ALERT: The UMBC women's lacrosse game vs. Vanderbilt has been postponed and will be played at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 23 at UMBC Stadium.
The Retrievers (0-1) are coming off a season-opening loss to Hofstra, while the Commodores won their first game over Cincinnati.
Last Time Out: The UMBC women's lacrosse team dropped its season opener, 16-7, to Hofstra Saturday afternoon at UMBC Stadium. Senior attack Ali Levendusky (Baldwin, Md./John Carroll) led the Retrievers with three goals and an assist in the loss. UMBC got on the board first when junior midfielder Abbey Swift (Baltimore, Md./Towson) scored 5:30 into the game. But the Pride responded with five straight goals and nine of the next 11 to take a commanding 9-3 lead. Hofstra took a 9-4 lead into the intermission. The Pride scored back-to-back goals to start the second half, but the Retrievers answered back with Levendusky's third goal and Swfit's second. Leading 11-6 with 14:54 remaining, the Pride scored five of the final six goals of the game for the 16-7 victory. UMBC's only tally during the final 15 minutes was scored by junior midfielder Kara Dorr (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) with 3:30 remaining. Levendusky finished with four points, while Dorr tallied three on a goal and two assists. The difference in the game came in draw control margin, which Hofstra held at 19-6. In addition, the Pride made seven of nine free-position shots, while UMBC was just 1-for-10. The Retrievers out-shot Hofstra, 35-30.
On the Commodores: The Commodores (1-0) opened their season with a 20-4 home victory over Cincinnati in the Bearcats' first-ever women's lacrosse game. Vanderbilt returns 22 players from last season's 11-5 squad that was the No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Included in that group are six of the Commodores' top 10 scorers from 2007 and two All-Americans in senior midfielders Margie Curran (50 goals) and Sasha Cielak (43 caused turnovers). Against Cincinnati, Vanderbilt was led by midfielder Carter Foote's five goals, but a total of nine Commodores scored at least one goal in the game.
Inside the Series: Vanderbilt leads the all-time series, 2-0, but the teams have not met since 1997, a 13-4 victory for the Commodores.
Taking on the Best: UMBC will face four teams in 2008 that were ranked in the top 20 in the first IWLCA Coaches' Poll, including No. 9 Johns Hopkins (April 9), No. 12 Vanderbilt (Feb. 22), No. 15 Yale (April 13) and No. 19 Boston University (April 19). In addition, Hofstra, the Retrievers' opponent in the season opener on Saturday, received votes in the rankings. In the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll Yale was ranked 10th, Johns Hopkins 11th, Vanderbilt 16th, Boston U. 18th and Delaware (March 10) 20th. Vanderbilt, Yale, Boston U., Johns Hopkins and Hofstra all advanced in the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
UMBC Picked Fourth: The UMBC women's lacrosse team was predicted to finish in a tie for fourth place in the America East standings, according to a vote of the league's head coaches. Both the Retrievers and Albany received 19 points apiece in the America East Preseason Coaches' Poll. Three-time defending champion Boston University is the preseason favorite to win its fourth straight league title. The Terriers received four first-place votes and 35 total points. New Hampshire and Stony Brook each received one first place vote, but the Wildcats edged the Seawolves in the preseason standings, 29 points to 27. UMBC (19), Albany (19), Vermont (11) and Binghamton (6) round out the seven-team poll. The top four teams in the conference will advance to the America East Championships April 25-27. The Retrievers look to return to the America East Tournament after missing the postseason for the first time since UMBC joined the league in 2004.
Dawg Bites: The Retrievers return three of their top five goal scorers from a year ago… UMBC welcomes a large incoming class of 11 freshmen for the 2008 season to go along with eight returning starters and 19 returning letter-winners overall… The Retrievers lost their top two scorers in America East all-conference second team members Jen Kasper (26 goals, 44 points) and Kelly Fahey (26 goals, 42 points), but top returning players include first-team all-conference midfielder Maggie Chizmar (29 ground balls, 17 caused turnovers), second-team attack Ali Levendusky (28 goals, 38 points) and all-rookie midfielder Kelly Burgoyne (8 goals, 15 caused turnovers)… Also returning is junior midfielder Kara Dorr, who led the Retrievers with 29 goals and 42 draw controls last season, and junior attack Abbey Swift, whose 26 goals ranked third on the team in 2007… Five Retrievers scored 20 or more goals on the season for the first time since 2003… Dorr, senior attack Meghan Keelan and junior defender Ashley Lancer will serve as 2008 team captains… Dorr has scored at least one point in nine straight games dating to March 31 at Boston U., while Levendusky is riding an eight-game goal streak (April 4/American) and a 10-game point streak (March 24/New Hampshire).
