Women’s lacrosse team performs in preseason tournament
After back to back wins against American University, The Army University and University of Cincinnati, the Saint Joseph’s University women’s lacrosse team continued to strive throughout their Sept. 16 tournament and proved to be a fierce competitor for this upcoming season.
The tournament started off with the Hawks competing against American University. Within the first two minutes, American scored, but the Hawks were quick to earn goals of their own.
Leading to an eventual win against American, graduate student goalkeeper Amelia Deibler continuously made great saves against the AU offense and provided great defense for her team.
After this game, St. Joe’s immediately played Army.
As the game began, sophomore Sarah Poli was able to get possession and scored with assists from senior Francesca Donato, defense from sophomore Julia Pash and great plays from senior Catie Vivian. In working together and contributing as a team, the Hawks were able to defeat Army and win the round.
“They really stepped up to the challenge, played hard and fast,” Head Coach Alex Kahoe said. “They played together. [We’ve been] working on fundamentals and chemistry and getting them to feel comfortable with one another, and it has only been one week of practice and they are doing well with that.”
After taking on Army, the Hawks quickly shifted gears to compete against Cincinnati. This game proved to be one of the most challenging as it was the last game in the tournament.
“The third game with Cincinnati [was the most challenging], because they are a good team and everyone was really tired,” Donato said.
The players never lost momentum from start to finish though. They were consistent in their efforts to score and used each player wisely to make quick decisions and effective goals.
During the second half of the game, the Hawks scored multiple goals and were up by one with 30 seconds left in the game. Up until the last minute, the players’ focus did not weaken. This was evident in the last three seconds when the Hawks made an attempt on goal. The game ended with a St. Joe’s win and an undefeated tournament.Donato recognized the team’s perseverance until the very end.
“Good teams get better, play with everything they have until the last second is over,” Donato said. “[They know] not to give up until the very last second.
The plan for the team is to prepare themselves for each game, and through this, to qualify for the Atlantic 10 tournament in the spring according to Kahoe. They plan to do this by working together longer and looking at past performances.
“[Our expectations are to] just work together and be the best team, win the A-10, take it one step at a time,” Kahoe said. “Working on chemistry and building from there.”
All players were part of the victories seen that day at the tournament.
“They all worked well as a team, our captains are doing a great job,” Kahoe said. “[They are] three great leaders, and I think they also contributed a lot for us on the field as well. Leadership helps to make the team better to continue to play SJU lacrosse.”
St. Joe’s women’s lacrosse will return to action on Sept. 30 when they play Drexel University on the home turf.
