Catholic Conference
St. Mark's (7-8) - After losing workhorse and current John Hopkins women's lacrosse player Haley Schweizer to graduation in 2013, by all means St. Mark's should have struggled a bit more than they did in 2014. The Spartans even improved on their disappointing 5-10 2013 record, however inconsistency struck hard on Spartan hill last season. St. Mark's fell just one game short of making their first trip back to the state tournament since 2012 - a haunting statement to their seniors when you consider their one and three goal losses to Tower Hill and St. Andrew's.
This year St. Mark's has six seniors to replace, but the rebuilding shouldn't be as difficult as it has the past two seasons. Seniors Madelyn Baker (20G, 12A) should be the nucleus on attack, with seniors Alyssa Simmons (22G, 2A) and Emily Evans providing the experience in the midfield. Sophomore Katharine Giannaras returns in the cage after starting her freshmen season. The Spartans also gain a fresh new face in freshmen Kendra Schweizer, whose older sisters Courtney, Taren and Haley have all gone on to play Division 1 lacrosse after making a name for themselves here in Delaware. The last of the Schweizer sisters to make her way through St. Mark's, she should certainly be a player to watch this year and in the years to come.
Ursuline (11-5) - Ursuline has always been a big name in girls lacrosse in Delaware, but it wasn't until the 2013 season that the Raiders were able to overcome their first round jitters (four tournament appearances from 2008-2012) and make it into the semi-finals. One year after the number five seed Ursuline shocked Polytech on their own field by a one goal differential, they did it again - this time in overtime to the number four seed Caravel.
The Raiders lost six seniors from last year's squad, but bring back a copious amount of underclassmen who all saw time on the field under Coach Feffie Barnhill last year. Plenty of firepower returns in the midfield with seniors Madeline Hughes (32G, 12A) and Emily Blaskow (12G, 5A), along with sophomore Erin O'Doherty (25G, 5A). Juniors Delaney Vorwick and Nina Budischak bring experience to the defense, while junior Erin Davis (who did a fine job stepping into her predecessor's shoes last year) returns between the pipes as the goalkeeper.
Padua - Padua is fielding a varsity team for the first time this season after spending one year as JV team - the Pandas had a whopping 43 girls on their roster last year!
Diamond State
Archmere (14-3) - Archmere was flying high in 2014 - the Auks achieved their best regular season record to date after finishing 13-2, earning them the number two seed in the state tournament and their third consecutive appearance in the semi-finals. Five seniors however graduated from last year's record breaking team, and coach Caitlin Kelley has moved on to US Lacrosse, where she was hired as the Women's Game Manager. Taking over the reins of the program now is first year head coach Allison Kern, a recent graduate of Wilmington University where she played div. II lacrosse and the current director of the Victory Women's Lacrosse Club.
Although Archmere has a big hole to replace after graduating the team's highest goal scorers, Katelyn Payne (62G, 14A) and Amanda Olsen (54G, 9A), new coach Allison Kern inherits a core group of underclassmen from last year's squad. A handful of juniors who have all seen time on the field since their freshmen year are all back - Kennedy Murphy (34G, 2A) leads the midfield, while Presley Conaty (33G, 8A) and sophmore Julia Collins (16G, 3A) are back on the attack. On defense, senior goalie Kelley Lucey returns along with defender Sarah Bunting.
St. Thomas More (5-9) - St. Thomas More returns nine starters from last year, including their leading goal scorer junior Joanna Petrosky (27G, 6A). Dispute returning back almost their entire team from 2014, new head coach Kirsten Ward will have her work cut out for her - the Ravens play a very difficult schedule with games against Caravel, Polytech, Sts. Peter & Paul (MD), Caesar Rodney, Ursuline, Sussex Tech and Archmere.
Non-Conference
Caravel (14-2) - Caravel had another record breaking year in 2014. New head coach Carolyn Thompson lead the Buccaneers to a regular season 14-1 record and their first ever birth into the state tournament before falling the first round in overtime to Ursuline. The team's offense scored a state high of 297 goals, and their defense only allowed in 97! Caravel's relatively weak strength of schedule however meant that they outscored their opponents by more than 11 goals in all but one of their regular season games.
The Buccaneers lost six players to graduation last June, but still retain their top four goal scorers. Sophomore Olivia Duarte (73G, 48A), a starter since her eighth grade year will once again lead the midfield, joining her is fellow sophomore Lauren Phillips (65G, 33A) and senior Isabel Orticelle (31G, 7A). Senior Abigail Reid (72G, 37A) should help bring experience on the attack. Junior goalkeeper Hannah Seamans is back for her third year between the pipes.
Red Lion (5-10) - Red Lion improved in 2014, winning two more games than they did in 2013 while scoring 15 more goals on attack and letting in less goals on defense. 2015 should allow for even more progress as the Lions only lost two seniors to graduation. Leading goal scorer senior Miriam Fieger (19G) will be key for the attack, along with fellow senior Sydney Revell (6G) and junior Morgan Holt (9G). Taking over the coaching duties is new coach Becky Reed.
-The last two parts of the season previews should be up within the next couple of days.
-On the sidebar on the right hand side of the page you might have noticed that there's a new button under the subscribe & connect heading. In addition to twitter, I just recently created a facebook page as another avenue of following DELaxJournal and sharing game scores live as they happen. It will also allow me to post more information on games in the moment, without being restricted by twitter's 140 character limit.
-As a reminder, there are usually multiple games going on in a day and I can only share information on game scores as they are given to me. Sending me tweets or a DM on twitter of score updates during a game, or the final score after the game is over helps me tremendously. This is especially helpful later on when tournament rankings start to take shape.
Be First to Post Comment !
Post a Comment