March 3, 2011
By Jeff Sattora, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - With two losses already on their resume and a tough road trip coming up the Penn State women's lacrosse team knew how important their game against Bucknell would be Wednesday night, and they played like it.
In a game that was never really in doubt the Lions charged out to a 9-0 lead in route to a 22-2 win over the Bison for their first win of the 2011 campaign.
Head Coach Missy Doherty was happy with the team's performance in the win, her first as Penn State's head coach.
"Today I think the team started coming together more, which you could see on the offensive end," Doherty said. This was evident in the stat sheet with 13 different players scoring goals for Penn State.
Of the 13 players who scored, nine of them scored for the first time this season, which really shows how deep and talented this squad is.
Penn State was led offensively in the goal column by senior midfielder Laura Lesnick with four goals and Mary Dean close behind with three. Elaine Welch, Aly Adams, Evan Foulsham and Hayley Scfarnos all had two goals for the home team.
The Lions made some adjustments offensively with pushing some midfielders and defenders more towards the offensive end, which really seemed to pay off.
"I feel like we played more as a team on attack than we have," said senior captain Maggie Dunbar.
Coach Doherty also talked about how the big win gave a chance for the second team and reserves to show what they can do on the field and how that kept the players motivated throughout the game.
"I think you could see from across the board we are really competitive at every position," Doherty said, adding, "even the second teamers come in and they're competing for that starting spot and it's good to have the depth on the bench."
"Everybody stepped up," defender Brittaney Chamberlin said.
Chamberlin also talked about how important this win was for regrouping as a team.
"The plan was just to regroup, get back to our basics," Chamberlin said, adding how they always focus on working hard at all times.
The team is looking to take that hard work and regrouped attitude into a tough road stretch over spring break.
This weekend Penn State will be hitting the road and battling Virginia, who is the fifth-ranked team in the nation in the latest polls, following that up Tuesday night with a tough test on the road against the nation's seventh ranked team, Loyola.
The Lions defeated Loyola last year in their season opener 9-8 at Holuba Hall.
Maggie Dunbar knows how important these two games coming up are, especially for the senior class.
"Obviously you want to win every game, but Virginia and Loyola are the big games of the season," Dunbar said.
Dunbar also added how this can really help them gain momentum and a successful road trip would, "give us a great head of steam going into the rest of the games we play."
This was a big win for the team as the end their homestand on a high note. They have two huge games coming up as Maggie Dunbar pointed out and the way their offense played against Bucknell they will have a great shot in both of them.
