2008 Woodie Awards
UConn Lacrosse Picks Up First Victory Of Season
Women's Lacrosse: Huskies Use Momentum From ND Loss To Beat UC-Davis
Dennis Rizzo
Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: Sports
In Saturday's game against No. 14 Notre Dame, the Huskies barely had time to take the field before they found themselves in an all too familiar situation.
Only six minutes into the game against the Irish (8-3, 2-1 Big East), UConn (1-9, 0-3) already faced a 6-0 deficit.
UConn head coach Megan Cersosimo called a timeout when she saw her team on its heels.
"I told them to take it one goal at a time and play our game plan," said Cersosimo. "We just needed to learn from past mistakes and make the adjustments."
UConn did just that.
Entering the second half facing a 14-4 deficit, UConn exploded offensively, outshooting the Irish 20-7 while also outscoring their opponent 7-4. UConn's Robyn Pastuch finished with three goals and one assist while the Huskies' leader in points, Whitney Michele, tallied two goals and two assists.
Notre Dame's Jillian Byers had seven goals for the Irish and also one assist. Byers is 4th in Division I for goals per game with 4.22. She has 38 goals through nine games.
"We started to play as a team," Cersosimo said. "We forced turnovers, learned from past goals and held ourselves personally accountable."
While they still lost 18-11, the Huskies created some momentum for themselves, something they had not been able to do all season.
Sunday, the Huskies also did something they had not done all season - they won.
Carrying their momentum from the game against Notre Dame, the Huskies defeated the UC-Davis Aggies (4-7) by a final score of 16-9. This was UConn's largest margin of victory (seven) since it defeated New Hampshire on April 17, 2007.
After the game, Coach Cersosimo had just one word to describe how she felt - "Fantastic".
"The difference in this game was we played with confidence," Cersosimo said. "It just takes a lot of time and a lot of patience."
The Aggies only lead of the game came at the 23:30 mark in the first half. From there, UConn took over, going on a 6-1 run and ending the half leading 9-5.
UC-Davis cut the Huskies' lead to three early in the half, but Pastuch answered 30 seconds later with her first goal of the day. This goal also sparked a 5-1 run for the Huskies and put the game out of reach for the Aggies.
Whitney Michele, who scored a career-high five goals, led the Huskies, while Katy Ryan and Robyn Pastuch each had hat tricks. Goalkeeper Jenna Moulton also made 15 saves and set a new season-low by only allowing nine goals.
UC-Davis was led by Katie McMahon, who also had five goals on the afternoon.
"Winning shows that there is a 'method to the madness'," Cersosimo said. "It shows that there is a reason behind why we do things and all we have to do is make sure we execute the game plan."
UConn's next match is on Wednesday, April 2, when it will battle in-state rival Fairfield at the Sherman Complex at 3:00 p.m.
Contact Dennis Rizzo at
Dennis.Rizzo@UConn.edu
Only six minutes into the game against the Irish (8-3, 2-1 Big East), UConn (1-9, 0-3) already faced a 6-0 deficit.
UConn head coach Megan Cersosimo called a timeout when she saw her team on its heels.
"I told them to take it one goal at a time and play our game plan," said Cersosimo. "We just needed to learn from past mistakes and make the adjustments."
UConn did just that.
Entering the second half facing a 14-4 deficit, UConn exploded offensively, outshooting the Irish 20-7 while also outscoring their opponent 7-4. UConn's Robyn Pastuch finished with three goals and one assist while the Huskies' leader in points, Whitney Michele, tallied two goals and two assists.
Notre Dame's Jillian Byers had seven goals for the Irish and also one assist. Byers is 4th in Division I for goals per game with 4.22. She has 38 goals through nine games.
"We started to play as a team," Cersosimo said. "We forced turnovers, learned from past goals and held ourselves personally accountable."
While they still lost 18-11, the Huskies created some momentum for themselves, something they had not been able to do all season.
Sunday, the Huskies also did something they had not done all season - they won.
Carrying their momentum from the game against Notre Dame, the Huskies defeated the UC-Davis Aggies (4-7) by a final score of 16-9. This was UConn's largest margin of victory (seven) since it defeated New Hampshire on April 17, 2007.
After the game, Coach Cersosimo had just one word to describe how she felt - "Fantastic".
"The difference in this game was we played with confidence," Cersosimo said. "It just takes a lot of time and a lot of patience."
The Aggies only lead of the game came at the 23:30 mark in the first half. From there, UConn took over, going on a 6-1 run and ending the half leading 9-5.
UC-Davis cut the Huskies' lead to three early in the half, but Pastuch answered 30 seconds later with her first goal of the day. This goal also sparked a 5-1 run for the Huskies and put the game out of reach for the Aggies.
Whitney Michele, who scored a career-high five goals, led the Huskies, while Katy Ryan and Robyn Pastuch each had hat tricks. Goalkeeper Jenna Moulton also made 15 saves and set a new season-low by only allowing nine goals.
UC-Davis was led by Katie McMahon, who also had five goals on the afternoon.
"Winning shows that there is a 'method to the madness'," Cersosimo said. "It shows that there is a reason behind why we do things and all we have to do is make sure we execute the game plan."
UConn's next match is on Wednesday, April 2, when it will battle in-state rival Fairfield at the Sherman Complex at 3:00 p.m.
Contact Dennis Rizzo at
Dennis.Rizzo@UConn.edu
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