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US Lacrosse College Notebook
April 25, 2003
Terrier-ing It Up
Buried in the receiving votes section of this week's IWLCA Division I poll is Boston University. How the Terriers are not in the Top 20 is certainly open for debate.
Since struggling to a 2-4 start against a competitive schedule (including a 9-5 loss to top-ranked Loyola), the Terriers have ripped off eight straight wins to improve to 10-4. The streak started with a 14-12 win over 17th-ranked Old Dominion and reached eight with a 7-6 win over 11th-ranked Syracuse on Sunday.
BU's success is especially impressive when you consider the circumstances that second-year head coach Liza Shoemaker has faced. BU's conference, America East, lost four schools to the Colonial Athletic Association prior to her arrival and did not have an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament last year. Additionally, two of the Terriers' top players followed former coach Sue Murphy to the University of Richmond.
BU had to replace six starters from an 8-11 team of a year ago, but they've been able to do that. Five freshmen have starting roles, including Mary Beth Miller who has a team-best 34 goals. Sophomore Alyssa Trudel (28g, 30a) ranks second in the country in assists per game.
America East has regained its bid to the NCAA tournament and that will be BU's focus over the next two weeks. The Terriers play at Vermont and New Hampshire this weekend and a victory over UNH will give Boston U the home field advantage for next weekend's America East tournament.
Around the Country
Seeing Green
Dartmouth's men's and women's lacrosse teams are both in contention for their respective Ivy League championships for the first time in school history. Both squads tangle with Princeton tomorrow in key conference matchups.
For the Big Green women (9-2 overall, 6-0 Ivy), Saturday's home game against the Tigers (4-1 Ivy) represents a shot a redemption. Defending national champion Princeton interrupted Dartmouth's string of five consecutive league championships from 1997-2001 by winning the Ivy last year. The Tigers also waxed the Big Green, 15-3, in Princeton last year, snapping Dartmouth's five-year regular-season win streak in the series. Add in Princeton's 10-4 win in the 2001 NCAA quarterfinals, and the Tigers have taken the momentum in the rivalry that will be renewed for the 27th time.
Dartmouth has already locked up at least a share of the 2003 Ivy League championships. Wednesday at home, the Big Green used three goals apiece from Whitney Jamison and Katieanne Christian to beat Harvard 15-3. The No. 7 Tigers lead the all-time series against the No. 6 Big Green 14-12. Draw in Hanover, N.H., tomorrow is 1 p.m.
Not nearly as accustomed to the success its sister squad regularly enjoys, the Dartmouth men's team (9-2 overall, 3-1 Ivy) can force a three-way tie atop the conference standings with a win at No. 2 Princeton tomorrow. Cornell also has just one league loss. The Big Green has already won its most games since 1995, and with Saturday's 14-10 win over Brown, secured its first non-losing Ivy season since 1994. Brandon Wright scored three goals and five others added two each to lift Dartmouth.
Princeton (4-0 Ivy) has won the last 14 in the series. The Big Green also has Harvard left on its '03 league schedule. Faceoff in Princeton, N.J., tomorrow also is set for 1 p.m.
On the Line
It's been 13 years since Lynchburg last beat Washington and Lee in a men's lacrosse game, but a lot will be on the line when the two teams meet for the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship on Saturday at Lynchburg.
The winner receives the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III championship while the loser will have to wait anxiously for a possible at-large slot when bids are announced next weekend. Both teams have impressive wins out of the league with Lynchburg beating Salisbury and W&L beating Washington College and Gettysburg, but Hampden-Sydney, which defeated both teams earlier in the year to win the regular season title, is also in the mix and the league is very unlikely to get three bids.
W&L won the regular season meeting between the two teams by a 12-9 score as it overcame an early 4-0 deficit.
The Unbeatens
There are now seven unbeaten teams in college lacrosse and the most impressive is the Middlebury women's team. The Panthers have won two straight NCAA Division III titles and improved to 10-0 by defeating previously unbeaten Williams 17-4 on Wednesday. Middlebury's closest game this season was a 15-7 victory over Bowdoin on April 12.
Joining them in the unbeaten ranks are Loyola and The College of New Jersey on the women's side. The men's undefeated teams are LeMoyne, New York Tech, Whittier and Herkimer Community College.
Quickly
Longtime Harvard women's coach Carole Kleinfelder has announced her retirement at the end of this season - Kleinfelder is one of just four women's collegiate coaches ever with more than 250 wins and was a two-time national coach of the year...College Sports Television (www.cstv.com) will pick up two WMAR games this weekend and air them live -- UMBC at Maryland tonight at 7:30 and Army at Navy on Saturday at noon...Ohio State's men's team can clinch its first NCAA tournament berth with a win at Butler on Saturday - the Buckeyes were upset 7-6 at Denver last weekend, but hold the tie-breaking edges in the Great Western Lacrosse League.
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