With help from the defense, Corsiars win four of six final games to post 5-8 overall record, 2-3 in LEC

(Dartmouth, MA) – With four victories in its final six games of the 2003 regular season, the UMass Dartmouth women’s lacrosse team finished with a 5-8 overall record and a 2-3 mark in the Little East Conference. Coach Jerry Jennings’ Corsairs were seeded sixth in the LEC Women’s Lacrosse Tournament and had their season come to a close following a 16-8 loss to third seeded Western Connecticut State University.

After dropping six out of seven to open the 2003 season, the Corsiars’ defense sparked the turnaround. UMass Dartmouth had allowed 92 goals in the first seven games of the season, an average of 13.1 per game. In the final six regular season games, the Corsiars gave up only 52 goals, an average of 8.6 per game, producing four wins in six games. The Corsairs edged Curry College, 9-7, on April 18 to kick off the streak, which also included wins over Elms College (22-6) and LEC wins against Keene State (10-7) and Rhode Island College (16-8).

In the Corsairs’ LEC Tournament first round game at Western Connecticut, UMass Dartmouth hung close through the first half, training by an 8-6 score. But in the second half, Western Connecticut, which had defeated UMass Dartmouth 16-5 in the regular season, outscored the Corsairs 8-6 for the 16-8 final score. The post season appearance by the Corsiars was the fifth in the six-year history of the program.

UMass Dartmouth fielded a young squad for the 2003 season with only two seniors finishing among the top six scorers. First-year player Mary Doherty (Loudonville, NY) was the Corsairs’ top scorer with a team-high 29 goals and six assists for 35 points in 14 games. Her 2.1 goals per game was eighth best in the LEC and Doherty’s 2.5 points per game was 10th in the conference.

A pair of seniors finished second and third in scoring, respectively, for UMass Dartmouth. Mycena Kallechey (Hollis, ME) was second in scoring with 25 goals and an assist for 26 points, averaging 1.8 goals per game to finish 11th in the LEC. Shannon Curran (Framingham, MA) was third in scoring with 14 goals and a team-high 10 assists for 24 points.

Among the Corsairs’ top scorers returning for next season were junior Megan Corfield (Framingham, MA), who was third in goals with 20 along with an assist for 21 points. Sophomore Kristine Johnson (Walpole, MA) scored 17 goals with an assist for 18 points, while first-year player Andrea Travers (Weymouth, MA) had 11 goals and three assists for 14 points on the season.

In goal, junior Liz Holland (Quincy, MA) handled the bulk of the netminding duties, appearing in 14 games. Holland’s goals against average of 11.8 ranked sixth in the LEC, while she also had a .590 saves percentage, which was second best among all LEC goalies. Holland allowed 157 goals and made 226 saves. First-year back up Allison Greer (Milford, MA) appeared in three games and had a 5.1 goals against average.