Lady laxers licked in close ODU game

By ROB AMEN
Collegian Sports Writer

The No. 5 women's lacrosse team headed south last week -- but its trip was more for business than pleasure.

The Lady Lions (0-1) dropped a heartbreaker to No. 9 Old Dominion, 7-6, at Foreman Field last Thursday.

"Defensively, we were OK," Coach Julie Williams said. "In the midfield, they outhustled us. It looked like we played a little scared."

Someone who played fearlessly was Joanne Connelly. The junior defensive wing lit up the scoreboard by tallying four goals -- three of which were unassisted.

But Old Dominion scored first.

The Lady Monarchs wasted no time taking the lead when senior midfielder Ericka Davidheiser registered an unassisted goal at the 52-minute, 57-second mark of the first half. Senior attacker Jenn Karr took a pass from senior defensive wing Lori Hansford about 90 seconds later to extend the Old Dominion lead.

Another Davidheiser goal made the score 3-0 with 38:28 to play in the half.

Penn State poised itself for a comeback when senior attacker Christy Way scored the Lady Lions' first goal just 27 seconds later. Connelly netted her first at 36:20, closing the first half's scoring and the deficit, 3-2.

"In general, we played pretty well," Way said. "They were rougher . . . they got the ground balls, which is crucial."

The Lady Lions led 4-3 after Connelly tallied her third and fourth goals at 25:15 and 19:44, respectively. But Davidheiser was the story for Old Dominion, scoring three goals and assisting on another.

Williams said when Penn State moved to the ball, it beat Old Dominion down the field. But the coach wanted her entire team to get involved in the action.

"Using every space on the field will be very important for us," Williams said.

Way agreed that hustling is a factor that can be improved upon.

"I think that's also something we can fix," she said.