STANDISH, ME – The 2010 Saint Joseph's College Women's Lacrosse team enjoyed a banner season under first-year Head Coach Anna Gordon. The Monks, 10-4-1 overall and 7-1 in GNAC contests, set 17 new team records and posted a 10-game undefeated streak during the year.
Saint Joseph's set new single-season records for wins, winning percentage (.714), goals (220) and ground balls (461) in 2010 and hosted the program's first postseason contest, a Great Northeast Athletic Conference semifinal game against Norwich on April 21st. Also, St. Joe's ranked fifth in the country in ground balls per game (30.73).
St. Joe's began the year with three straight wins before notching a 15-15 tie against Husson, the first stalemate in the short history of both programs, on March 24th. The Monks proceeded to win six straight after the deadlock and were the only undefeated team in all of NCAA DIII Women's Lacrosse before falling to Southern Maine on April 13th.
Two standout players, Lauren Hagerman '10 (Scarborough, ME) and Alyssa Marchant '11 (Wakefield, MA), enjoyed their best seasons to date and notched impressive milestones on their way to posting outstanding offensive totals. Marchant gained First Team All-GNAC honors for the second consecutive year after 61 goals, four assists, 71 ground balls, 26 draw controls and 13 caused turnovers. The junior tri-captain became the first SJC player to reach the 100-goal mark with a score against Thomas College on March 18th. Also a two-time First Team All-GNAC choice, Hagerman put up bountiful numbers across the board, as she led the Royal Blue in assists (29), points (83) and draw controls (55) while tallying 54 goals, 53 ground balls and 13 caused turnovers as a senior. She became the second player to reach the century mark in goals with a marker against Becker on March 28th and became first Monk to score 200 points in their career during the season.
Two other SJC players, freshmen Casey Monaghan (Portland, ME/Portland) and Erika Waterhouse (South Portland, ME), garnered Second Team All-GNAC honors. Monaghan, a defensive ace, ranked third on the team with 37 ground balls and caused six turnovers during her rookie season. Waterhouse emerged as a top scoring threat and contributed 20 goals, six assists and 18 ground balls in 2010.
The Monks opened the season with a 15-7 win over University of Maine-Farmington on March 16th at Deering Memorial Stadium in Portland. St. Joe's saw its 6-3 halftime lead cut to zero, as the Beavers quickly netted a trio of markers to open the second stanza, but the Monks prevailed with the help of seven unanswered goals over the final 15 minutes of play. Marchant paced all scorers with six goals, while SJC netminder Taylor Allison '12 (Pawtucket, RI) registered 17 saves and corralled seven ground balls in the triumph.
St. Joe's went on to defeat non-conference foe Thomas College on March 18th by an 18-6 margin. The Monks, once again led by Marchant with six scores, held an 11-2 halftime cushion and weren't truly tested in this triumph. Marchant's second goal of the game, 3:20 into play, was the 100th of her career.
Two days later Saint Joseph's hosted Pine Manor College in the Monks' 2010 conference opener. The Royal Blue, led by another six-spot from Marchant, cruised to a 17-3 victory and improved to 3-0; marking the program's first-ever 3-0 start.
On March 24th, the Monks trekked to Bangor for a non-conference contest versus Husson University. The teams played through driving snow and bitter cold and stood at a 14-14 stalemate after regulation, and the head coaches agreed to play a three-minute overtime period to determine the winner. Marchant scored her fourth goal of the game during the extra frame, but Husson's Shelby Bradford scored with 59 seconds left to knot the game at 15 apiece, which is how the game ended due to darkness. Vanessa Brooks '10 (Bath, ME) tallied three goals, while Hagerman chipped in with two goals and two assists in the deadlock.
Two days later St. Joe's hosted GNAC rival Mount Ida College and improved to 2-0 in GNAC play with an 18-13 win over the Mustangs. Marchant scored a program-record 10 goals in the win and Hagerman tallied five goals, two assists, eight ground balls and five draw controls for the Monks.
The Royal Blue then traveled to Becker College for a non-league game on March 28th. The contest was close in the early going, but St. Joe's managed to rattle off five unanswered goals in the first five minutes of the second half to set the stage for a 22-14 victory. Allison was solid in net with 15 saves and Hagerman paced the Monks with eight goals, two assists and seven draw controls and tallied the 100th goal of her career at the 25:41 mark of the second stanza.
Up next for the Monks was perhaps the most memorable game of the 2010 season. On April 2nd, St. Joe's hosted Norwich University in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest. After essentially swapping goals for all of regulation, the conference rivals required four overtime frames to determine a winner. In the 83rd minute of play, Lizzie Farley '11 (Scarborough, ME) scored a free-position goal to lift the Monks to a 13-12 victory over the eventual GNAC Champions.
Over the next eight days, St. Joe's proceeded to rattle off three consecutive conference victories over Simmons, Lasell and St. Joseph (CT) and stood at 9-0-1 on April 13th when University of Southern Maine made its way to Standish. The Monks and Huskies dueled to a 5-5 tie over the first 30 minutes, but the eventual LEC Champions proved too much for the Royal Blue to handle, as the visitors scored nine unanswered goals over the final 20 minutes to gain a 14-7 win. Hagerman played a hand in all seven of the SJC goals, with two scored and five helpers, in the Monks' first loss of the season.
St. Joe's regained its winning ways and remained perfect (7-0) in GNAC contests with a 19-8 win over Rivier College three days later. Hagerman tallied three goals and three assists and Marchant found the back of the cage five times in the triumph.
2009 GNAC Champion Emerson College was next on the docket for St. Joe's and both teams entered the day undefeated in conference games. Holding a two-goal lead at the half, the Lions managed to keep the Monks' offense at bay and scored in bunches en route to an 18-11 victory. Hagerman netted three goals and notched her 200th career point in the team's first conference set back of the year.
After suffering a 23-10 loss to non-league opponent Salve Regina University on April 19th, Saint Joseph's prepared for the GNAC Tournament. With St. Joe's, Emerson and Norwich all holding a 7-1 conference record, the league was forced to use a pair of tiebreakers to determine the tourney seeding. As a result of a coin flip, Emerson was awarded the #1 seed and Saint Joseph's, having defeated Norwich earlier in the year, received the second seed. The Monks would host the Cadets in the first-ever postseason lacrosse contest on SJC soil on April 21st.
The evenly-matched game was led by Norwich, 6-4, at halftime and the Cadets tacked on another goal to open the second stanza. Saint Joseph's went on to tally four straight markers and held an 8-7 lead before the visitors scored five of the game's subsequent six goals to gain a 12-9 lead. Hagerman would add a free-position goal with 5:27 left, but the Cadets defense kept the Royal Blue off the board for the remainder of the contest and returned to Vermont with a 12-10 win.
With the loss, the SJC Lacrosse program said goodbye to five seniors: Hagerman, Brooks, Logen Ryley (Leominster, MA), Jaimee Brett (Otisfield, ME) and Claire Cook (Sangerville, ME). The quintet helped the Monks post a 21-20-1 (.512) record in three varsity lacrosse seasons and combined to play in 191 games in their collective careers and will be long remembered as a group that helped pioneer women's lacrosse at Saint Joseph's College.
Several individuals enjoyed outstanding seasons:
- Hagerman closed out her career with her finest season and ranks as the program's all-time leader in assists (77), points (207), shot percentage (.491), man-down goals (6) and draw controls (157). She ranked 18th in the nation with 5.53 points per game and became the first SJC women's lacrosse player to garner regional attention when she was named as the ECAC New England Offensive Player of the Week on March 30th.
- Marchant enters her senior season as the program's career leader in goals (153), shots (312), shots on goal (251), game-winning goals (7), man-up goals (7), FP goals (18), ground balls (138) and caused turnovers (39).
- Amelia Santos '12 (Beverly, MA) posted a fine season with 27 goals, 13 assists, 28 ground balls and seven FP goals in 2010.
- Farley scored 12 goals with 15 ground balls and Megan Cutter '12 (Westbrook, ME) registered nine goals, five assists and 30 ground balls last spring.
- Emily Wight '13 (Westbrook, ME) tallied 12 goals, 36 ground balls, 19 draw controls and five caused turnovers.
- Allison enjoyed a solid season between the pipes with an 11.08 goals-against average, .448 save percentage and 139 saves as a sophomore. She earned a pair of GNAC Goalkeeper of the Week honors in 2010 and is the program's all-time leader in GAA (13.10), saves (299) and wins (15). As the Monks' only keeper over the past two seasons, Allison has logged 1754 minutes of play in 29 games, with both totals also qualifying as program records.
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Back (L-R): Student Asst. Jessica Dorney, Asst.
Coach Kate Littlefield, Nicole Adam, Allyson Woods, Jaimee Middle (L-R): Jade Thyng, Courtney Josephson, Amelia Santos, Lizzie Farley, Claire Cook, Danielle Cusack Front (L-R): Emily Wight, Casey Monaghan, Logen
Ryley, Alyssa Marchant, Vanessa Brooks, Lauren Bailey, |
