2008 Woodie Awards
Struggling Huskies Face L'ville
Lacrosse
Russell Blair
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Sports
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This year marks the inaugural year for Louisville's lacrosse program and thus far they have stepped up to the challenge of Division I play. This is the first meeting between the Huskies and the Cardinals (7-4) on the lacrosse field, but they will become familiar foes in the future as Louisville will join the Big East in 2009.
"This is a great opportunity for the team to scout out Louisville who will be a future Big East opponent of ours," said head coach Megan Cersosimo.
The Cardinals are led on offense by Bergan Foley. The freshman has put up 46 goals on the year, including a buzzer-beating game-winner against Virginia Tech. Her 4.18 goals per game average is good enough for 3rd in the nation.
The Cardinals defense has proved to be stout as well. The Cardinals defense is again led by an outstanding freshman. Brittany Poist has caused 30 turnovers, 2nd most in the nation, and collected 37 ground balls, the 9th most of all players. Louisville holds its opponents to just under 10 goals per game, meaning the Huskies offense needs to step up if they want to perform well.
The one part of the game UConn has struggled with most in the past three games has been second half offense. They have been outscored 22-11 in the second half of these games.
"The team needs to stay consistent the entire game," said Cersosimo. "If we can play with the same intensity in both halves we can win."
The Huskies will need to look for contributions from players other than leading scorers Whitney Michele and Katy Ryan. As of late Robyn Pastuch has been one of the players UConn has come to rely on, she has scored nine goals in her last five games. After being a reserve her first three years at UConn, starting only two games last year, Pastuch has stepped smoothly into a starting role well matching her goal total from the 2007 season by picking up back to back hat tricks against Notre Dame and UC-Davis.
"Pastuch is a deceptive attacker with a great ability to finish under pressure," Cersosimo said.
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