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Feb. 8, 2022 — NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse preview
The Fearless 5ive:
BOSTON COLLEGE
DUKE
NORTH CAROLINA
NORTHWESTERN
SYRACUSE
OK, gang. Let’s get this out of the way. There are three NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse teams that can book their tickets and hotels for Baltimore this May. I mean, they can chisel their names in granite in the Final Four, leaving about 100 other teams to try to get in on the action.
Defending champion Boston College retains the services of fifth-year senior Charlotte North, who showed, during her Tewaaraton-winning season, that she was much more than a viral internet sensation. She showed herself to be a player with all of the tools and the willingness to use them.
Alongside her are Jenn Medjid, as well as top prospect Mallory Hasselbeck, and Belle Smith, and this B.C. offense should be able to be just as dangerous as last year. In the midfield, Courtney and Cassidy Weeks will be able to run transition, and North and Hollie Schleicher will be counted upon for draw controls.
On defense, the Eagles will retain goalie Rachel Hall, who was immense in the tournament, frustrating the best that other teams were able to throw at her.
The team that many are picking to take down Boston College is Syracuse. The Orange, despite a major preseason injury to Emma Ward, have a phalanx of players on both offense and defense for head coach Kayla Treanor to pick from. Indeed, one reason why Syracuse is being selected for top honors is Treanor, who was the offensive coordinator for Boston College a year ago. She therefore is one of the people who is uniquely qualified to try to stop a Charlotte North-led offense.
Another team which is laying in the rushes is North Carolina. The heavy preseason favorite, the Tar Heels fell short in the national semifinal round. The Heels have just about everybody back this season including Jamie Ortega, Scottie Rose Growney, Caitlyn Wurzburger, and Tayler Warehime. Add to this offensive mix Olivia Dirks and Andie Aldave through the transfer portal, and this might be the kind of mix which could win a title.
Of course, as we said a year ago, the problem for this high-powered offense is that there’s only one ball. If the Heels can value possession, they should be unstoppable.
Northwestern is still being looked at as a top team, despite the fact that the group will be without Izzy Scane for the season due to injury. But even without the Scane Train in the lineup, Northwestern returns midfielder Lauren Gilbert (66 goals) and Erin Coykendall (44 assists). The team is going to have to get heroic efforts from its defense, which came undone in the national semifinal against Syracuse.
A definite contender laying in wait, looking for mistakes, is Duke. The team has six fifth-year seniors to bolster its roster, which has the venerable Maddie Jenner at center, Katie DeSimone and Katie Cronin at attack, and Catrione Barry in the midfield. But the Blue Devils will only get as far as their defense can carry them. If the team can settle on just one goalie (the team has five on the preseason roster), things might get very interesting on the dark-blue half of Tobacco Road.
ELSEWHERE IN DIVISION I: The work goes on as Maryland has been looking for new and innovative ways to compete in the current environment. One big innovation is the team’s leading returning scorer, Hannah Leubecker, who came to Maryland through homeschooling.
But the Terps have also gained players through the transfer portal. One absolute gem is Aurora Cordingley, who has played with distinction at Johns Hopkins the last four years. The team also got Abby Bosco from Pennsylvania, Shannon Smith from UNC, and Natalie Pansini from Princeton.
This gumbo of players is going to look a lot different this week than it will in late April, and it is going to be interesting to see how well the Terps compete.
Florida is ranked seventh in the country coming into the season, even though it graduated more than 50 percent of its goals scored from last year’s team. A lot is going to have to come from junior attacking midfielder Paisley Eagan and sophomore Danielle Pavinelli. Senior Emma Wightman and sophomore goalie Sarah Reznick are the best in their craft in the always-competitive American Athletic Conference.
Despite the dominance on the part of a number of eastern and midwestern teams in the last few years, this could be the year that Stanford could make a move in the national conversation. Fifty-goal scorer Ali Baiocco and fellow fifth-year senior Galen Lew return for the Cardinal.
But the Stanford freshman class is the No. 1-ranked incoming class according to Inside Lacrosse magazine. A player to watch for Stanford is first-year Sarah Jaques, an attacker from Darien, Conn., who has a serious skill set. Also, look for Ashley Thurston, who is a 5-10 midfielder from Lake Highland Prep, meaning she was coached by the legendary Chris Robinson.
There are two other teams which could be bellweather teams for not only 2022, but 2023, as both teams are changing conferences after this year.
Stony Brook is moving from America East to the Colonial Athletic Association, and is doing so in all sports. But the America East Conference has summarily banned the Seawolves from conference tournaments in all sports, a move which is highly punitive towards the women’s lacrosse program, one which was one failed clear away from making it into the Final Four a few years ago.
Stony Brook is therefore going to have to make it into the tournament whilst maximizing its Ratings Percentage Index. This might be a little more difficult to do this year since the Seawolves have only four ranked opponents, and have to play three of them (Syracuse, Florida, and Northwestern) in the first four games of the season.
For its part, James Madison is moving from the Colonial to the American Athletic Conference, and does so with a large portion of its offense intact. Isabella Peterson (45 goals) and Kacey Knobloch (25) return, as well as Rachel Matey (62 draw controls). Madison, only a few years removed from winning a national championship, could very well get the needed performances on defense, where goalie Molly Dougherty had double-digit saves in seven contests.
DARK HORSE: Denver. The Pioneers have been a team which has been the standard-bearer in the midwest for a while, but the team has been very strong the last three years. Denver has made the NCAA Tournament the last three years, advancing to the Round of 16 this past spring. At that juncture, the team had the misfortune of having to face an in-form Northwestern side.
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