While UMBC suffered an intense snowstorm this past weekend, the women’s lacrosse team was still able to keep their composure and win the first game of their season in Jacksonville, Florida.

“The sunny, breezy, warm weather was a lot different from what we are used to since it has been so cold back home,” said coach Kelly Berger. “Luckily, we were able to take advantage of the beautiful weather and play our game.

Berger also mentioned that she was very proud of her player’s focus while dealing with the stress the snow storm brought to UMBC. Apparently, the Retrievers were very focused, beating the Jacksonville Dolphins 18-2.

Junior Erika Braerman led the Retrievers squad with six points; four goals and two assists. Also, junior midfielders: Kristen Milligan, Amanda Pappas, and Ashley Stodter all contributed to UMBC’s victory scoring three goals each. UMBC’s senior goalie Kate Quick was also a key component in UMBC’s victory, only allowing two goals into her cage as the UMBC women’s lacrosse team won the game at the Dolphins’ D.B. Milne Field.

“As a senior, I can rely on Kate to keep her head in the game,” said Berger.

This weekend marked Berger’s first game as a head coach for the Retrievers. Also, ironically, it was the first game in the history of Jacksonville’s women’s lacrosse program. However, despite the hype that the Dolphin’s brought to their first game, the Retrievers were till able to triumph. The Retrievers ground ball play may be the reason why these women were so successful in Florida.

“I was proud of the hustle my players brought to Jacksonville. It really showed with ground balls as we broke down the fundamentals of the game,” said Berger.

The women’s lacrosse team had a great experience in Jacksonville, and will hopefully have a lot more as their season continues. They were happy to make it back to UMBC safely with all the harsh weather conditions surrounding them. The women’s lacrosse team is looking forward to getting better this week until their next game, when they will travel south to Fairfax, Virginia in order to play George Mason.

Comments can be sent to mry1@umbc.edu.

While the women’s lacrosse team was expected to win by a large margin in their season opener of Jacksonville, who was playing their inaugural game in the sport, they did answer many questions in the 18-2 victory.

Last season the team came just won win away from a spot in the America East Conference tournament, but since then the team that ranked fourth in the conference with 11.71 goals per game lost 31% of their offense, highlighted with losses of Kara Dorr (40 goals), and Abbey Swift (20 goals). With the team only returning 8.0 goals per game, the question coming into the season was who could step up and improve the offense?

Juniors Amanda Pappas (28 goals in 2009) and Ashley Stodter (25 goals), and sophomore Emily Coady (22 goals) seemed like top candidates for the job coming into the season, but just how much could they add to their totals when defenses were now keying on them?

But even though the team was facing a Jacksonville team that had never played a women’s lacrosse game prior, and was filled with freshman, most of whom were no even marginally sought after by colleges, the Retriever got a good glimpse of who could potentially step up under new coach Kelly Berger.

Pappas, Stodter, and Coady combined for seven goals but Erika Braerman and Kristen Milligan could be the two keys for the offense stepping up this season. Braerman, who only scored nine goals last season, nearly halved that total in just one game with four. Milligan missed 11 games last season but still only managed one goal in six games. Against Jacksonville she was one of three players to score hat-tricks. Her move from a primarily defensive role to an offensive role could be a pleasant addition to the team.

But one of the big additions on the team could be Alicia Krause, a transfer from Duquesne who scored 20 goals as a freshman with the Dukes. In her debut at UMBC he scored twice while starting at attack.

Those goal totals will likely go down as the team faces tougher competition as the season goes on, but all of them showed an improvement in finishing and ball placement, which is why the win shows promise as both of those abilities speaks to what the player can do, not what defense can limit a player to do.

While the defense finished third in the conference last season after allowing less than 10 goals per game, senior Sarah Willis, a second-team all-conference defender, and C.J. Durham, welcomes two new faces to the starting unit, sophomore transfer from Hofstra, Lauren Mundell, and freshman Jamie Fahey. While allowing just two goals could mean poor fundamentals or finishing by the offense, the fact that Jacksonville was only allowed six shots on goals speaks to the defense.

The bigger test may be next weekend when the team travels to George Mason, but the team picked to finish fifth in the America East Conference showed that they may have what it takes to be a bit of a surprise this season.

Comments can be sent to cjohns2@umbc.edu.