April 21, 2008
By Dennis Rizzo The Daily Campus
April 21, 2008
Storrs, CT (UWIRE) -- The women's lacrosse team tried to give their seniors the perfect going-away present with a win on Sunday. But while they gave a valiant effort, the team could not overcome an early deficit and fell to No. 9 Georgetown at the Sherman Complex.
"We played for the seniors today," said junior midfielder Katy Ryan. "We tried to win, but unfortunately we didn't. It's always disappointing to lose on senior day, but I feel we can still leave proud."
Seniors Robyn Pastuch, Meghan Nanfeldt, Leah Giffin and Emily Van Buitenen ended their final season with UConn standing at 1-15, a much different conclusion than last season when the team finished 10-6, the second-best record in school history. However, head coach Megan Cersosimo feels the lessons taught by this year's seniors were invaluable to preparing the team for next year.
"There are a lot of things I'm going to remember about this class," Cersosimo said. "Megan [Nanfeldt] is woman of few but profound words. Emily [Van Buitenen] is really hard-working. Leah [Giffin] is mature and a great communicator."
"It was tough being a leader this year, but it's always tough to lead no matter what," said Giffin. "This crew made it as easy as they could though."
This year, Giffin was appointed team captain and started all 15 games for the Huskies, finishing second on the team with 10 caused-turnovers and third in ground balls with 18.
"You just try to push [the team] every day," Giffin said. "I would always mark up on the young players in practice to try and push them and make them better. You just have to lead by example."
Nanfeldt a defender came back from a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), which caused her to miss all of last season to have a major impact this year. This season, she collected 18 ground balls, forced nine turnovers while only committing five fouls.
Van Buitenen also recovered from a foot injury that caused her to miss some of last season to put forth a solid senior season in which she started twice and played in 11 games. According to Cersosimo, though, Pastuch, UConn's fourth senior, had an enormous impact on the team through her love and passion for the game.
"[Pastuch] was ready as a freshman," Cersosimo said. "Last year she had seniors ahead of her but she was patient and waited her turn. She didn't surprise me at all with what she did on the field this year."
Partially thanks to the leadership of these four seniors, the Huskies have a bright future ahead of them. UConn's top three scorers, Ryan, Whitney Michele and Kim McGinty will all be seniors next year and seem prepared to step into their new role.
"This year's seniors taught me so much," Ryan said. "They taught me to keep my head up, play hard through every game and just stick with each other."
This group of seniors has seen many ups and downs over the last four years. Despite this, Giffin said she would predominantly remember the friendships she made at UConn.
"I'm going to miss my teammates a lot but I always remember the friendships I made," Giffin said. "I was so lucky being able to play for a school like UConn."
(C) 2008 The Daily Campus via UWIRE
