By Lindsay Carlton
There was undoubtedly a different vibe at Shuart Stadium last Friday night, when 10 new faces played against defending national champion Northwestern.
But class standing didn’t seem to matter to Pride women’s lacrosse coach Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe, who started freshman defender Alysse Ruszkowski and kept her in for the entire game, not to mention the four other freshmen players that were substituted in during the Pride’s season opener. Altogether the freshmen scored a total of four goals for the Pride, it was not enough, as the Pride fell to the Wildcats, 16-9.
“I was excited how confident they were coming into the game,” Klaes-Bawcombe said, ” I think that the first moments of the game were a little-over whelming for them, but I liked how they bounced back.”
Besides the rookie’s efforts, one of the Pride veterans, junior midfielder Casey McGrath, scored three goals and an assist for the team. However, Northwestern’s top scorers, Aly Josephs and Laura Glassano, each tallied four points for the Wildcats, leading the team to victory. With the win, Northwestern improved to 2-0, while the Pride started off its season with a loss.
“Being that it was our first game and the first time that we played a number one team, I’m not sure they realized what number one meant,” Klaes-Bawcombe said. ” So once they recognized that, they bucked up a little bit and decided to start playing hard and going to the goal hard.”
The Pride may have finished last year as the regular season Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) champions, but making just nine out of 33 shots taken against Northwestern shows it nees to make some definite improvements.
“We’re definitely not at the peak of our season,” McGrath said. “We definitely have a lot of improvements to make, but I think this was good to get out of our system, our first game against the national champions, [and] give it one shot and just learn from it.”
In blustering winds and frigid weather conditions, it didn’t take Northwestern long to get comfortable on the field. Josephs scored the first goal on an assist by Meredith Frank at 27:58. The Wildcats scored three more goals, ending any comeback. Senior midfielder Jamie Rabuano put the Pride on the board at 22:03 on an assist from McGrath. However, the Pride went on to score only two more goals and went into halftime trailing, 8-3.
Northwestern came back strong again in the second half and scored the first goal. The Pride was the next to score with two unassisted goals in a row by McGrath and senior defender Jaime Irving, which dropped the Wildcats lead to 10-6. However, the Wildcats quickly tallied three more goals that thwarted the Pride’s chances at a rally.
“They did a nice job,” Northwestern head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “But I think we were pretty explosive as well, so it was a really exciting game overall.”
The Pride will hit the road on Saturday to battle the University of Denver at 11 a.m.
“[Denver] is not as skilled as Northwestern,” Klaes-Bawcombe said. “But [they’re] definitely hungry for a win, its just going to be a very physical game.”