By Zachary Waltz
Staff Writer
The lacrosse team lost two of its three games last week, dropping their record to 5-4.
The team has three games scheduled for next week against Temple (6-4) Friday, St. Joseph’s (6-4) Sunday and Bucknell (1-10) Tuesday.
Head Coach Ryan Lynn said the team needs to focus on fundamentals in order to stay competitive as the Bonnies continue Atlantic 10 play.
“We think we match up pretty well,” Lynn said. “It’s the fundamental things that we have to get right. That’s what we’ve been missing the last two games. We have to get the draw controls, get the ground balls, and limit the turnovers.”
Lynn said he is expecting the outcome of the St. Joe’s game to depend on whether or not the Bonnies can execute in the transition game.
“If everything goes well, our offense and defense will work for us,” Lynn said. “We definitely have to stick to the fundamentals and move the ball through the midfield. We can’t just rely on running it up every single time. We have to be able to pass the ball between the30s.”
The Bucknell game should offer an easy matchup for the Bonnies, Lynn said. He also said the game will basically serve as an extra opportunity for the team to see on-field action.
“It’s an out-of-conference game that we put on the schedule to make sure that we continue to get solid work that is outside of practice,” Lynn said. “There’s nothing that can replace game-time scenarios, and we need to continue to build as we get through our A-10 games.”
Last week’s game against Iona (2-9) March 23 ended in a 14-9 win for the Bonnies. Sophomore attacker Jenna Schlagenhauf and junior midfielder Erin Thomas led the team by scoring three goals each, while sophomore midfielder Taylor Ventre tossed in two. Schlagenhauf also led the team in assists with two.
“Our offense started to click,” Lynn said. “We made a few changes and pulled our defenders up to the midfield, which brought everything over in the offensive zone. That offensive mentality sparked the movement we were looking for. We were running the sets we wanted to and getting goals off of those sets. Most importantly, we did well transitioning the ball through the midfield.”
Lynn said the Bonnies couldn’t get the transition game going against the Canisius Golden Griffins (7-3) on the 25th, leading to an 18-3 loss. Schlagenhauf netted another two goals, raising her team-leading total to 25. Senior defender Kellyn Savage scored the Bonnies’ only other goal. Schlagenhauf tallied the only assist for the Bonnies.
“We struggled on the offensive side of the ball,” Lynn said. “The reason for that was getting the ball through the midfield. We stopped passing the ball up the field and tried to simply run it up single-handedly, and some things just won’t work against teams of that caliber. Ultimately, we failed to get any good open looks at the net.”
The Bonnies lost their first A-10 game to Duquesne (6-4) March 29 by a final score of 18-1.
Lynn said the Bonnies again did a poor job on the offensive side of the ball. Junior attacker Lauren Michaels scored the only goal for the Bonnies, while Schlagenhauf was held shotless.
“We struggled getting touches and getting the ball around to everybody,” Lynn said. “We’re running between the 30s so much that we ended up getting gassed. Honestly, we did a very poor job picking up ground balls. We have to be ready to get every one of those possessions. Every ground ball missed is a possession missed. We didn’t have the ball, and when you don’t have the ball, you can’t win the game.”
