Szelest Confident Quakers Can Conquer Maryland
by Justin Feil | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
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Penn goalie Emily Szelest followed her benching in the Ivy League championship game with a stellar, 18-save performance in the Quakers' NCAA tournament first-round win over sharp-shooting BU. © Greg Carroccio |
Emily Szelest spent the final 23 minutes of the Ivy League women's lacrosse championship game on the sidelines.
It was the first meaningful game in which the University of Pennsylvania’s senior goalkeeper had been pulled this year, and it came after her career low of one save in what would eventually become a 9-8 Quaker win over Dartmouth.
“In all the inspirational movies,” Szelest said, “the really amazing things that happen in life, there’s always this down period before it.”
Having a down game going into the NCAA tournament was not the way that Szelest wanted it, but her return performance in the cage two weeks later in the Quakers’ 14-9, NCAA tournament first-round win over Boston University last Saturday was almost too good to be scripted. Szelest followed her career low with a career-high 18 saves against the season-high 27 shots she saw from the Terriers.
“It felt great,” said Szelest, whose previous best was 12 saves. “The past two weeks, I’ve been struggling a little bit. I’ve been trying to get in the zone again and play the way I know I’m capable of playing. It was a huge relief to play the way you know you’re capable of.”
Szelest takes that confidence into eighth-seeded Penn’s NCAA quarterfinal at top-seeded Maryland on Saturday. The Terrapins defeated Penn, 12-6, on April 2. Szelest made four saves in that game that Maryland broke open after building a 5-3 halftime lead.
“I’m pumped,” Szelest said. “The last game we played against them, we definitely did not play our best game. Emma [Spiro] was just coming back from her ankle injury then. They got some fast breaks on us. They’re a very fast team. We acknowledge their strengths. They’re a very capable team. They might be faster, but we can be smarter. We need to have strategy to beat them. This type of game is the type that you remember forever.”
The Quakers have been to the final four in three straight seasons, and each year they have done so by stopping an ACC team. Penn knocked Maryland out in the quarterfinals in 2007 on its way to its first final four.
“We have been playing better,” said Penn head coach Karin Brower Corbett, whose team is 15-3. “The Northwestern game the week after Maryland, we played well. We’ve been playing pretty well. We haven’t strung together two good halves yet, so we still can play better.
“I’m glad we played them before. They’re very fast and they work together really well, so my team knows what they’re in for.”
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The first rule of Project Mayhem: don't ask questions. |
Paramount to the Quaker chances will be draw controls and possession. Maryland had a 14-6 advantage in the regular-season game. They also held a 22-13 shot advantage. If those shots are coming in the settled offense, it gives Szelest and the defense a better chance of stopping them. If Maryland has it’s transition game going, it is tough to stop them.
“This is going to be a game where it’s going to be important for me to be active in the goal cage,” Szelest said. “It would be very helpful to have eight defenders out there instead of seven. Of course, just doing my job will help. There’s only so much a goalkeeper can do past the 8-meter. A large part of that is being an encouraging and confident force in the back.”
Szelest tried to project confidence in the Ivy tournament, but her play didn’t show it.
“No matter how encouraging and confident you can appear to be,” Szelest said, “if your focus is off, that’s where the results are going to come from.”
In the two weeks leading up to the NCAAs, Szelest worked on focusing better. She also gained her confidence back from the encouragement of coaches, past and present teammates, her family and her faith.
“I had a lot of conversations with a bunch of people,” Szelest said. “Sarah Waxman, the goalie, was giving me words of wisdom and comfort.”
Waxman was national goalie of the year for Penn in 2007 and 2008 before Szelest took over between the pipes last year and led the country in goals against average. This year, Penn is second in the nation.
The Quakers surround Szelest with seniors Barb Seaman and Kaileigh Wright and juniors Lily Posner and Keely Langdon. Midfielders Ali DeLuca, Spiro and Maddie Poplawski disrupt teams’ transition attacks.
“Our defense has been really great,” Szelest said. “It’s something we really pride ourselves on.”
The defense was at its best in the first half against Boston University. It allowed just three goals and Szelest made nine saves as Penn jumped out to an 11-3 lead at the half.
“What it came down to was just having fun and putting how much I love this sport before the position I’m in at this time of year,” Szelest said.
With two weeks to work out her game, get through her final exams and graduate, Szelest is feeling better going into the quarterfinals on the heels of a top performance.
Said Corbett: “For her, it’s not about being capable. It’s her watching the ball. She has really quick hands, so she goes past the ball sometimes. I thought she played great against BU.”
The Quakers don’t even ask Szelest to be great in goal, but her play could give Penn the edge it needs for a fourth straight trip to the final four.
“I’m just not a coach that relies on a goalkeeper,” Corbett said. “I think you have great games as a goalkeeper. What’s more important is our defense plays well and gives you shots you can see and save. It’s about us playing team defense. We have to work as a unit with Emily being a key part of that unit.
“She needs to save the shots she can save. That’s what I ask of a goalie. If she makes those great saves, that’s a bonus. If defense is doing a good job of forcing those shots, and if she can make some huge saves, that will only help her. I think she’s capable of playing great.”
Szelest is 3-1 in NCAA tournament play as a starter. Another big game in the NCAAs could push the Quakers to the fourth final four in Szelest’s career, not a bad way for her to exit.
“We need to really maintain our confidence throughout and remember we do know how to fight and know how to fight back,” Szelest said. “We’ve proved that many times before.”
Look no further than Emily Szelest, who fought back from one of her worst days with a career best.
“It’s weird little lessons and humbling moments that make us better,” she said. “It was good to have the two weeks off in between that game and BU to recharge and work on a lot of things with my own mental game.”
