CC Championship Site

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Starting from scratch wouldn't be an optimal game plan for most teams, but it worked for Gettysburg College's women's lacrosse team this spring as the Bullets look to continue to turn heads at this weekend's Centennial Conference Tournament.

Gettysburg (13-3, 8-1 CC) lost two-thirds of its starting lineup and graduated 10 playmaking seniors from last season's squad, which finished runner-up in the CC before advancing to the national semifinals. Nobody knew what to expect from the Bullets this spring, including the veteran coaching staff, but the results have been impressive so far. The team has turned away all comers save for three close losses to top-ranked teams, and now it faces the challenge of capturing the CC title for the first time in five seasons.

“Our team's success because of all the individual players stepping up this season has been a fun process to observe,” noted Head Coach Carol Cantele, now in her 19th season at the helm. “The players have stepped up to the challenge of filling the many open spots from the 2010 season. They were ready, and in a way seasoned from all of our competitive practices from last year.”

“They have come together as a unit both offensively and defensively,” Cantele added. “I give a great deal of credit to their focus at all of our practices and their willingness to spend extra time with film and lifting and conditioning.”

Among its 13 wins, Gettysburg defeated three teams currently ranked in the national poll, including victories over ninth-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology (13-8) and 10th-ranked Catholic University (16-11). It's only losses are to the current No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the nation in The College of New Jersey (7-8) and Hamilton College (9-13), in addition to a close loss to sixth-ranked Franklin & Marshall (7-9).

Earlier this week, six Bullets were named All-Centennial Conference, including five first-timers. Senior Becky Lutz was the only repeat selection and was named CC Player of the Year. She was joined on the first team by juniors Hannah Church and Maddie Coleman, while sophomore Lindsey Robinson was tabbed second team and senior Marnie Commins and junior Lexi Kelly were each named honorable mention.

Despite the success so far this spring, Cantele and her team realize more work has to be done. Gettysburg enters the conference postseason as the number two seed and will battle third-seeded Ursinus College (8-8, 6-3 CC) on Saturday, April 30, at 3:30 p.m. at Tylus Field.

In the regular-season meeting, the Orange and Blue broke a three-all tie with five consecutive goals en route to a 14-7 decision on April 9. Church accounted for four goals and an assist, while Robinson posted three scores and one helper. Coleman also made 10 saves in the victory.

Ursinus is coming off two of its best defensive games of the year, downing Haverford College 8-4 and defeating Muhlenberg College 14-5. The Bears forced a combined 40 turnovers in those two games with Lindsey Urban and Alyssa Thren pacing the offense with five goals apiece. Thren is one of the conference's leading scorers this spring and she put up five goals in the first meeting with Gettysburg.

“We know Thren is a strong attacker and we will have a good match up against her,” said Cantele. “She is a great player and is a threat that we are aware of.”

The schemes for winning might change depending on the opponent, but Cantele keeps her players focused on the same basic goals each outing.

“Our plan in every game is to be the team with more possession time, more draw controls, more ground balls and the like. We know that we need to minimize our turnovers and that all players must be involved and play within themselves.”

“So it really doesn't matter if we change it up,” added the coach, “but rather that whatever the game plan is, we do it well. It is all going to come down to the team that executes their game, whatever it is, and does it well.”

Offensively, Gettysburg's game plan has centered around the three-headed attack of Church, Robinson, and Commins. Church is streaking into the postseason riding a 22-game goal-scoring streak and totaling a team-best 52 goals on the year. Robinson and Commins are in the midst of career seasons, each tossing in 30 goals and dishing out 22 and 16 assists, respectively.

The team has also relied heavily on a talented first-year class that has matured quicker than is normally expected. Loren Pruitt has tallied the most goals by a Bullet first-year since all-time leading scorer Julika Blankenship '04 in 2001 with 26 this season, while Kelsey Markiewicz has become a versatile contributor with 20 goals, 18 ground balls, and 21 draw controls this spring.

Defensively, Gettysburg has rarely been better. The fifth-ranked unit in Division III, the team has logged a 6.38 goals against average this season - second-best in school history. Coleman has teamed with senior Laura McIntyre to provide the Bullets with the best goalkeeping corps in the Centennial Conference. Gettysburg leads the CC in GAA, saves per game (8.44), and save percentage (.570). In nine conference games, the Bullets goalkeepers stopped 60.8 percent of the shots they faced.

Coleman and McIntyre have certainly had plenty of help from their backfield mates. Lutz has totaled a conference-best and career-high 41 caused turnovers this season. Kelly and sophomore Kat Nestor  are tied for second on the team with 25 ground balls. Sophomore Mairead McGuirk has taken over draw duties and has helped the team win nearly 57 percent of the draw controls over the last 11 games.

One thing Gettysburg doesn't want to do now is overlook its next opponent. It seems almost a foregone conclusion the Bullets would play in Sunday's championship for the 11th consecutive season, but that is exactly the mind-set Cantele wants to avoid.

“No one knows at this point who is playing on Sunday so that cannot be our concern at the moment,” said the coach. “We are preparing to improve our play and how we are working together. Our focus is on us, and that is the only thing we have complete control of.”

Before Gettysburg faces Ursinus, host Franklin & Marshall (15-2, 9-0 CC) will battle No. 5 seed Washington College (11-5, 4-5 CC), which defeated Haverford College 10-9 in the opening round, at 1 p.m. The two semifinal winners will square off for the Centennial title and the conference's automatic qualifier for the national tournament on Tylus Field on Sunday, May 1, at 1 p.m.