By Alana Pelosi
The women’s lacrosse team’s fate now lies in limbo after splitting a series in Virginia this past weekend. After a loss to James Madison and then a win against George Mason, the team is now in the fifth seat for the four team CAA tournament.
“Our conference is absolutely crazy right now,” Coach Abby Morgan described. “In one scenario, there is one team in and five other teams tied for third place.”
With that in mind, it is going to be very difficult for the Pride to make the tournament.
In order for the Pride to move up and clinch the final spot, Old Dominion must upset William and Mary and JMU will have to beat George Mason. With their fate out of their own hands, the team will find out today after the seniors’ practice if their season is over or not.
The team succumbed to James Madison on Friday 10-8 despite three goals from freshman CAA Rookie of the Week Steph Rice and all-around solid play from sophomore K’Leigh Vanaman. Morgan said of the loss, “Friday we were up, and in all three of our CAA losses we were up and in control of the game, and then we had lapses in the second half.”
The Pride also defeated George Mason, 11-10 in a come-from-behind victory on Sunday. The victory, which enabled the team to have a shot at the CAAs, really got started after a lightning delay eight minutes into the second half.
After sitting in the field house for close to an hour, the team emerged to find friends and families honking their car horns in support, and the girls erupted. Pumping their fists and shouting, it was time for the Pride to fight back. “It was one of those moments where everyone believed we could do it; those twenty minutes I will not forget for a long time.” Morgan said.
Starting with a goal by Vanaman, five girls contributed with goals in the rally, and by game’s end, Sophomore Corrine Gandolfi and freshman Steph Rice had notched three goals apiece. Alysse Ruszkowski was there to spark the defense as she racked up four ground balls and two caused turnovers.
“Alysse played fantastic. From the beginning of the game she had a look in her eye and was making plays, causing turnovers and played out of her mind.” Morgan said.
The team wrapped up their road trip on Tuesday with a loss at Stony Brook. In what may have been the last game of the season for the squad, the Pride battled back from a score of 9-5 to tie it up at 9-9 before ultimately losing 14-10. “Without a doubt, we were fatigued, and the weather [it was very hot on the turf] didn’t help, but it was no reason for us to lose,” Morgan continued, “We didn’t have our game from the first whistle.”
If perchance their season is over, the team has no reason to hang their heads.
While at 7-9 the record was far from spectacular, the team remained in it all the way and at 4-3 within the conference, they handed top 20 teams like New Hampshire, William and Mary and George Mason key losses. As Morgan best put it, “Within CAA play we could have fallen over if we didn’t have the fight and belief in ourselves.”