Northwest Women's Lacrosse News

UW Women's Lacrosse Team Sweep Easter Weekend Play

Decimated by injuries, mysterious illnesses and bereavement, the short-handed Huskies swept play on Saturday, April 14^th on the IMA Fields. Playing with only one substitute the Dawgs outplayed a well-staffed Whitman Team 10 - 2 in the morning game.

Freshmen Kelly Jensen made a dramatic wheelchair-bound entrance midway through the second half of the Whitman game. Kelly is out for the season with a mysterious bloodclot challenge in her leg. Also out for the season with a torn ACL, but on the sideline keeping stats and time for the game, was freshman Shannon Smith. The Huskies were missing several other players, including senior Krista Lund who was felled by a mysterious illness at the Western States Tournament at UC Davis two weeks ago and will be lost for the season.

Against Whitman, UW built up a comfortable lead in the first half and kept adding to it in the second half. Leading scorers for the Huskies were sophomores Laura Casey (4 goals) and Alicia Peterson (2 goals and 3 assists) and junior Jenny O'Niel (2 goals). Also adding a goal each were junior Lisa Lurie and sophomore Mimy Bailey. Sophomore Katie Kirkland contributed two key assists. Tami Wilkerson played another strong game in goal notching 5 saves.

The big game of the day was against I-5 rival Western Washington in the afternoon. The Huskies were looking to avenge an embarrassing loss of a few weeks ago in Bellingham when they had to play without the services of Head Coach Vinca Swanson. Coach Swanson was on the sidelines this day and several players noted the big difference it made in their play - especially since they were so short on substitutes.

The game against the Vikings was a low-scoring defensive struggle. The Dawgs scored first deep into the first half only to have their goal answered quickly by the Vikings. Western grabbed the lead several minutes later off a free-position-shot. With time running out in the first half junior D-Wing Sarah Childer won a critical groundball in Husky territory. She broke free and lofted a strong pass to Mimy Bailey who made a very strong run to Western's goal eluding defenders and rifling in the tying goal with 4 seconds to go in the half.

The tough defense by both sides continued in the second half. The Huskies broke on top 3-2 when a triple-teamed Alicia Peterson rolled around the crease and snuck a shot passed the Vikings goalie. A short time later, Western answered to tie the game. It wasn't until the final 8 minutes of the game that the Huskies regained and sealed the lead with goals by sophomore Lise Martin and Jenny O'Niel. UW played possession ball for the remainder of the game to ice the victory at 5 -3.

Tami Wilkerson played exceptional in goal tallying 6 saves including a key one on a second half free-position-shot that would have tied the game at 4. The game was well attended and especially boisterous and fun both because of the rivalry and because several members of the UW Men's Lacrosse were in attendance to support their sister crease-monkeys.

Next up for the Husky Women will be tough games against UPS, Seattle Women's and ReLax at UPS April 22^nd.