May 16, 2008

by Clare Lochary, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff

On the flight up to Syracuse last night, the North Carolina women's lacrosse team was yelling.

The Carrier Dome is infamously noisy, which makes for difficult on-field communication, so Tar Heels assistant coach Phil Barnes encouraged the team to start speaking loudly at every opportunity to prepare for their quarterfinal match-up against Syracuse on Saturday. (Note to easily annoyed air travelers: It was a charter flight and the North Carolina players and staff were the only people on the plane.)

Barnes didn't have to tell freshman attacker Corey Donohoe twice. Donohoe has made plenty of noise this season, leading the Tar Heels in goals (49), points (60) and shooting percentage (an astounding .700 - 49 goals on just 70 shots). She has scored in almost every game (only Penn's top-ranked defense shut her out), but her best performance thus far was a five-goal day against Virginia in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Donohoe helped the Tar Heels to an 11-7 win in Charlottesville, avenging a humiliating 16-5 regular season loss.

"We changed our whole offense up. We just did something totally different to catch them off guard," said Donohoe. "We were just focusing on the game, because if you lose it, you don't have anything."

Donohoe admits to having some freshman jitters during her first games as a Tar Heel, but they have long since ceded away. She is one of a rash of rookies who are playing tournament games like old pros. Let's take a look at some of the freshmen to watch in the postseason.

• Sarah Bullard (M) and Emma Hamm (M/A), Duke - The Blue Devils have had an up-and-down season, but Bullard and Hamm have been consistently excellent. The freshmen, who have started every game, were relatively quiet against Georgetown in the first round (Bullard had a free position goal and Hamm had one assist), but they helped put Duke in the tournament by contributing a steady flow of goals and assists to the attack. Those points were a welcome gift in the absence of Caroline Cryer (out with a foot injury since March), but the feisty freshmen also have gobbled up ground balls for a sometimes sloppy Duke team. Hamm has 36 ground balls on the season, second only to goalie Kim Imbesi (49), and Bullard is in third place with 30 pick-ups.

• Liz Hogan (G), Syracuse - It's hard to pry your eyes away from the Orange's dazzling offensive statistics (18.8 gpg), but you will be rewarded for doing so, because Hogan is one of the best in the country and certainly the best in her class. The newbie netminder is in the top 10 in both GAA (7.57) and save percentage (.512), and is the top freshman in both categories. Her save percentage is the best in the entire NCAA tournament field.

• Erin Tochihara (G), Princeton - Tochihara split time with sophomore goalie Kaitlyn Perrelle all year, but she got her first start in the Tigers' last regular season game, a hard-fought 9-8 loss to Georgetown in which she contributed eight stops. She had a modest four saves in the Tigers' first round win over Vanderbilt, and now faces the unenviable task of stopping Northwestern's powerful, tournament-tested offense. Speaking of Northwestern...

• Brooke Matthews (A), Northwestern - Matthews is one of two freshmen to crack the Wildcats' starting line-up this season, although she came off the bench to score a free position goal in a first-round win over Notre Dame. It's hard to compete for postseason minutes against players with as many as 12 tournament games under their belts, but keep an eye on Matthews as an X factor on a much-scouted Northwestern team.

• Guilia Giordano (A), Penn - The Quakers pasted Colgate in the first round, 16-7, and Giordano had two goals and one assist to help the effort. On the season, she has contributed 18 goals and nine assists, adding a needed punch to Penn's attack. That contribution was never more apparent than in Penn's 11-7 upset over Northwestern. With Giordano's three goals and two assists, the Quakers were able to avenge last year's disappointing 12-2 semifinal loss.