Freshman goalie Tricia Dabrowski kept two Loyola streaks alive yesterday as she sparked the No. 10 Greyhounds women's lacrosse team to its sixth straight victory over Colonial Athletic Association rival William and Mary, 10-7, at Curley Field.
With 14 saves and three critical interceptions, Dabrowski also made sure the Greyhounds limited the No. 13 Tribe to no more than seven goals for a sixth straight time.
Kory Miller, Megan Santacroce and Stacey Morlang (four goals) gave the Greyhounds (2-2, 1-1 in the CAA) a 3-0 lead in little more than seven minutes. Then, Dabrowski kept them in front.
"What a great goalie -- not scared of anything and she came up with the saves at key moments to swing the momentum back to our side," said Loyola coach Diane Aikens. "I'm very impressed, as a coach and having been a goalie myself, with her stepping up to the challenge the way she is."
In last week's 12-11 loss to CAA rival James Madison, Dabrowski made a career-high 15 saves -- more than third-team All-America pick Kourtney Heavey made in any single game last year. Yesterday, in her fourth college game, the Dulaney High graduate had one fewer save but an even better performance.
"The first game against [North Carolina], it was, 'Welcome to the big leagues.' I was getting shellshocked in there," said Dabrowski, who had seven saves in the season-opening 13-7 loss to the Tar Heels. "Now, I'm getting used to the shots, I'm getting used to the speed of the ball and I'm having a great time."
Dabrowski seemed to make a big save every time the Tribe (1-3, 0-1) appeared ready to rally. Although the Tribe cut a 10-5 Loyola lead to 10-7 with two goals in the final 11 minutes, Dabrowski made two saves against 6-foot Dani Vissers' free-position shots in the last 13: 12 to keep the Tribe from getting closer.
"We'd get back in it for five minutes and the goalie would make a save and we'd get down again," said Vissers, a Mount Hebron graduate who scored four goals.
The Tribe cut the Loyola lead to 3-2 late in the half when Liza Neilson connected with Vissers on a two-on-one break after a Greyhounds offside violation. But Santacroce answered with a transition goal and Kathleen O'Shea drove through a crowd to make it 5-2 with 1: 57 left before halftime.
The Tribe had a chance to cut the lead before the half, but with 10 seconds left, Dabrowski picked off a pass headed to Vissers from behind the cage.
Vissers opened the second half with a free-position goal to cut the lead to 5-3. Three minutes later, Danielle Battersby hit Santacroce cutting down the middle to boost the Greyhounds' lead back to three. The Tribe never got closer.
Loyola outshot the Tribe, 32-23, but the first-half difference was 18-9, mostly because the Greyhounds were getting second and third chances. They won the majority of their missed shots behind the cage and were able to reset the offense.
"That was a little problem against James Madison," said Santacroce, who finished with three goals. "We worked a lot in practice on our reaction time. If there's a shot off, we need to react to go get that ball, so we have another opportunity to get a shot."
William and Mary 2 5 -- 7
Loyola 5 5 -- 10
Goals: WM--Vissers 4, Hannaford, Noel, Rogers; L--Morlang 4, Santacroce 3, Miller 2, O'Shea. Assists: WM--Pugno, Schneider, Neilsen, Fabel, L--Battersby 2, DiTommaso 2, Warnock, Miller. Saves: WM--Orsi 9; L--Dabrowski 14.
Pub Date: 3/28/99