March 9, 2005
The Wednesday National Notebook takes a look at college lacrosse being played beyond the Division I level.
Gannon Ready to Make Run
Senior co-captains Mindy Richmond and Lauren Bevington are a lethal one-two punch for No. 5 Gannon in women's Division II lacrosse. The combination have been breaking school records left and right the past three years and hope to end their final season as national champions.
"The past few years have been close but this is really our year," said Richmond. "We hope to make it to the championship game. It is everybody's goal and dream."
The Knights (2-0) are off to the right start after going down to Gaffney, S.C. and defeating Lees-McRae and No. 8 Bloomsburg last weekend. In the victories Richmond scored a combined 15 goals and Bevington had two goals and 12 assists. Not bad for these friends of four years and current roommates.
"We work very well together. We read each other well," said Richmond. "It is very hard to stop us. She knows exactly when I am going to cut. It is really a good combination between the two of us."
Richmond is now 75 goals shy of setting the NCAA Division II record for career goals scored with 220 which is currently held by Stonehill's Katie Lambert. She is also already fourth in Gannon school history for career goals and could finish in the Top 5 for career points by the end of the season.
"It is not something that I think about when I am playing," said Richmond of the records. "My job is to score goals. I just want to do my job on the field and win games."
Bevington on the other hand led Division II in assists last season with 68. She will likely surpass the Division II record for career assists (158) this season as she already has 140. The Knights will travel to Maryland next weekend for two games before returning home for a five-game homestand that will feature key games against No. 2 C.W. Post and No. 3 West Chester.
"These games coming up for us are going to be very important for us. We need to prove ourselves and show that we deserve the No. 5 ranking we currently hold."
NESCAC Hits the Field, Middlebury ready
Teams from the New England Small Colleges Athletic Conference (NESCAC) come out of hibernation this weekend and begin their lacrosse seasons. The lone exception is Bates College who started this past weekend.
Two of the best teams in Division III lacrosse take to the field Saturday against Colby College as No. 3 Middlebury men's team travels to Waterville, Maine while the top-ranked Middlebury women's team will host Colby.
"We start the season a little bit later then everybody else, but we are not in a big rush," said Middlebury men's coach Erin Quinn.
Quinn, who is entering his 14th year as the Panthers' head coach, is used to the late starts to the season (first practice is February 15th). The late start also works to Middlebury's advantage as they have several players that play on the Middlebury ice hockey team, the defending Division III national champion and currently ranked 4th in the nation.
Quinn will learn a lot about his young team early this season as they will face No. 10 Springfield, No. 13 Stevens Tech and No. 7 Gettysburg before entering the teeth of their NESCAC schedule.
"We will find out where we are right now," said Quinn of the first four games on the schedule. "It [results] may not relate to where we are at the end of the season." Both Panther teams hope the end of the season doesn't come until the end of May, deep into the NCAA Tournament.
Michigan Drops First IA Game
No. 5 University of Michigan finished up its three-game West Coast trip this past weekend with its first US Lacrosse Men's Division Intercollegiate Associates loss, a 7-6 set back against No. 3 BYU in Provo, Utah. Michigan (3-2) came into its game against the Cougars riding high thanks to a 12-1 victory over No. 6 Arizona. The Wolverines also defeated Arizona State 13-3 to begin their trip.
Michigan got behind early and had trouble on the natural grass surface against a physical BYU team. The Wolverines couldn't recover from a two-goal deficit late in the game.
"I really don't think we played our best game defensively," said Michigan coach John Paul. "They have some great middies who made our job pretty difficult, but we pride ourselves on our defense and we made some mistakes we don't normally make."
Michigan will play Eastern Michigan on March 18 before hosting No. 8 Oregon, No. 9 Colorado and No. 21 Florida over Easter Weekend.
Line of the Week
5 goals, 4 assists
Jono Linebaugh - Senior Attackman
Messiah College
Linebaugh's fifth goal last Saturday against No. 7 Ithaca gave unranked Messiah an 11-10 double overtime victory at home. Linebaugh was recognized this week as he was named Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Offensive Player of the Week. The Falcons, defending MAC champions, entered the USILA Top 20 poll this week at No. 15 while Ithaca dropped to 17th.
From the Sidelines
The four ranked ODAC men's lacrosse teams (W&L, Hampden-Sydney, Roanoke, Lynchburg) are a combined 10-0 to begin the season. . . . No. 2 College of New Jersey begins its women's season this Sunday when they will travel to No. 4 Salisbury. . . . Speaking of the Gulls, the No. 1 men's team will carry their 34-game winning streak into Sunday's home game against No. 10 Roanoke. Salisbury (5-0) has outscored its opponents 105-29 in their first five games of the season. . . . In the first IWLCA Division III poll of the season the same Top 20 teams remained in the poll. Not surprising considering 14 of those teams have yet to play a game including the Top 11 teams ranked.
