By Alana Pelosi
The early end to their season did not get in the way of the women’s lacrosse team having a good time along the way. Recollecting on some of their funniest and most embarrassing moments this season, it is a wonder how Coach Abby Morgan held it together.
Sylvia Queener described one of the funniest moments being when captain and goaltender, Maisie Osteen, took a spill. “They were announcing the starting lineup against George Mason and all the sideline was already on the field. They finally announced Maisie and she just runs out and bites it and her legs kicked up and everything. She just got up and pumped her fist in the air and all of our team was laughing.”
While Maisie’s spill may have been the funniest, it was freshman newcomer, Alex Hannon, who made her mark taking tumbles on and off the field. “Alex falls more than anyone” blurted out Queener.
There to agree was sophomore Jess Liberto, who recounted an embarrassing run in that Alex had with the Hofstra Dome. “Alex sprinted out because she was going to get a ball, but the ball fell and instead of picking up the ball, she follows it straight into the wall and flipped.”
While other top moments involve players throwing up and trainers busting out in tune, those details will be spared for everyone’s sake. Thankfully, Coach Morgan knew what she in for this season and explained, “they are all just a bunch of characters.”
New to the lively group of “characters” were freshman transfer Katie Hertsch and All-American Stephanie Rice. The two, who might be the last ones on team to win in a shouting match, had no trouble getting themselves noticed on the field as they were the standout freshman of the season. After the lacrosse program was cut at Ohio University where she had been a freshman, Hertsch immediately redshirted, and left Athens, Ohio for good old Hempstead, NY. “[It was a] tight knit group the thing about team was how well they bonded together and that’s what attracted me to coming to here.” Hertsch said.
By the last game this season, they both had earned CAA Rookie of the Week honors and contributed in a big way with Rice compiling 30 points and 27 goals, ranking second in both categories. Hertsch, a defender, even racked up two goals and two assists between picking up 35 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers, and again like Rice, ranked second in both categories.
At the top of Morgan’s list of the three biggest moments this season were the final 22 minutes of the George Mason game.
After a lightning delay, the team launched a stellar comeback where they defeated the Patriots, on their home turf in Fairfax, Va., 11-10.
Right behind that game on the list of nail biters, were the first half of the Syracuse game and the game against Notre Dame.
While the final score was a bit disparaging, prior to losing 21-10 against Syracuse, the Pride actually start the game putting up one of their best defensive front of the season.
Against Notre Dame, it was a neck-and-neck battle that Morgan had to rank as her most thrilling game of the season. As she put it, “we hadn’t played them before and they were coming to our place so we didn’t know what expect.”
Losses, however, are rarely part of the happier moments and there are games that the team wishes they could just replay. For Coach Morgan, it would have to be their conference game against James Madison. “If we could restart that game, it would have kept them in the tournament,” reflected Morgan.
Indeed, the Pride fell 10-8 after being up 6-4 at one point early in the second half. Morgan said of James Madison pulling away for the win, “It was one of those games where you were like ‘what just happened?'”
For Hertsch, “All of our conference losses were the toughest because all of those teams were beatable especially against Towson because they were so close.”
Liberto added that the most embarrassing moment as a team this season may have been losing two games by one goal and Morgan was quick to agree. “[One goal losses] are always tough for me. I pride myself on usually being on the other end of those and it is not something I want to get comfortable with.”
As always, at the end of the day there is something to be learned.
After a few late game losses, Morgan hopes the team learned that they cannot play fearfully. “You have to know how good you are and show it every game,” Morgan asserted. “You can’t wait of ran opportunity, you have to grab it.”