Tars Hope to Stick in Poll

by Jac Coyne | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff

A little upper class experience has made all the difference for the Rollins College women's lacrosse team.

In its second year as a Division II varsity program, the Tars are made up primarily of freshmen and sophomores, but they received a little boost in experience over the summer from a couple of transfers.

With junior Laura Wilkin, who came to Rollins from UMBC, and classmate Marissa Giannerini, a transfer from Rutgers, leading the way, the Tars have cracked the national poll, checking at No. 10 this week.

Wilkin's decision to join Rollins, located in Winter Park, Fla., was relatively easy. Recruited to play at Albany when current Tars head coach, Dennis Short, was the Great Danes head man, Wilkin had Rollins on her short list when opting out at UMBC. It didn't hurt that she's a Winter Park native.

Giannerini "just showed up on my doorstep," said Short. The two have provided the team a couple of players who have been through the battles.

"They gave us a lot of upper class leadership that we were lacking," said Short. "Being a young program, we were mostly freshmen, and those transfers helped with the maturity and experience."

Just four games into the season, the Tars are able to cross off one of their preseason goals: getting ranked.

"It was definitely one of the things the girls were interested in trying to accomplish, and we're very excited," said Short. "In this relatively short period of time, we've been able to get that one. But it's just one of several goals."

The game that catapulted Rollins into the Top 10 - the win over then-No. 7 Gannon - is one of the last big obstacles on the schedule. Although Short said any of the teams on his schedule have the potential to beat his club, there is a reasonable chance the Tars will be 12-1 or 11-2 (depending how they fare against No. 8 New Haven on March 18) heading into their Apr. 24 date with No. 4 Limestone.

A win over the Saints will likely allow Rollins to achieve another goal - making the four-team NCAA Division II tournament.

That's still a long way off. For now, Short and his team will settle for a No. 10 ranking.

"I'm excited we're there now, but now the bigger challenge is finding a way to stay there," he said.

Conference Call
I asked Short about potential conference affiliations for his program and he said without automatic qualifiers in Division II, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to get involved in a conference. Throw in the fact that the Tars will get plenty of games because of their sunny location, and playing an unfettered schedule has its advantages.

I assumed that Short toyed with the idea of joining Conference Carolinas for geographic reasons, but actually it was the East Coast Conference - made up primarily of NYC-area schools - that extended an invitation to Rollins, according to Short. With Adelphi (which blasted Rollins earlier this season, 19-3) joining the Northeast-10 next spring and no conference tourney in the ECC, Short decided to wait.

His decision was influenced by his mild confidence that some schools in the Sunshine State Conference - to which Rollins belongs in most sports - are contemplating adding women's lacrosse.

"I think three or four schools might be declaring in the next 12 months," said Short. "I think they looked at Rollins and said, ‘Hey, we can do that, too.'"

Slides & Rides
We'll find out how legit Pfeiffer (and by extension, Rollins) when they host Limestone this afternoon...don't close the book on Gannon just yet. The Knights are off to a relatively slow start, but their two losses came in overtime (15-13 to Rollins) and by a goal (12-11 to Mercyhurst). Gannon has plenty of time to make up ground if they get on a hot streak with two games against No. 5 Lock Haven, one against top-ranked West Chester, and another against Mercyhurst left on the slate...it was interesting to see that Merrimack has the toughest schedule in women's D-II, according to LaxPower. I wonder if the game against D-III No. 3 Franklin & Marshall is factored into that...Bloomsburg is off to a confident, 2-0 start. We'll see how they do against West Chester next week.