by Jac Coyne | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
West Chester lost only once on its way to the NCAA Division II women's championship last year. Can you guess which team the Golden Rams lost to?
That's right, it was a 9-8 setback to Limestone on March 9. Yes, West Chester redeemed themselves in the national semifinals, trouncing the Saints, 17-9, but Limestone proved they must be considered an annual contender.
Nothing should change in 2009. The Saints return a host of talent, including senior attacker Melissa Howard, who scored 24 goals and dished out 37 assists during Limestone's 17-2 campaign in '08.
As she and the Saints were preparing for another march to a Conference Carolinas title and NCAA berth, Howard sat down with Countdown for a couple of questions.
As you look back at the NCAA semifinals, what do you think was the biggest factor in the nine-goal swing between the first time you played West Chester and the second?
We didn't come together as a team that day. It just wasn't our day that day. It's hard to accept that, obviously, but we have to take that into this year and use as motivation to do better.
It kind of ended in a sour fashion, but do you and your teammates consider last year a success? What are some of the things you'll use to motivate you for 2009?
Coming off such an incredible season that we did last year, we have to take everything we did and use it for motivation this year. We came off having one loss in the regular season and that's something huge for this team and the program. The biggest motivation for us is to remember the disappointment from the semifinal game and take that into every practice.
We want to think about that game; think about that score. And think about the pain that it brought to us. As seniors we really want to leave here with a ring, so that's definitely our motivation.
Limestone has a recent track record of making the NCAA tournament every other year. What are you going to do to make sure you snap that streak and return for your senior year?
There are nine seniors on our team and I think us coming together as a unit and really leading everyone and letting them know that there really isn't any other option than going to the semifinals and making it to nationals would be our ultimate goal. The seniors will really have to come together to lead the team in the right direction.
All-American goalie Erin Cavanaugh was great for you guys last year. How important will it be to find a replacement for her this coming spring?
It's going to be really, really important and hard to do. Erin was an incredible asset to our team. Our defensive unit will have to step up and lead. We have two freshman goalies and a sophomore goalie and the coaches are really working hard with them. Once we have our goalie in place, we'll do pretty well. No matter what, our goalies know that they will have a huge weight on their shoulders, but we know they can step up and accept the responsibility.
When you were looking at schools, what brought a Maryland gal down to South Carolina?
When I came down here I felt so at home and so comfortable with the team. Coach Tucker, obviously, was a huge reason I came down here because he really knows his stuff. It all kind of worked itself in together.
In her blog, graduated senior Marissa Pesce wrote: "Melissa Howard shoots with a drum roll that permits her stick to be the lead singer on its own stage. She lets her stick do all the talking." I consider myself pretty up on lacrosse lingo, but I can't figure this one out. What does it mean?
[Laughing] Marissa has a wild imagination and likes to picture things in her head. She had full confidence in every girl that she played with and I think she was referring to when my stick was on, I could do whatever I put my mind to.
You and Kelly Lickert provide the Saints a pretty potent one-two punch. Do you guys have games that complement each other?
Oh, Absolutely. We try to work with each other a lot because she plays back-left and I play back-right. She's left-handed and I'm right-handed, so if is she is having an off game I try to help her out and if I'm having an off game she tries to pick up more slack. Having us both opposite hands really helps out our middies when we feed. We definitely both try to complement each other.
When I looked at Limestone's stats I saw that there were 10 players who had at least 18 goals or more. Is that something that Coach Tucker emphasizes - having the multi-headed attack - or is it just a testament to the talent on your team?
It's a little bit of both. He likes to have a lot of people do stuff and we have a lot of depth and a lot of people who are dangerous. I love seeing that we have more than one person on our team can step up and score.
Belmont Abbey and Pfeiffer had solid seasons last year. In your three years at Limestone have you noticed an improvement in the conference as a whole in terms of level of play?
For sure. Every year it gets closer and closer with the teams in our conference. I think that this year is going to be one of the closest years of all. We're anxious to see what the year has to bring and what the other teams have to offer. We're all really excited.
Countdown to '09:
Archive
Oct. 25, 2008
- Army's Dr. Marie Johnson
Oct. 17,
2008 - Harvard's John Tillman
Oct. 3,
2008 - Vanderbilt's Cathy Swezey
Sept. 26,
2008 - Mercyhurst's Chris Ryan
Sept. 19,
2008 - NYIT's Keith Henderson
Sept. 5,
2008 - Northwestern's Kelly Amonte Hiller
Aug. 29, 2008
- Cabrini's Scott Reimer
Aug. 15,
2008 - Hobart's T.W. Johnson
Aug. 8,
2008 - Penn's Ali Deluca
Aug. 1, 2008
- Chapman's Mike Wood
July 25, 2008
- Southern New Hampshire's Mary Squire
July 18, 2008
- Michigan's Trevor Yealy
July 11,
2008 - Johns Hopkins' Dave Pietramala
July 4, 2008
- Hamilton's Kallie Briscoe
June 27,
2008 - North Carolina's Joe Breschi
June 20, 2008
- Colby's Jon Thompson
