April 11, 2007
ABOUT OLD DOMINION: The Old Dominion women's lacrosse team continues CAA action this weekend traveling to Towson on Friday night and Delaware on Sunday afternoon. The Lady Monarchs are sporting a 4-5 overall mark and 1-1 mark in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play. Old Dominion is led by senior midfielder Caroline Jacobs with 21 goals and seven assists totaling 28 points. Jacobs also leads the team in groundballs (29) and caused turnovers. She is followed by fellow midfielder and senior Katie Veneziale with 14 goals, nine assists, and 23 points. Veneziale is also the Lady Monarch leader in draw controls (24). In net, junior Sara Larson is holding a 10.59 goals against average and a .492 save percentage. Last Wednesday, she registered a career-high 17 saves in a loss to fifth-ranked Virginia, helping the Lady Monarchs to their closest margin against the Cavaliers since 1999.
SERIES VS. TOWSON: Old Dominion is 3-2 all-time versus the Tigers.
ABOUT TOWSON: The Tigers enter Friday's contest with a 4-6 overall and 1-2 CAA mark. Additionally they received a vote in this week's Inside Lacrosse Poll. Towson is led by sophomore midfielder Hillary Fratzke with 33 goals and five assists. Both sophomore attacker Meggie McNamara and senior midfielder Shannon Witzel are tied for second in scoring. McNamara has registered 25 goals and three assists, while Witzel has notched 19 goals and nine assists. Junior Mandy Corry has played every minute of every game in the pipes for the Tigers. She is holding a 11.93 goals against average and .425 save percentage.
LAST TIME VS. TOWSON: In thriller at Foreman Field last March 31st, the Old Dominion women's lacrosse team opened up CAA play by downing the defending CAA champions and preseason favorites, the Towson Tigers, by a score of 13-12. Former Lady Monarch Sarah Lautenbach (came through with the game-winning goal with less than five minutes remaining in regulation off a feed from fellow classmate Melody Shotwell. Shotwell went on to finish the afternoon with four goals and two assists. Caroline Jacobs collected three goals and two assists, while Lautenbach and then-rookie Jessica Noone rounded out the Lady Monarchs' multiple scorers. Shannon Witzel found the back of the net six times for the Tigers. Becky Trumbo added in four, while Meggie McNamara and Hillary Fratzke each registered a score. McNamara also collected two assists in the Tigers' loss. The Lady Monarchs worked their way to a 3-1 lead early in the first half before the Tigers took over the lead by scoring five answered goals. Back-to-back nets by Witzel saw Towson hold on to a 6-3 advantage with 15:14 left in the first half. Old Dominion proceeded to take of run of its own and recollect the lead. Five different Lady Monarchs got into the mix to as Old Dominion regained the lead, 8-6, with just over five minutes remaining in the half. Witzel, however, netted three straight goals for the Tigers, giving Towson a 9-8 edge heading into the half. Half number two saw the Lady Monarchs outscore the defending champions, 5-3. Shotwell tied the game up at 9-9 less than a minute into the second half, but Towson's Trumbo put Towson ahead again four minutes later. Less than minute later Shotwell found the back of the Towson net again followed by former Lady Monarch Tameka Davis finding the opening to give the Lady Monarchs a 11-10 lead with 14:36 left in the game. Two of the afternoon's hot scorers did not allow Towson to go quietly though. Mere moments after Davis' goal, Witzel tied the game seconds after the draw followed by another Trumbo tally for a 12-11 Tigers edge. Trailing by a goal with under eight minutes to play, Old Dominion scored twice and held Towson away from the net. Shotwell was able to find the open Lady Monarch on both goals, feeding Jacobs to tie the game with 7:38 and then Lautenbach with 4:28 remaining. A few costly turnovers gave Towson possession of the ball in the closing minutes of the game, however the Old Dominion defense would not allow a shot to come in the direction of the Lady Monarch net. In net, Old Dominion's Michelle Gannon came away with nine saves, while her counterpart, Mandy Corry, made 11 saves in between the pipes. Both Gannon and Jacobs scooped up four groundballs for the victors, while four different Tigers lead Towson. The Tigers' Fratzke found her way to a game-high seven draw controls, while Kelly Kimener led ODU with four. Jacobs also managed to lead the Lady Monarchs in caused turnovers with three, while McNamara led the Tigers with three caused turnover as well.
SERIES VS. DELAWARE: Old Dominion is 9-6 all-time versus the Fightin' Blue Hens.
ABOUT DELAWARE: The Fightin' Blue Hens will take on William & Mary Friday night before welcoming the Lady Monarchs to Rullo Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Delaware enters the weekend posting a 6-4 overall record and 2-1 CAA mark with a No. 20 ranking in the IWCLA Poll and No. 19 ranking in the Inside Lacrosse Poll. The Blue Hens had won five straight games before then No.6 James Madison stopped the win streak with a 19-16 loss in Harrisonburg last week. Delaware is led by Nicole Flego with 24 goal sand 12 assists. She is followed on the stat sheet by Katie Muth and Debbie Sloan, who have accumulated 30 points each. Muth has recorded 24 points and six assists, while Sloan has put away 22 goals along with eight assists. In net, Jessica Cerveny is holding a 10.99 goals against average and a .399 save percentage.
LAST TIME VS. DELAWARE: The Old Dominion women's lacrosse team won its third straight with a 10-8 conference victory over Delaware back on April 2nd at Foreman Field. Although Delaware struck first with a Casey McCrudden goal with 23:17 on the clock, Old Dominion would hold the Blue Hens scoreless the rest of the half and rattle off five unanswered goals. Tameka Davis got the rally started to tie the game at 1-1 with just under 20 minutes remaining and then less than 20 seconds later, Caroline Jacobs gave Old Dominion the lead for good. Also scoring for the Lady Monarchs in the first half was Kelly Kimener, along with additional goals by Davis and Jacobs. Delaware did manage to outscore the Lady Monarchs 7-5 in the second half and made a late rally. Both teams traded goals after the opening draw back from intermission as Old Dominion held on to a 7-4 advantage with 18:35 left in the game. Back-to-back Lady Monarch goals by Davis and Kimener added to the Old Dominion lead, 9-4, as the clock read 14:54. However the Fightin' Blue Hens would go on to score four of the game's next five goals. After trading goals again, Delaware tallied three goals in the span of two minutes and pulled within two, 10-8, with a minute and a half remaining. The Lady Monarch defense held in the end and forced Delaware to turn the ball over in the game's final minute as they captured the win. Kimener, Jacobs, and Davis all had three goals for the Lady Monarchs while Delaware's Laura Libertini, who netted the final two Blue Hen tallies in the late rally, also recorded three goals on the afternoon. Lindyn Soviero collected a game-high eight groundballs in the loss and also caused a team-high three turnovers, while Jacobs led Old Dominion by scooping up six and causing three turnovers as well. In net, both ODU's Michelle Gannon and Delaware's Jessica Cerveny posted 13 saves.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING: Senior Caroline Jacobs is currently ranked 13th nationally in caused turnovers per game (2.11) and 14th in groundballs per game (3.22). Jacobs is not the only Lady Monarch to featured in the NCAA stats. Classmate Katie Veneziale is currently 31st nationally in draw controls averaging 2.67 per outing. Additionally, Sara Larson, coming off a 17 save performance against Virginia last week, moved up to 23rd nationally in save percentage (.492) and 31st in goals against average (10.59).
LOOKING AROUND THE CAA: Several Lady Monarchs are ranked among their Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) peers. Senior midfielder Caroline Jacobs is third in both groundballs per game (3.22) and caused turnovers (2.11), and tied for 10th in points per game (3.11). Katie Veneziale is tied for fourth in draw controls per game (2.67) and eighth in assists per game (1.00). Freshman Ashley Kellogg is tied for fouth with two game-winning goals under her belt. Netminder junior Sara Larson is fifth in goals against average (10.59) and fourth in save percentage (.492).
MOVING ON UP: Two Lady Monarchs keeping moving up on the career charts. Caroline Jacobs moved into a tie for second place on the all-time ODU assist leaders list (50), eighth on the all-time goals leaders list (97), and fifth on the all-time points leaders list (147) with her eight goals, four assist performance over last week's three games. Katie Veneziale meanwhile cracked the top 10 assist leaders list and is in a tie for ninth on the all-time list with 28.
POINTS LEADERS
Name - Goals - Assists - Points
1. Suzanne Wosczyna (2001-2004) - 206 - 119 - 325
2. Anne Windover (1993-1996) - 165 - 39 - 204
3. Cathy Large (1985-1988) - 177 - 22 - 199
4. Danielle Hensil (2000-2003) - 124 - 39 - 163
5. Caroline Jacobs (2004 - present) - 97 - 50 - 147
6. Jennifer Heister (1999-2002) - 115 - 23 - 138
7. Carly Brown (1995-1998) - 105 - 28 - 133
8. Melody Shotwell (2002-2006) - 98 - 26 - 124
9. Amy Duerr (1992-1995) - 94 - 29 - 123
10. Ericka Davidheiser (1992-1995) 79 - 40 - 119
GOALS LEADERS
Name - Goals
1. Suzanne Wosczyna (2001-2004) - 206
2. Cathy Large (1985-1988) - 177
3. Anne Windover (1993-1996) - 165
4. Danielle Hensil (2000-2003) - 124
5. Jennifer Heister (1999-2002) - 115
6. Carly Brown (1995-1998) - 105
7. Melody Shotwell (2002-2006) - 98
8. Caroline Jacobs (2004 - present) - 97
9. Amy Duerr (1992-1995) - 94
10. Kailynne Ross (1996-1999) - 86
ASSIST LEADERS
Name - Assists
1. Suzanne Wosczyna (2001-2004) - 119
2T. Dana Kuchta (1993-1996) - 50
2T. Caroline Jacbos (2004 - present) - 50
4. Erica Davidheiser (1992 - 1995) - 40
5. Anne Windover (1993-1996) - 39
5. Danielle Hensil (2000 - 2003) - 39
7. Janine Rodriguez (2001-2004) - 37
8. Amy Duerr (1992-1995) - 29
9T. Carly Brown (1995-1998) - 28
9T. Katie Veneziale (2004 - present) - 28
10T. Melody Shotwell (2002-2006) - 26
MARK YOUR CALENDARS: When the Lady Monarchs return home next week, they will take on George Mason in their annual scholarship game. The five dollar admission (admission is free for all ODU students with ID) will go towards benefitting the Intercollegiate Foundation for Women's Lacrosse Scholarships. Additionally, the Hampton Roads Chapter of US Lacrosse will host a clinic following the game with the Patriots.
CLOSING IN ON THE CAVALIERS: The Old Dominion women's lacrosse team hung tough against fifth-ranked Virginia last Wednesday afternoon, falling 10-7 in their closest game with the Cavaliers since 1999. The game was Old Dominion closest margin with Virginia since a 4-3 loss to the Cavaliers. Since that one-goal loss, the Cavaliers had averaged nearly a 12-goal win margin over the next seven years. The Lady Monarchs led twice in the first half and the game overall endured four ties, including a stalemate at 7-7 until the 16:12 mark of the second half. Junior goalkeeper Sara Larson posted a career-high 17 saves to keep the game within reach for the Lady Monarchs.
RANK 'EM UP: Sunday's contest against #20/19 Delaware will mark the fifth ranked opponent the Lady Monarchs will have faced this season. Old Dominion previously met up with No. 1 North Carolina, No. 18/20 Rutgers, No. 20/18 Richmond, and No. 5/5 Virginia. Old Dominion took on Rutgers, Richmond, and Virginia marking a string of three consecutive games against ranked opponents.
TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER: Senior Caroline Jacobs lead all NCAA Division I Players in groundballs per game (4.33) last week. The fourth year Lady Monarch recently reset her career-high in the category. Jacobs scooped up a career-high seven groundballs, surpassing her previous high of six set in her sophomore campaign against three different teams, at Richmond back on March 29th.
THE ROOKIE: Freshman Ashley Kellogg was the lone member of the freshman class that head coach Sue Stahl placed in the season opening starting line-up. In her first appearance in a Lady Monarch uniform Kellogg was one of five goals scorers capturing the game-winner at the 9:32 mark of the first half in last week's 14-6 win over American. Kellogg currently leads the Lady Monarchs with game-winning goals having put in her second career game-winner against Temple last Saturday.
POW: Old Dominion senior midfielder Caroline Jacobs was named a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Co-Player of the Week for the week ending March 7th. Jacobs captured five goals and an assist her 2007 debut and also led the way for the Lady Monarchs in groundballs, draw controls, and caused turnovers. The fourth year Lady Monarch scooped up a game-high four groundballs, caused a game-high three turnovers, and tied for the lead in draw registering four. It is Jacobs' second CAA weekly honor also earning the award for the week ending April 24th of her sophomore season in 2005. It was during final week of the regular season that Jacobs poured in nine goals and three assists as the Lady Monarchs dropped two close games to nationally ranked opponents, #20 William & Mary and #9 North Carolina to earn her first CAA Player of the Week distinction.
UP NEXT: The Lady Monarchs hit the road for one last regular season game and then return home for a two-game homestand to close out the regular season. Old Dominion travels to No. 7/7 James Madison on Thursday, April 19th and then return to Foreman Field in the annual scholarship game on Sunday, April 22nd.