By Alana Pelosi
It can be argued that the women’s lacrosse team is the best on the island after a strong rally against Stony Brook. The team continues to turn things around as the victory gives them a three-game win streak.
Against Stony Brook, the Pride was down 5-1 early in the first half. Thirteen minutes into the game, junior Sandy Wasserbach kicked off the Pride’s rally, scoring the first goal of a game which would see her set a career best goal mark. For the rest of the first half, the Pride scored 10 unanswered goals. The ball remained in the Pride’s possession for most of the play and the team looked very much in charged as they entered halftime 11-5.
Stony Brook scored the first goal of the second half, but the Pride remained undeterred. The Pride clearly had control as they finished the game winning 18 of the 24 draw controls. Junior goalie Mary Cuddihy had a career game making 11 saves and the defense was led by senior defenseman Alysse Ruszkowski who had three caused turnovers and two groundballs. The offense was propelled by Wasserbach, who finished with five goals and Hofstra newcomer Liz Falco added three.
The Pride, who have been on a hot streak seem like they have made a departure from last year’s shaky tendencies. While they did have a three-game skid earlier in the month, all of the losses were from ranked opponents. Since then, they have picked themselves up and are headed in the right direction. “We keep improving every game and that’s always important. We keep getting better and being at our peak is where we wanna be for CAA play,” said Ruszkowski.
The biggest challenge that the Pride will face in CAA play very well may be in their first conference match-up next week. The Pride will face the CAA’s lone ranked team, No. 18 James Madison, next Friday. Whatever the outcome of that game may be, the team cannot afford to let it affect them, as they will host George Mason two days later.
The biggest key for the Pride is avoiding any slipups. “Our biggest problem is not playing hard for a full 60 minutes. We will have momentum going but then we have lapses,” said Ruszkowski.
Despite losing to James Madison last season, the playing field seems to have leveled. The Dukes are 4-4 and like the Pride, all of their losses come from ranked opponents. Last year the Pride managed to beat the then-ranked George Mason and this year, the team seems to be off to a slower start and as though they will less of a challenge for Hofstra.
On the field, however, records will mean very little. The weekend will be a long one for the Pride, and even longer if they walk away empty-handed.