Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Lacrosse Opens 2010 Season Tuesday vs. Penn State at Home
2/15/2010 7:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
Feb. 15, 2010
For two-thirds of the 2009 season, the Bucknell women's lacrosse team appeared headed for its first winning record in five years. The Bison were 9-3 overall and 4-0 in the Patriot League. They had clinched a conference tournament berth and were a win away from the regular-season championship.
But things went a bit awry in the final three weeks. Bucknell dropped its final six games, including three by one goal and another close loss to eventual-champion Colgate in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals. Despite the disappointing finish, the graduation of leading scorer Bonnie Buechel and four-year starting defender Catherine Barry, and an off-season injury to scoring machine Carol Donohue, optimism is high for a motivated Bison squad entering the 2010 season.
The new campaign gets underway on Tuesday, when Bucknell hosts 14th-ranked Penn State at 4 p.m. at Graham Field. The Nittany Lions already have a game under their belts, as they defeated last week's No. 14 team, Loyola (Md.), 9-8 on Sunday, getting goals from six different players.
The Bucknell-Penn State game will be carried live on Bison Vision, one of four live Web streams planned for 2010.
Donohue will likely be out until sometime in March, and her scoring production will be missed. Donohue had 37 goals and 54 assists last season, one year after piling up a school-record 71 points as a sophomore. Third-year head coach Caline McHenry admits that she will be a big loss, but that in the best-case scenario it could be a blessing in disguise.
"Losing Carol is huge," says McHenry. "Her teammates look to her for confidence, for a morale boost, and she is such a dynamic scorer. I think when she returns she is going to be extremely hungry. Having the game taken away from her has made her appreciate it even more. Not having Carol out there, others are going to have to step up. If that happens, and her teammates gain that much more confidence playing without her, then when she does come back strong we will be that much better offensively."
McHenry feels that the offense, which produced 10.1 goals per game last season, could be more diverse in 2010. She says this year's squad is faster, and the team's overall stickwork is much improved. That has allowed the Bison to do a lot more offensively, particularly in transition.
"Last year our offense was fairly one-dimensional," says McHenry. "There was a lot of 1-on-1 action and we were very predictable. Diversifying the offense is going to make us harder to scout, and there is going to be more motion and less isolation. I don't expect that we will have one or two major scorers like in the past, especially when Carol is out. We want to have good balance."
Despite starting the new year without Buechel (44-10-54 in 2009) and Donohue, the Bison still have five returning players who produced double-digit points last season, including a 30-goal scorer in junior midfielder Julia Braun. A Second Team All-Patriot League pick last season, Braun totaled 34 points with 30 goals and four assists, but she was more than just a scorer. A force all over the field, Braun led the team in ground balls with 46 and was a close second to Buechel in draw controls (45) and caused turnovers (24).
"Julia is going to be huge for us," lauds McHenry. "She is a great player at both ends of the field. She can match up with anyone on defense, and she is a go-to player on offense. Julia is always pushing herself, and her teammates really respect her for that."
Senior middie Chelsea Peters had 24 goals and eight assists last season, and the fourth-year starter has 72 goals and 91 points in her career. Like Braun, Peters is strong anywhere on the field, and she was third on the squad with 22 draw controls in 2009.
"Chelsea is going a great job and has really stepped up her game with Carol out," says McHenry. "She is a senior with lots of experience and great energy. She is always positive and working hard. She's not a rah-rah type player, but you can always count on her. Chelsea is very good in transition, and she is going to be a really important player for us."
Sophomore Ryan Gribbon is another two-way threat in the midfield, and she is cut from a similar mold as Braun. As a rookie in 2009, Gribbon produced nine goals and nine assists, ranking third on the team in helpers.
"Ryan has the stamina to run all day long," McHenry praises. "She is truly an all-around midfielder. She is a very smooth player, everything seems so effortless and fluid. And Ryan is one of the most positive and upbeat players on the team. I think she is going to have a big year."
Juniors Michelle Milot, Laura Van Schaack and Becca Devine all emerged last season, showing off some scoring potential. Milot finished with 16 goals and eight assists and can play both attack and midfield. She had two hat tricks and five multi-goal games a year ago. Devine scored 14 goals in 16 games, including a stunning six-goal game in a league win over Lafayette in late March. Van Shaack had three goals and three assists in 16 games off the bench. McHenry is looking for more consistency from all three, and with that they could all be important offensive cogs.
"Michelle studied abroad in the fall, but she has come back extremely fit," says the Bison coach. "Mentally she is completely checked in, and she is going to be huge for us on draws. You're never really sure how players are going to come back from a semester abroad, but Michelle has been a very nice surprise, in a good way. Laura Van Schaack's biggest strength is her speed. As a midfielder she really gets us up the field quickly. Becca is vital to our offense, and with Carol out, we need her to be the one to settle us down, communicate and get us organized. She is not flashy, but she has shown she can feed and score. Now we need to get her the confidence to do it all the time."
Another player combing back from a semester abroad is junior attack Lauren Peyser, who made five starts last season and scored a pair of goals.
"Lauren has always been in great shape, so even though she was away in the fall we don't need to worry about fitness with her," says McHenry. "She can be a sneaky player. She is good at going backdoor and losing her defender."
Senior Kendall Thibeault is in her second year as a team co-captain, joining Braun, Donohue and Katie Fox. She had been a defender throughout her career before moving to attack in the middle of last season. Thibeault has excellent size and strength and a good stick, and she makes the attack unit all that much deeper.
"We felt we can use Kendall's skills to our advantage better on offense, so she is back at attack this season," says McHenry. "She is a very steady, reliable player. She is level-headed and makes good decisions. Kendall is a great leader, and we know we can rely on her."
The freshman class has three players who can help on offense. Madison Hurwitz racked up 303 goals and 150 assists in high school at Council Rock South, and McHenry feels she is going to be a good one once she adjusts to the college game.
"Madison is an awesome finisher and has a great attitude and work ethic," says McHenry, "but she is still working on seeing the big picture at this level. She is going to be able to score for us, she just needs to get in the right spot within the flow of the offense. It has been a difficult transition for her, but her positive approach tells me she is going to get there very soon."
Annapolis naïve Paige Cobbs and Long Islander Ryan Wenk are both very promising two-way middies, and both are likely to contribute fairly quickly.
"Paige Cobbs is a dynamic player, very smooth with great endurance at both ends of the field," McHenry says." Offensively, she can use both hands to finish, and she is a very physical player. She comes from a tremendous high school program at St. Mary's, and her adjustment to college has been very smooth. Ryan is also a very dynamic athlete, and she really had a great fall. She is extremely competitive and aggressive, and we expect to see her running up and down the field for us all year long."
Defensively, 2009 was an up-and-down season for the Bison. They allowed 205 goals (11.4 per game) on the year, but conceded eight or fewer six times. Bucknell shut out Davidson for the entire second half in a 9-8 win, and it yielded only one goal over the final 56 minutes in a 6-4 league win over American.
Backstopping the defense was Alyssa DeLorenz, who was named the Patriot League Goalie of the Year and the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year following a strong sophomore season. DeLorenz started every game last year, averaging 9.3 saves per outing while posting a .476 save percentage. As a junior this season DeLorenz is the only goalie on the roster, and McHenry says she has come back in the best shape of her career.
"Alyssa obviously had a fantastic year last year," says McHenry, "and this year she has come back looking like a whole new person. She has put in so much hard work in the offseason, working out on her own. She has really re-focused and upped her game. Alyssa is going to have a great year, I think even better than last year."
DeLorenz will be helped by an experienced defense in front of her, led by the senior Fox and junior Ashley St. John. Both players started every game last season, and both are physical, aggressive defenders who can take the ball away.
"Katie is the anchor, and she has stepped up nicely as a leader and as the main voice of the defense," McHenry states. "She holds her teammates accountable, and in turn they really look up to her. She is extremely competitive and is willing to do anything to win. Right next to her is Ashley St. John, who is also a vocal player who will get a lot of the key matchups. Ashley's best strength is her 1-on-1 defense and her communication skills. She also has excellent speed and a great stick, one of the best sticks you will see for a defender."
Other returnees who could help on defense are senior Stephanie Stevens, who missed all of last season with injuries, and sophomore Allie Mongan, a versatile player who starts the season as a defensive middie. Stevens had surgery in the summer and is not yet 100 percent, but when she gets there she is fast, aggressive and knows the defense well.
Mongan came in last season as a raw talent, and now is already one of the most improved players in the program since the end of last year, particularly in her stickwork. She is tall and strong and has a good separation burst.
Freshmen Adrienne Wendling and Elana Taub are the newcomers on defense. Wendling comes to Bucknell from The Bullis School in Maryland, while Taub is also from that region, graduating last year from St. Andrew's Episcopal.
"We are looking for Adrienne to fill in the spot vacated by Catherine Barry," says McHenry. "She is not flashy, but solid and very consistent. Early on she showed us that she is a good team player, a good communicator who slides well and has a very good understanding of the game. Adrienne also has a very good stick for a defender, so much so that we even toyed with putting her on attack.
"Elana has great endurance and has a lot of potential. We need her to improve her stickwork, but she is a great teammate who works hard and loves being a part of our group."
McHenry says that the way last season finished has left a sense of unfinished business among the Bison returnees.
"I think there was anger and disappointment in how last season ended," she says. "After starting 9-3 we felt like we were becoming a very good team. I don't think we ever lost confidence, but we just couldn't finish out some close games against some very good teams late in the year. That made for a very motivated team in the offseason.
"We took a big step forward last year, finishing at .500 and making the Patriot League Tournament. We set realistic goals last year, and we met them. The goals are definitely higher this year. The Patriot League is a fairly even conference in that we don't feel there is anyone that we can't play with."
