May 2, 2007
RADIO STREAM: Hofstra's student radio station WRHU will radio stream Friday's semifinals. You can listen by clicking here.
ALL-CAA TEAMS: The All-CAA teams will be released on Friday evening.
ABOUT OLD DOMINION: The Old Dominion women's lacrosse team begins its quest for the 2007 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) title on Friday, May 4th when they meet top-seed and host Hofstra at 5:00 p.m. at Shuart Stadium. Old Dominion enters the post-season with a 7-7 overall record and completed the year with a 4-3 conference mark. The Lady Monarchs are led by a pair of senior midfielders in Caroline Jacobs and Katie Veneziale. Jacobs leads the team in scoring with 32 goals, 11 assists, and 43 points. Additionally, she leads the squad in ground balls (40) and caused turnovers (27). Veneziale meanwhile is second on the stat sheet with 18 goals, a team-leading 14 assists, and 32 points. She also leads her team in draw controls (41). In between the pipes, junior Sara Larson is holding a .505 save percentage and 10.01 goals against average in her first season as the starting netminder.
HOW WE GOT HERE: The Lady Monachs are heading back to the CAA Tournament. Old Dominion makes the post-season for the first time since 2003 and will be the tournament's fourth seed. The Lady Monarchs were able to clinch a berth to the 2007 CAA women's lacrosse tournament with an 8-7 over George Mason on April 22nd. This will be Old Dominion's 12th appearance in the conference tournament. In their last appearance in 2003, the Lady Monarchs were the regular season champions and hosts falling to James Madison, 11-9, in the championship finale. Old Dominion has won one CAA title and that was back in 1995. Assistant coach Heather (Walden) Holt was the starting goalkeeper.
NO LOSS IS A GOOD LOSS, BUT...: No loss is certainly a good loss, but if you look at the Lady Monarch losses, six of seven have come at the hands of ranked teams, three of the seven have come at the hands of the nation's top ten, and two have been in overtime.
ONE GOAL GAMES: Five games this season have been decided by a goal with Old Dominion going 3-2 in those games. Two of those games have results in overtime and have been against two of the teams in the CAA Tournament. The Lady Monarchs fell 7-6 to both Hofstra and Delaware with the contest against the Fightin' Blue Hens going into a second overtime and a sudden victory situation.
RANK `EM UP: The Lady Monarchs have faced six ranked opponents this season.. Old Dominion previously met up with No. 1 North Carolina, No. 18/20 Rutgers, No. 20/18 Richmond, No. 5/5 Virginia, and No. 9/7 James Madison. Old Dominion took on Rutgers, Richmond, and Virginia marking a string of three consecutive games against ranked opponents and more recently just faced the ranked CAA foes Delaware and James Madison back-to-back. Hofstra is currently recieving votes in the Inside Lacrosse Poll. Should the Lady Monarchs advance to Sunday's championship game, they will met their seventh ranked opponent in either #8/14 James Madison or #20 Delaware.
ABOUT No. 1 HOFSTRA:
2007 Record: 10-6, 6-1 CAA
2006 Record: 11-7, 5-2 CAA
Series History: HU leads 5-4
First Meeting: 2002 - W, 16-8
Last Meeting: Apr. 8 - L, 6-7 (OT)
Common Non-Conference Opponents: Rutgers
LAST TIME VS. HOFSTRA: Old Dominion's Ashley Stanwick fired off a desperation shot off a midfield pass from Kelly Kimener as time expired in overtime as the Lady Monarch women's lacrosse team fell just short of defeating Hofstra, 7-6. The Lady Monarchs held a 6-5 lead for seven minutes before the Pride tied the game with 8:25 left in regulation. Kimberly Hillier found the back of the Old Dominion net for the final goal of the second half setting up the overtime showdown. Old Dominion controlled the first draw of the overtime session, taking the ball downfield and keeping possession to take time off the clock. Kimener had a chance to put the Lady Monarchs ahead with a free position attempt in the closing seconds of the first session, but Hofstra's Maisie Osteen came away with a huge save. In the second part of overtime, the Pride gained control of the draw. With 37 seconds remaining, Hofstra's Becky Thorn found the opening she needed to net what would prove to be the game-winner. Hofstra took possession on the ensuing draw control, but Kimener eventually gave control of the ball back to the Lady Monarchs. Causing the Hofstra turnover, Kimener scooped up the groundball and launched a pass downfield to an open Stanwick as just seconds remained. The Pride defense came racing over to Stanwick who managed to take a shot just before the horn sounded to end the game but saw the ball go wide. Old Dominion held a 15-11 edge in groundballs and were led by Jessica Noone with five. Noone was also one of three Lady Monarchs to caused two turnovers joining Lindsey Belle and Caroline Jacobs. A different Lady Monarch scored all seven goals in Sunday's loss. Hofstra had Hillier, Thorn, and Corrine Gandolfi each record two tallies. In net, junior Sara Larson made nine stops. Osteen posted seven saves including the save of Kimener's goal to preserve the win for the Pride. The game opened with the Pride getting on the scoreboard first, but Old Dominion would see Jacobs and freshman Ashley Kellogg put the Lady Monarchs ahead 2-1 by the 21:42 mark of the first half. Less than a minute later, Hofstra would score the first of three goals to end the first half giving the Pride a 4-2 edge at the intermission. Old Dominion would outscore Hofstra 4-2 in the second half, but it would be the Pride's second goal of the half that would force overtime. Five minutes into the second half, the Lady Monarchs had the game tied at 4-4. Hofstra's Corrine Gandolfi put the Pride back on top, 5-4 with 20 minutes remaining. Noone and junior Kaelyn Schival scored back-to-back for the Lady Monarchs giving ODU a 6-5 edge with 15:25 remaining before the dramatic finish.
ABOUT No. 2 James Madison:
2007 Record: 12-4, 5-2 CAA
2006 Record: 15-5, 6-1 CAA
Series History: JMU leads 7-30
First Meeting: 1980 - L, 10-15
Last Meeting: Apr. - L, 7-14
Common Non-Conference Opponents: Virginia
LAST TIME VS. JAMES MADISON: The Old Dominion women's lacrosse team fell to #9 (IWLCA)/7 (Inside Lacrosse) James Madison, 14-7, at the JMU Field Hockey/Soccer Complex. The Lady Monarchs were led by Jessica Noone who led the squad with two goals. Although the Lady Monarchs were outscored by seven goals, the team was pretty even with their opponent. Old Dominion outshot James Madison 28-23 and was slighty edged in groundballs, 19-16, and draw controls, 12-11. However, James Madison Kelly Wetzel netmider managed 14 stops in between the pipes, while ODU's Sara Larson made just four saves. The game began with James Madison taking a 4-0 lead and a 7-3 halftime advantage. The Lady Monarchs finally got onto the board with 19:07 left in the first half on Noone's first goal of the afternoon. Following Noone's goal, the Dukes scored two more times to up their advantage to 6-1 with 16:06 on the clock. Senior midfielder Caroline Jacobs notched ODU's second goal of the day, but it was followed by two straight goals by James Madison's Annie Wagner within a minute's span. Wagner's second goal gave the Dukes a 7-2 edge with 8:18 left in the half. Noone collected her second goal of the game with 2:33 left in the opening stanza pulling the Lady Monarch to within four at intermission.Freshman Ashley Kellogg scored less than two minutes into second half action and managed to whittle the Duke lead to three. However, once again James Madison responded with two tallies and took a 9-4 advantage with 20:21 left in the game.Old Dominion did not go away and 22 seconds later scored. Junior Kelly Kimener connected on a free position shot and saw her goal followed with another Lady Monarch tally exactly a minute later. This time it was senior Katie Veneziale with the score, closing the gap to 9-6 with 18:59 remaining. James Madison scored five of the game's next six goals. Following the Veneziale tally, the Dukes rattled off four unanswered goals. The lone Old Dominion goal during the span came from the stick of Alana Beckat the 5:04 mark. The goal was Beck's first career goal as a Lady Monarch.
ABOUT No. 3 Delaware:
2007 Record: 11-5, 5-2 CAA
2006 Record: 5-12, 1-6 CAA
Series History: ODU leads 9-8
First Meeting: 1993 - W, 12-11
Last Meeting: Apr. 15 - L, 6-7 (OT)
Common Non-Conference Opponents: Rutgers, UMBC
LAST TIME VS. DELAWARE: The Old Dominion women's lacrosse team fell in sudden victory overtime, 7-6, to No. 20 (IWLCA)/19 (Inside Lacrosse) Delaware on a cold and rainy afternnon at Rullo Stadium. Delaware's Courtney Aburn put away the game-winner 37 seconds into the second overtime session after the Blue Hens captured the draw control after a scoreless first session overtime put the teams into a sudden victory situation. Old Dominion started off the game rattling off four unanswered goals all coming from the sticks of different Lady Monarch attackers. Junior Kelly Kimener, seniors Caroline Jacobs and Katie Veneziale, and sophomore Jessica Noone (Manassas, Va.) all found the back of the Delaware pipes for the 4-0 ODU lead. Delaware did not break onto the scoreboard until the 7:19 mark of the first half and would collect two goals to enter the half with the Lady Monarchs ahead 4-2. In the second half, it would be Delaware outscoring Old Dominion 4-2. Senior Ashley Stanwick put the Lady Monarchs ahead 5-2 just minutes into the second stanza, but less than a minute later Delaware started a 4-0 rally. The fourth and final goal of the Fightin' Blue Hen run by Debbie Sloan tied the game at 5-5 with 16:33 left in regulation. Kimener, with her second goal of the afternoon and the only Lady Monarch to score more than once in the game, had an unassisted tally to put Old Dominion ahead 6-5 with 11:14 left in the second half. A mere 34 seconds later Delaware tied the game up. Casey McCrudden tied the game back up at 6-6 as the clock read 10:40 left. Neither team would score the rest of the way setting up the dramatic finish. Delaware outshot Old Dominion 31-18 and held an 11-6 advantage in draw controls. Veneziale led the way with three draws. The Lady Monarchs did collected 15 groundsballs as compared to the Blue Hen's 13. Sophomore Lindsey Belle scooped up four for the Lady Monarchs. In net, junior Sara Larson posted six saves including a crucial stop on a Delaware free position with less than a minute remaining in the second half. Additionally, Larson recorded three groundballs. Her counterpart, Jessica Cerveny made five saves for Delaware.
ON THE SIDELINES: Hofstra assistant coach Danielle Piercy may remember Old Dominion's last appearance in the CAA Tournament. That may be because she was a senior midfielder on that 2003 squad. Known as Danielle Hensil back then, she is currently fourth in the ODU record books in points (163) and goals (124) and tied for fifth in assists (39). Her fourth place position in points is currently being challenged by current senior midfielder Caroline Jacobs. Jacobs needs only a goal or an assist to tie the former Lady Monarch standout and current Pride assist and two more points to surpass her on the list.
IN THE RECORD BOOKS:
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) - 108 - 54 - 162
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:
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. Caroline Jacobs (2004 - present) - 108
8. Melody Shotwell (2002-2006) - 100
9. Amy Duerr (1992-1995) - 94
10. Kailynne Ross (1996-1999) - 86
ASSISTS:
1. Suzanne Wosczyna (2001-2004) - 119
2. Caroline Jacbos (2004 - present) - 54
3. Dana Kuchta (1993-1996) - 50
4. Erica Davidheiser (1992 - 1995) - 40
5T. Anne Windover (1993-1996) - 39
5T. Danielle Hensil (2000 - 2003) - 39
7. Janine Rodriguez (2001-2004) - 37
8. Katie Veneziale (2004 - present) - 34
9. Amy Duerr (1992-1995) - 29
10. Carly Brown (1995-1998) - 28
ODU IN THE NATIONAL STATS:
Winning Percentage:
36 - .500
Scoring Defense:
27 - 10.29
Scoring Offense:
65 - 9.21
Margin Of Victory:
49 - -1.07
Ground Balls Per Game:
49 - 16.29
Caused Turnovers Per Game
36 - 8.36
Draw Controls Per Game:
69 - 10.43
Points Per Game:
79 - Caroline Jacobs - 3.07
Goals Per Game:
71 - Caroline Jacobs - 2.29
Assists Per Game:
74 - Katie Veneziale - 1.00
Goals Against Average:
20 - Sara Larson - 10.02
Save Percentage
15 - Sara Larson - .505
Ground Balls
24 - Caroline Jacobs - 2.86
Draw Controls
21 - Katie Veneziale - 2.93
Caused Turnovers
16 - Caroline Jacobs - .93
ODU IN THE CAA STATS:
Winning Percentage:
4 - .500
Scoring Defense:
6 - 10.29
Scoring Offense:
7 - 9.21
Ground Balls Per Game:
5 - 16.29
Caused Turnovers Per Game
6 - 8.36
Draw Controls Per Game:
7 - 10.43
Points Per Game:
9 - Caroline Jacobs - 3.07
Goals Per Game:
8T. - Caroline Jacobs - 2.29
Assists Per Game:
8T - Katie Veneziale - 1.00
Game-Winning Goals:
3T. - Ashley Kellogg - 0.2
Goals Against Average:
5 - Sara Larson- 10.02
Save Percentage
3 - Sara Larson - .505
Ground Balls
4 - Caroline Jacobs - 2.86
Draw Controls
4 - Katie Veneziale - 2.93
Caused Turnovers
3 - Caroline Jacobs - .93