Lady Spartan Lacrosse Team Opens Season with Tough Loss

By Samantha Burden

On March 21, I attended the Lady Spartan Lacrosse home opening game against Dowling College. The Lady Spartan Lacrosse team came out strong following a turn around season in 2014. The Women’s Lacrosse team has made tremendous improvements throughout the past three years, ranking from one of the last place teams in the conference to now being predicted in the ECC preseason polls to be ranked third in the conference and one of the best in the league.

Despite facing one of their toughest opponents all year, Dowling College, the Women’s Lacrosse team emerged onto the field displaying confidence and excitement. Despite a hard effort, the Spartans fell behind to a 3-0 deficit in the first half but a late goal by Senior Genevieve Stickney ended the half with a score of 3-1.

The team came out in the second half with more intensity than in the first; freshman Caroline Finnen opened it up with a goal, assisted by Sam Lowney. The game was tied 5-5 at the 26-minute mark of the game. Both teams continued to battle and the Spartans showed great resilience and team play that allowed them to stay in the game with Dowling. In addition to a strong offense, the defense also played strong, lead by Junior Alyson Brennan.

However, the Dowling Golden Lions fought a little harder and scored the next four goals to extend a widening lead.  The Spartans lost by the score of 10-7 in a hard fought game. Despite losing, the Spartans proved that they can hang with the top teams. They will play again on Wednesday, away at Mercy College.