The early season in Division I women's lacrosse has featured more than a few eye-opening performances from teams battling to break into a Fort Knox of traditional powerhouses.
Among them: Southern California taking Northwestern to overtime, Marquette falling to Johns Hopkins by one goal, Boston College beating Syracuse for the first time, Stanford beating Notre Dame, and Ohio State and Louisville pushing Boston College to overtime.
Parity has been talked about for years, but it rarely meant more than one team breaking through, as Northwestern and Florida did. Now Boston College has jumped into the Top 5, while Louisville and Stony Brook are making at run at the top teams. Stanford, which has been up and down, is making a push toward more consistency.
Courtney Connor, a former All-America defender at Maryland and a women's lacrosse analyst for ESPN and the Big Ten Network, said among the major factors in the rise of programs is the creativity of the coaches and the willingness of top players to go to emerging programs.
"You need to come up with a way to beat your opponent," Connor said. "I look at Stony Brook, which runs their [backer zone] defense, and they've run it well for many years. They're able to keep the score low while getting good looks at the cage themselves. I think the creativity is good for the game."
Connor also said the talent pool is more widely spread than ever, with top players willing to take a chance on a new program or a young coach. Defending national champion and No. 1 Maryland, however, has continued to draw several top players, and coach Cathy Reese has been especially good at keeping Maryland's best high school players at home.
Connor doesn't see that changing any time soon.
"They have so many quality players that obviously see the field a lot, but then they have others who are just waiting for time to step in," Connor said. "Even if, God forbid, an injury did occur they would still be fine. Even though they may not play 16-17 or even 18 players a game like some teams, their depth is what helps them every day at practice. They're playing against the best players and they're focused, so obviously we would expect to see them in the final four on championships weekend."
Towson aims for execution
Towson opened its season with two wins, including a 13-10 victory over Georgetown that earned the Tigers a few votes in the Inside Lacrosse media poll. Playing No. 1 Maryland on Wednesday night, however, revealed a few areas where the Tigers need to improve, especially on offense.
The Tigers had an edge in shots in the first half and won more draws in the game, but Maryland took a 6-0 lead and rolled to a 17-2 victory at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
"Cleary we had our opportunities," Towson coach Sonia LaMonica said. "I've seen us execute better in practice than what we did tonight. That tells me mentally we let things get to us and we get tense when thing aren't going our way and that affects our finishing ability, our shooting. That was clearly where we had the biggest struggle, converting on offense. We generated enough shots. We just couldn't finish them.
"We didn't execute as well as I would have liked — our off-ball movement, getting the defense shifting — so that's a little bit of us getting tense, focusing on the wrong things."
Until going 2-for-20 Wednesday night, the Tigers were shooting 42.5 percent, so they have some offensive power, but only Gabby Cha (Mount de Sales) managed to finish against the Terps.
The Tigers also used three freshmen on attack and with a later start than most teams — Towson has played three games, Maryland has played six — they are still figuring out the college game.
"That's why we play these big opponents, to get a gauge on this is where we want to be, the level for our freshmen," LaMonica said. "We learn off of that. We're still figuring out who we are and that takes a few game especially when you're a younger team."
A first for Maryland's Mercer
In her senior year at Century, Alice Mercer scored 67 goals, but her transition from a high school midfielder to a college defender limited her scoring opportunities over the past three seasons. But in Wednesday night's win at Towson, Mercer scored her first college goal.
"It was awesome," said Mercer of the third goal in the Terps' opening six-goal run. "The coaches have always told me, 'You have the green light in transition when you're pushing the ball up the field. If it's there take it.' And it was there, so I took it."
Mercer is now shooting .500 for her career, having taken only two shots. She's also contributed four assists, but the speed that makes the junior a threat in transition also makes her a critical component in a defense that allows just 6.33 goals per game.
Quick hits
Navy's Loren Generi leads Division I in total points with 41. ... Princeton goalie Ellie DeGarmo (Bryn Mawr) ranks second in Division I in save percentage, .630 and fifth in goals against average (5.16). ... Maryland is 35-6 against Towson after Wednesday night's victory and hasn't lost to the Tigers since 1976. ... McDonogh graduates had 12 points in the win over Towson — six goals by freshman Megan Whittle and two goals and two assists by junior Taylor Cummings.
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