Morgan Douglas – Sports Editor
Lacrosse is back, as the Owls won their home opener this past Wednesday against the Post University Eagles by a final score of 14-6.
On a cold day in early March, the Owls were hot with the sticks, as six different players scored during the victory, demonstrating the group’s depth and potential offensive firepower.
“When everyone gets a chance to get that goal, get the assist, get whatever stat they can, it creates more of a family atmosphere,” Attacker Karlie Rowe, a senior, said. “It brings us all together and it makes the win better, more enjoyable.”
Rowe tied a team high in the game with three goals scored, a distinction she shared with attacker Bayleigh Takacs, a senior and midfielder Brianna Shaw, a sophomore.
Midfielder Kelly Jagodzinski, a senior, got the party started with a goal early in the first quarter to which the Eagles would respond and tie the score.
Rowe, Shaw and Takacs would all score their first goals in the opening quarter, which ended 4-2.
“Their goalie made us work for our goals, for sure,” Takacs said. “She had a really good game and we had to take a few shots to realize where we needed to place the ball.”
Eagles attacker Morgan Cassiliano, a junior, did her best to keep the road team in the game, scoring her second of three goals early in the second quarter to make the score 4-3, but the Owls would pull away from that point, outscoring the Eagles 10-1 for the remainder of the game.
“We picked her out of everyone,” Shaw said. “Obviously, we knew she had a good shot going into the game, so we always had to find her, whatever defense we were in and mark her up.”
Cassiliano could have used some assistance from her teammates in the comeback effort, but the Eagles’ glaring lack of depth compared to the Owls proved too much to overcome.
“Our team has so much depth across the board,” Takacs said, “We can go through every girl on our bench and be just as fine, which I think speaks volumes about our program.”
The Owls went into halftime up 6-3 after Rowe’s second goal and a score from midfielder Molly Kelly, a senior.
Each of Rowe’s first two goals came off assists from midfielder Mia Pulisciano, a senior.
Takacs would score twice in the third quarter, Shaw scored once and Cassiliano countered with her third goal of the game, but it would be the final goal of the contest for the Eagles, as the fourth quarter was all Owls.
“Mentality going in the fourth quarter is we’ve got to keep the lead,” Shaw said, “We can’t let up, even though we’re up however many it is, we just can’t let up. We’ve got to keep going.”
The Owls scored five unanswered goals in the final quarter to cement the victory in the home opener.
“It’s nice to start off in our home turf with a win,” Rowe said. “Get the ball rolling for the rest of the season, we’re on the road for the next five games, so we just needed that intensity to start off.”
Unfortunately for the Owls, they dropped their first game of the road trip to the Saint Anselm College Hawks this past Saturday, losing 17-6 to the 20th ranked team in Division II.
Lacrosse will next play on Wednesday, Mar. 9 on the road against the Dominican College Chargers, where they will look to improve to 2-2.
“We’ve got to get through our plays, take the right shots, move the goalie,” Rowe said. “On defense, they’ve got to keep making stops. Goalies got to make stops, but we need to stay composed and keep the ball on our end.”
