Women's Lacrosse | Hawks drop two games over spring break

There are many times in a season when a team will face adversity. Whether it happens during a game, over a series of games, or over a series of seasons, adversity is inevitably present in the world of sports. The Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse team is in the midst of an exhausting fight between triumph and adversity.

After two straight losses—one in Newark, N.J., and the other on Finnesey Field—the Hawks are trying to recover from a very low point in the season, a low point that came a little too early to ignore.

The Scarlet Knights (5-0) dominated a game that never looked even to begin with. Seven minutes into the game, Rutgers University (RU) scored their first goal on St. Joe's goalkeeper, Meghan Mitchell, '12. The Hawks (2-5) did have an answer only four minutes later by Jenna Martino, ‘10, only to be ripped apart for the rest of the half. The next 20 minutes of the game consisted of seven RU goals. Things seemed grim for the Hawks as they finished out the last seconds of the first half.

The second half for the Hawks started out perfectly. Three minutes into the game, Jen Peters, '12, rocketed the ball into the back of RU's net, cutting the score down to six points. Rutgers replied with another goal two minutes later, making it 9-2.

This time, however, the Hawks had a rebuttal: Julie Mineweaser, '12, unassisted, scored quickly and cut the score back down to a 6 point deficit. Mineweaser's goal didn't provide enough of the necessary motivation for the Hawks to be able to last throughout the half.

The next 25 minutes were chock-full of Scarlet Knight goals, each goal running up the score to 16-3.

It wasn't until there was less than five minutes left that St. Joe's scored again, and then once more, by Grace Dinn, '12, with less than a minute left in the game. The end score: 17-5. Only a handful of players scored a goal for the Hawks—an amount of goals that was not enough to overcome such a strong opponent as the Rutgers' Scarlet Knights.

The Hawks then played on Sunday afternoon against Monmouth. This game was a little more even than the last for St. Joe's. With an end score of 10-7, the team came to the field and was able to find more of an offensive drive than the previous Game. At halftime, St. Joe's had a two-point lead over Monmouth (1-5) with a score of 6-4.

The second half was a different story. Monmouth came out scoring twice in a row to tie the score at 6. With a little over 10 minutes left in the game, Peters drilled the ball into Monmouth's net, allowing the Hawks to take the lead. The game went back and forth until Monmouth's Olivia Salata scored with a little under four minutes left in the game.

The Hawks couldn't find any other ways of putting the ball in the net before the second period came to a close. In overtime, Monmouth scored twice in the first period and then once again in the second period, giving them a comfortable, 3-point lead. The game ended in a devastating manner with a score of 10-7 Monmouth. The players of the game would definitely have to be Dinn, with her three-goal contribution, and Alana Glanell, '12, with her four assists.

Up next for the Hawks is the Penn Quakers. A strong team, coming off a two game winning streak against Hofstra and Harvard, respectively, UPenn looks to be the favorite in the match-up. With a season record of 4-1, the Quakers definitely have the intimidation factor working for them.

After their match against Penn, the team will face off against Old Dominion. Old Dominion, a team that has only played two games this season and lost both, doesn't seem to be much of a threat for the Hawks. However, their losses were to the very strong teams of Richmond University and American University.

For the Hawks to come up with some wins, they will have to have consistent scoring throughout the game, more aggressive offense, and the morale to not blow any early leads. The season isn't over for St. Joe's, but a start like this will definitely need quick reparations, or else the hole will be too deep to climb out of.