Early Season Struggles Continue for Women’s Lacrosse Team
The Waynesburg University women’s lacrosse team competed against Washington & Jefferson College Thursday, March 16, in Washington, Pennsylvania, in its first conference matchup of the season before playing host to Lancaster Bible College in a home, nonconference match Saturday, March 18.
After dropping the first conference game 15-2, the Yellow Jackets (0-3, 0-1) dropped the second match as well by a score of 14-5.
“We just have to work on a few things. We definitely still need to be on the field a little bit more,” said head coach Stephanie Benkowski. “But I mean we definitely need to work on ground balls a lot more and draws; we have to keep our heads up and keep pushing.”
In the first game against the Presidents (1-3, 1-0), senior attacker/midfielder Holly Bachman recorded the first goal just 55 seconds into the game. The lead was short-lived, however, as President senior midfielder Monica Ewansik responded 40 seconds later with the equalizing goal. Ewansik’s goal started a stretch of 12 straight W&J goals before senior attacker/midfielder Abbie Miller closed out the first half with Waynesburg’s second and final goal of the contest.
The second half was relatively quiet for both teams, as Waynesburg did not score while W&J only scored three more goals to bring the game to its final.
As the Yellow Jackets are limited in numbers, Benkowski has been pleased with the development of some of the players who have come over from other sports.
“[Senior] Lauren [Drane] adapted very well from soccer to being a lacrosse player,” Benkowski said. “She’s done really, really well for us on defense and Kassidy [O’Keefe] was [playing] her first game yesterday and she just started practicing Monday, but she did really well for us yesterday; she adapted well…they are athletic, you’re able to adapt when you’re athletic. It helps.”
When the Yellow Jackets played against the Lancaster Bible Chargers, despite giving up 14 goals, Benkowski was particularly impressed with the defensive effort of the team.
“Our defense played really, really well for the inexperience of lacrosse players that are playing defense for us. I know the score doesn’t show that,” Benkowski said. “Abbie [Miller] stepped in goal for us since our other two goalies have concussions. Our defense and goalies did really well for us, I’m very satisfied with how hard they worked.”
Miller stepped in well for the typical goaltenders, senior Kaitlyn Wetzel and freshman Christina Bauer. Miller made 16 saves on 30 attempts, good for a .533 save percentage.
“She did great overall, I mean [the day before] she was told she was going to be goalie. She was in the gym in the afternoon, she was in the gym in the evening and she was in the gym this morning to try and learn how to be a goalie overnight basically,” said Benkowski. “I know that score does not at all state how well she did, but she really stepped up for us and did a good job. I mean we missed her on attack, so that hurt, but I think she did awesome for us.”
The Chargers started off hot, scoring four goals in the first two minutes of the match, but the scoring slowed quickly after that. Trailing 10-3 at half, Waynesburg held Lancaster Bible to just four goals while tallying two of its own in the second half leading to the final score of 14-5.
Bachman and senior attacker Shannon Morgan tallied two goals each during the contest and senior attacker Brandi Rohal also scored in the match. With their efforts, Bachman and Morgan are now tied with Miller for the team lead in points with four apiece.
“They both did really well. [Bachman’s] a go-getter; she’s a hard worker; she’s going to do what she can to get the ball in the goal,” said Benkowski. “Shannon was [good]; it was a nice surprise to have her score twice and I mean, I know she tried a couple other times, so it was a nice little surprise for her to be aggressive.”
Knowing the team still has a way to go coming out of its first three games winless, Benkowski expects the team to turn things around as it continues to grow.
“They are working hard still. They are playing as a team [and] there’s no bickering happening on the team, which is good when you’re 0-3,” Benkowski said. “We are still a little skittish on ground balls and scared to get hit, which are things we can still work on in practice even though we are not on this field every day…I think as long as we keep coming together as a team and keep working on the small things we need to work on, we will be OK.”
The Yellow Jackets will be back in action this weekend, where they will travel to Abington, Pennsylvania, to take on Penn State Abington College Friday before heading over to Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, March 25, to compete against Bryn Athyn College.