St. Joe’s women’s lacrosse aims to build upon their previous successes as they begin Atlantic 10 Conference play on March 22 at St. Bonaventure University.
Over the past three years, the team has netted 7-2 conference records and third place finishes in the A-10 Tournament, with programs such as the University of Massachusetts and the University of Richmond claiming the top spots.
Senior defender Ally Beck said the team is setting its sights on beating out those teams to win the tournament.
“Going into [conference play], we are not going to overlook any team, even if we have not lost to them in recent years,” Beck said. “However, overall we are definitely motivated to beat Richmond, who beat us last year in the A-10 playoffs and sent us home, and Massachusetts, who has proved to be a tough competitor.”
Beck said the senior class’s combination of experience and talent highlights the team’s stregnths and unifies the team as a whole.
“We have a small senior class, but all of our seniors have a lot of experience,” Beck said. “Just on attack, we have [Rebecca Lane] and [Francesca Donato] who have recently hit [milestone achievements] in their career, so I think our senior leadership helps focus the entire team.”
Senior attack and Captain Rebecca Lane recently hit the 200-point mark, totaling goals and assists, to place second all-time in St. Joe’s women’s lacrosse program history. Senior attack Francesca Donato recently broke the 100-point barrier. On defense, Beck leads the charge with 53 caused turnovers during her career, a stat line she attributes as a factor in building this year’s strong defensive core.
“Our defensive unit is the best one we’ve had in the past few years,” Beck said. “Switching in and out of different defensive sets, and our transition–getting the ball to the attackers–has been really great this year.”
Donato echoed Beck’s sentiment that the players’ confidence in each other forms the team’s backbone heading into conference play.
“What we have right now is what we have been building for a year and a half,” Donato said. “The chemistry and belief we have right now is something hard to come by, and I think these are the factors that are going to make us different from any other year.”
Donato added that their tough non-conference schedule against nationally ranked Georgetown University, the United States Naval Academy and Johns Hopkins University has provided valuable experience to take forward.
Lane compared the games they played against nationally ranked opponents to their strong conference opponents, Massachusetts and Richmond.
“Both Massachusetts and Richmond have very high-pressure defenses and strong goalies to cap it off,” Lane said. “It’s similar to what we’ve faced in our out-of-conference games with Georgetown, Navy and Johns Hopkins, so I think these experiences are preparing us in our face-off down the road.”
Lane said that the team’s great physical condition sets them apart from past seasons in their ability to compete at a high level.
“[Our speed and fitness] allow us to push out our opponents, tire them out and grind them down over a full 60 minutes,” Lane said.
Head Coach Alex Kahoe added that playing against nationally ranked competition affirms the team’s belief in their ability to do something special in conference play.
“To be able to play against ranked opponents, against strong programs early in our season has continued to build the team’s confidence,” Kahoe said. “It builds something we will take into every game going forward.”
Looking at the talent filling her roster, Kahoe said that there is no limit to what this team can accomplish.
“As a team, I think we are faster than we have ever been, more athletic and have a higher lacrosse IQ as a team than we’ve ever had,” Kahoe said. “Putting all those aspects together with our team chemistry, leadership and depth, we simply have a special team this year.”
