By Justin Paley
The Pride women’s lacrosse team’s defense, bolstered by seniors Bridget Eder and Lisa Papa, and freshman Maisie Osteen, has been consistent the entire season, stifling many offenses.
In a twist of fate Sunday, the Pride’s defense was absent in an 18-15 loss to Towson University in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) championship game at James M. Shuart Stadium.
Shannon Witzel, the CAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, and Becky Trumbo led the Tigers’ offense with a combined 12 goals.
“They [Towson] came out strong to start,” Pride junior midfielder Becky Thorn said. “They knew they had to play us and couldn’t take us lightly and took smart shots.”
Although the Pride (13-3, 6-1 CAA) defense was aware of the Tigers’ game plan, it couldn’t stop many of their offensive drives. Papa took a majority of the attack in her lap as she allowed 11 goals in 25:17 for the Pride.
While the Pride won a majority of the statistical categories in the contest, it committed 27 fouls to the Tigers 10. The Tigers were 7 of 8 on free position shots, taking advantage of the open shot when necessary.
Since the Tigers won the conference title, they earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament while the Pride hopes to claim an at-large bid. The Pride will anxiously wait for the NCAA selection show, which airs Sunday at 9 p.m.
“Unfortunately for us we don’t really have control of the situation and I told them they better start praying to God we do get that opportunity,” Pride head coach Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe said.
While Klaes-Bawcombe obviously wants to continue the Pride’s season with a bid to the tournament, if it doesn’t happen she is also aware of the achievements the team has accomplished and the large amount of talent and increased skill in the CAA this season.
“I told them we can’t think of this one game. We did bring this team to a level we haven’t seen in the CAA, which is a huge honor in itself,” Klaes-Bawcombe said.
The Pride opened the scoring less than five minutes into the game as senior midfielder Tara Buecker and junior attack Catherine Guerriere scored unassisted to put the Pride ahead 2-0.
Towson quickly answered as Trumbo scored on an assist from Witzel and a free position shot from Amy Middleton tied the game at two.
After Buecker gave the Pride a 4-3 lead with 21:02 remaining in the first half, the Tigers went on a 5-0 run over the next 10 minutes, doubling up the Pride 8-4. Trumbo scored three goals during the run, adding timely and smart shots.
Osteen replaced Papa in net, hoping for a change in pace and a shake-up that could stir the rest of the team. Because the defense often runs the field, a change in the last line has potential to affect the whole field.
The move propelled the Pride offense as senior midfielder Heather Albro scored on a feed from Eder with 10:31 left in the first half.
Six minutes later, sophomore midfielder Kim Hillier fed Thorn to pull the Pride within two goals, 4:33 before halftime.
The Tigers scored the final two goals of the first half as Witzel connected on a free position shot and Kerin Boghosian scored unassisted with just 13 seconds left.
Papa returned to the cage during the second half for the Pride and the Tigers attack once again lit her up, scoring the first four goals of the second half to take a commanding 14-6 lead with 23:17 left in regulation. Witzel was the Pride’s number one nuisance, scoring three of the four goals during the run.
Papa didn’t remain in net much longer as Osteen was put back into the game. The Pride went on a 4-0 scoring drive with tallies from Thorn, Eder, Buecker, and Albro. At this point the Pride only trailed, 14-10, with 11:27 remaining in the game.
The Tigers squashed all chances of a Pride comeback as Witzel continued in her spoiling ways, scoring her sixth and seventh goals of the game on free position shots. Caitlin Marshall also netted a goal, putting the Tigers up 17-10 with just 6:07 left.
Unfortunately for the Pride, its late game drive wasn’t enough and came too late in its attack.
The Pride could have celebrated a CAA championship, but instead it must wait and pray for a bid to an even bigger dance.
