The University’s women’s lacrosse team faced off against the Lafayette Leopards on Saturday, Feb. 14 and ended up taking the day with a sweeping 10-3 victory.
Despite the bitter cold conditions of 11 degrees, the Hawks approached the game prepared for anything.
“We’ve been outside just about everyday” said senior midfielder and co-captain Allison Stathius. “No matter how cold, we’re out here running. And the days we couldn’t be outside because of the snow, we prepared inside.”
Well prepared for the weather, the Hawks were able to overcome the chill and be aggresive on the field.
“We really dominated the day because every unit really did what they needed to do,” said Head Coach Denise Wescott. “Early in the game we were getting good opportunities, but didn’t take good shots. When we did finally take better shots, it gave us more confidence.”
After the offensive line started to heat up and pulled the Hawks ahead by two, the team added four more unanswered goals.
Possession really contributed to MU’s success throughout the day. Westcott said, “We controlled the ball off the faceoff too, which was key.”
The Hawks won nine out of the 15 faceoffs, giving the offense an abundant amount of opportunities. MU took advantage of this fact and outshot their opponent, 20-14.
“I don’t think it could have been any better. It all clicked today between the attack, midfield and defense,” Stathius said. The senior went four-for-four on the day making her the game’s leading scorer.
In addition to Stathius, senior midfielder and co-captain, Emily Barbieri put up four assists to contribute to the offensive effort as well.
The Hawks raked in a total of 25 groundballs throughout the game.
Although the offense was dominant, the defense were just as effective as they prevented the Leopards from making any real threats.
Junior midfielder Kristina Vangeli caused four turnovers and four groundballs, giving the Hawks more offensive opportunities. Junior defender Eva Irwin racked in two caused turnovers and two groundballs as well.
Irwin said, “We have this flow on defense where we pressure out constantly to confuse the attack and we feel comfortable to go out there and take risks because we know we have each others back.”
It was evident that the Lafayette’s offense struggled against the Hawks defense throughout the game.
“This is probably the best team we’ve had since I’ve been here and I’m really pumped for the rest of the season,” Irwin said.
Lafayette had won the last three matchups against MU, putting the Hawks last win over the Leopards in 2011. But the 10-3 final score brought a respectable win for the Hawks.
The game marked a solid non-conference victory for the Hawks as they start out their 2015 season.
The women will host their second home game of the season on Wednesday, Feb. 18 as they host the Drexel Dragons at 3 pm. This will be Drexel’s first game of the 2015 season.
