The Plymouth State University Women’s Lacrosse team is set to defend their Little East Conference Championship title this season as the lady Panthers train and practice for the start of their 2007 campaign.
Plymouth State had won the Little East Conference Championships the past three of four years (2003, 2004 and 2006) and will look to repeat that success this year.
The team looks optimistic this season as they will introduce their new head coach, Abi Jackson. Jackson, a former three-sport standout at Williams College, will assume position of the head coach position of the women’s lacrosse team. Jackson will take over for Paula Habel, who left PSU after two seasons to become the full-time assistant women’s lacrosse coach at Ohio University.
Jackson, a 2003 graduate of Williams College, was a three-year letter winner in soccer, basketball and lacrosse for the Ephs. Jackson earned All-Conference honors four straight years as the lacrosse goalkeeper for Williams. She was also the captain as a senior and was named First Time All-New England.
Jackson served one year as assistant women’s soccer and women’s lacrosse coach at Williams College and worked the past two years as a graduate assistant for women’s soccer and women’s basketball at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Jackson was the assistant women’s basketball coach at PSU this season.
“We are very happy to have Abi Jackson as a member of our staff,” said John P. Clark, Plymouth’s Athletic Director. “She comes from an excellent program at Williams, and has worked towards a career in coaching for the past three years. We’re fortunate to have her, and we’re confident our women’s lacrosse program is in good hands.”
Jackson takes control of a program that had made seven straight post-season berths (four NCAA, three ECAC.) Plymouth State defeated UMass Dartmouth and Eastern Connecticut State University to capture the Little East Conference Championship in 2006. With the impressive victories, the team earned a berth to the NCAA Division III National Tournament. The Panthers were unfortunately defeated in the first round of the tournament by Colby College. The Panthers had an overall record of 13-6 while finishing 6-0 in the conference.
Heather Hoffay will take the role of assistant coach of the women’s lacrosse team this season. Hoffay served as the women’s ice hockey head coach this winter.
Plymouth will begin their season on March 10th when they visit Babson College. The Panthers fell to Babson 17-9 last season. After visiting Babson, PSU will travel to West Palm Beach, Florida over Spring Break to compete against SUNY Fredonia, Allegheny College and Franklin Pierce College. After Florida, the Panthers will play four more teams before hosting Eastern Connecticut State University on April 7th in their home-opener. The Panthers will host Colby College, Rhode Island College and Bridgewater State later in the season.
“Obviously last year we graduated a lot of seniors,” said Jackson. “We have a great group of seniors this year. They are very skilled and very talented.”
Last spring, PSU have five players with over 40 points while there were three with 10 or more points. Plymouth had eight players with at least 10 goals with five scoring more than 20 goals and four scoring more than 30 goals.
In 2006, PSU had a .417 shot percentage while allowing opponents a .418 shooting percentage. Offensively, Plymouth fared better than opponents in most statistics. They scored 242 points while opponents scored 200 points against the Panthers. On the other hand, Plymouth had 351 points while opposing teams had 262 points. Plymouth maintained the advantage in both shots and assists last spring.
Sophomore Lindsay DeLorie, a first-year goalie last year, is a manager this season, leaving the goalie position open. Junior Sarah Beebe, who spent most of the time in goal last spring, will not be playing in 2007. DeLorie played in 11 games and started six of those games. She allowed 63 goals with a 10.60 goals allowed average with 39 saves. She went 3-2 overall in 2006. Beebe played in 17 games and started 13 games. She allowed 137 goals with a 10.41 goals allowed average. She had 126 saves with a .479 save percentage. She went 10-4 overall last spring.
This season’s roster looks to be comprised of a great staff of seniors all the way to first-year students in 2007. Co-captains senior Amanda Spadafora and junior Jackie Connerty will direct the team this season. Seniors Liz Boddy, Meg Cupoli, Annie Pinault and Kelsey MacDonald will also take leadership roles this spring. The remainder of the team is comprised of juniors Steph Blanchette, Suzie Lilakos and sophomores Sarah Bryant, Ellen Parent, Cassidy Barry, Kate Pacheco and Melissa Dark. Rounding out the team will be a number of first-year students including Kerry D’Ambroise, Rhiannon Groff, Taylor Cambal, Brittany McKenna, Selina Mazzola and Morgan Lemmon.
“I think we have a lot of hard workers and people willing to step it up,” said Connerty. “This is a tight team this season.”
Jackson looked optimistically towards this season and the newcomers she will be coaching, “We have several first-years who will be critical for us this year.”
First-year students understand the role they must play this season, “We have to set a standing for all first-years; you can still help the team,” said Cambal, one of the several first-years this season. “We need to make the upperclassmen proud.”
Under Habel, the women’s lacrosse team had an overall record of 26-11 for the two seasons of her tenure. In 2005, Habel’s first year as head coach, she took the team to the ECAC Tournament where the team was eventually crowned ECAC Champions. The next year, Habel helped her team capture the LEC Championships, thus gaining entry to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Jackson looks to keep the success going with her team.
“My goal is to get us to the NCAA Tournament,” said Jackson.
PSU, who has a great resume to work with, has a lot to work with this season according to Jackson, “I am looking to get our first-year and sophomore class hungry this year. We definitely need to get them hungry; they’ve been working hard.”
As like any team, you need to work on your basics and fundamentals, and Jackson is looking to do just that. “We are working on our fitness and our fitness fundamentals,” Jackson stated. “You need to have your fundamentals. As far as this year looks, I have a very positive outlook. This will be a transition year for a lot of players.”
“We got to keep the tradition going and make it to the NCAA Tournament,” said Spadafora.