fueled an 18-16 win Saturday. Addie Godfrey scored five goals in the Leopards’ season finale, and senior Michaela Corn had four goals. Lafayette’s top three offensive threats from 2011 — Godfrey, Ana White and Jessica Rothstein — are all underclassmen. Godfrey, a sophomore led the team with 36 goals, and White, a freshman, led the team with 44 points (29 goals, 15 assists).

LEHIGH The Mountain Hawks rallied in the second half to shut down Navy and clinch the No. 2 seed with a 15-13 win Saturday in Annapolis, Md., in a game telecast on CBS Sports Network. Lauren Dykstra scored four goals and Allison Thomas had three, while back-up goalie MaryLeah DiNisco came in when the game was tied at 8-8 and recorded seven saves to keep the Mountain Hawks up by at least two for most of the second half. Dykstra improved her goal total on the season to 68, first in the nation, by scoring in her 48th straight game. Lehigh is now 4-0 against the Mids during the regular season. They are, however, winless in two postseason games against Navy, including the 2010 championship game. Lehigh will travel to Hamilton, N.Y., for the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament where it will have a rematch with Navy at 7 p.m. Thursday.

NAVY The Midshipmen struggled against Lehigh early, tied it at 8-8 and fell behind again, eventually losing 15-13 Saturday in Annapolis, Md., in a game telecast on CBS Sports Network. The Mids missed out on a chance to host the 2011 Patriot League Tournament as they controlled their destiny heading into the contest, but Lehigh used a 5-1 run to build a 13-9 lead and the defense took over from there. Jasmine DePompeo still scored five goals in the game, but she was denied a few times late in the game by Lehigh’s back-up goalie MaryLeah DiNisco. Navy has won four League games in four straight years. The Mids finish the regular season with two 40-goal scorers and six players with 20 or more. DePompeo tallied a team-high 77 points with 47 goals and 30 assists, and Aimee Gennaro had 45 goals and 14 assists. Kathy Young had 33 goals and Katrina Nietsch had 27, while Caitlin Mandrin Hill had 25 goals and 28 assists. Molly Hamilton also scored 20. The Mids will be the third seed in the Patriot League Tournament and will face Lehigh in a rematch at 7 p.m. Thursday in Hamilton, N.Y.

Patriot League Notebook
Colgate to host League Tournament
The Raiders were stuck scoreboard watching after they moved to 5-1 in the Patriot League Saturday, but it worked out for them. With Navy’s loss to Lehigh, the Raiders earned the No. 1 seed for the fourth time since the tournament began in 2001.

Colgate hosted in back-to-back years in 2004 and 2005, and they hosted again in 2009. The Raiders have not lost on Tyler’s Field in the postseason. They are 6-0, winning three of their four Patriot League titles. The Raiders, who have more Patriot League Tournament wins (9) than any other team, will look to win their third title in four years. Colgate is the only team to have qualified for the tournament all 11 years.

American will be making its eighth appearance in the tournament, but its first since 2008. Lehigh qualified for the fifth straight year and Navy made it four straight.

Dykstra does it all
Lehigh senior midfielder Lauren Dykstra has been all over the map in the Patriot League. She’s been an Offensive Player of the Year; she’s been a Defensive Player of the Year. She’s also been a Rookie of the Year, and in 2011, she has a chance to pick up an unprecedented fourth major award.

With the addition of the Midfield Player of the Year award, Dykstra could make it four in a row after leading the League in goals during the regular season with 68.

Dykstra now has 253 and is creating distance between herself and the former League record holder in career goals, Lehigh’s Jill Altshuler (1993-96). She is now 11 ahead of the former record, and she’s approaching another one of Altshuler’s long-standing records. With 11 more points, she can tie the League’s all-time points leader at 308.

She’s also moving up the NCAA’s all-time list, trailing sixth place by three goals. With six more goals, she can move into fifth place. The record for career goals is 289 (Gail Cummings, Temple, 1985-88).

Dykstra has been hard to stop and has scored in 48 straight games, which is the second longest active streak the nation behind Grace Gavin, of Loyola of Maryland. Gavin owns the longest active streak at 55 games. The NCAA record for goals in consecutive games is 69, held by Denver’s Ali Flurry (from March 11, 2007, to May 2, 2010).

Raider duo
Stopping one top scorer is a challenge for any women’s lacrosse team. Having to go against two is even worse.

That’s what teams have faced when playing Colgate all season, and it’s what No. 4-seeded American can expect when it faces the top-seeded Raiders at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Colleen Bubnack, who is tied for second in the League with 47 goals, has been the main threat on offense and she’s benefited from the play of midfielder Courtney Miller. The junior has scored 31 goals, but more impressive for Miller is her 30 assists, 51 draw controls and 25 groundballs. Her midfield play has allowed the Raiders’ offense, which averages a Patriot League-best 14.21 goals per game, to put the pressure on opposing defenses.

They did just that in their regular-season matchup against American, jumping out to an 8-2 lead.

That lead wasn’t safe, though, as worst defense to qualify (allowed 13.07 goals per game) allowed American to go on a 10-5 run to cut it to 13-12 with 8:01 left. Colgate scored twice in the final 1:15 to survive.

White Out
Lafayette’s season was not one to remember from a win-loss standpoint, but it is one to look at a wonder what next year will bring. With arguably two of the brightest young players in the League, the Leopards leave 2011 with just three wins, but they will retain plenty of talent.

Ana White leads a trio of Leopards into next season after her stellar play in the midfield all season. She leads the nation in draw controls with 5.56 per game. She’s also sixth in caused turnovers (2.19) and 19th in groundballs (2.81).

White, who had 29 goals and 15 assists, will rejoin sophomore Addie Godfrey, who led the team with 36 goals and seven assists, and sophomore Jessica Rothstein (25 goals, six assists).

2011 Patriot League Championship to be televised on CBS Sports Network
CBS 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, at Tyler’s Field in Hamilton, N.Y.

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 391 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 391 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 NCAA Tournament faster than the three years it has taken Navy. 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 team became just the second women’s team in any sport at the Naval Academy to earn a Division I NCAA Tournament bid.

 Patriot League Women’s Lacrosse Weekly Awards