Vol. 5: Ranked Clemson Playing for More Than Just First Impressions This Year
Clemson is 7-2, already has its first ACC win and is ranked in its first season as a program. But, with head coach Allison Kwolek’s cancer diagnosis, 2023 means that much more for the Tigers.
Clemson head coach Allison Kwolek directs the Tigers during a 21-3 win over Longwood on March 5. Photo courtesy: Clemson Athletics.
The day before Clemson women’s lacrosse made history, head coach Allison Kwolek got news of a diagnosis that would change her story.
Kwolek, the Tigers’ inaugural head coach, learned she has breast cancer.
“It was shocking and scary, but I have found comfort in my doctor’s positive outlook and the treatment plan that’s in place,” Kwolek said in a video the team posted to social media Tuesday.
Within 24 hours of receiving the diagnosis, Kwolek coached Clemson in its first-ever ACC women’s lacrosse game. Even though the upstart Tigers fell to Notre Dame in South Bend, they threatened an upset, entering the fourth quarter with an 8-7 lead. Just about two weeks later, Clemson was unofficially initiated into the league with its first ACC victory, a thrilling 11-10 win over No. 15 Duke.
Sofia Chepenik, the co-ACC Offensive Player of the Week, scored the game-tying and game-winning goals, both of which were unassisted, in the final three-and-half minutes.
The freshman attacker finished with four second-half goals. She is third on the team in scoring. The Tigers’ top-two goal scorers are transfers: Hanna Hilcoff (Oregon) and Gianna New (Davidson) are seventh and ninth nationally with 29 and 27 goals, respectively.
Clemson’s roster consists of 19 transfers, including former Maryland goalie Emily Lamparter. She was named an IWLCA Player of the Week after scattering 20 saves across three wins last week. Nine came against Duke, and four of those were on Blue Devils free-position shots.
The Tigers mean business, and they were rewarded for their 7-2 start with their first top-25 ranking this week. No. 24 Clemson has the offensive firepower and netminder to knock off an ACC giant or two, and maybe even earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
But the Tigers will have to get through part of the season without their leader, Kwolek.
“Starting next week, I begin treatment so I’ll need to take a step away for a few games but look forward to returning this season,” she said.
“I want to thank everyone for their incredible support over the last few weeks, especially my team and the coaching staff. I’m really excited about what we’re starting here at Clemson.”
This season already had meaning for Clemson: a first-year program in what is, right now, the best conference in the sport. Now, the Tigers have an even greater sense of purpose.
Note: To read the letter Kwolek wrote to the Clemson community, go here. She states that her doctors are “optimistic” about her prognosis. And she emphasizes the importance of mammograms, as, in her words, “early detection is among the most important things we can do to help treat this awful disease.”
Other Storylines to Know:
1. UConn downs Yale in OT thriller. Don’t forget about UConn. After dropping out of the Top 25 in Week 1, Katie Woods’ squad got its first ranked win of the season on Saturday, edging out then-No. 15 Yale, 11-10, in overtime.
The game was neck-and-neck the whole way. Tied at the end of every quarter, neither team led by more than a goal until the fourth. Yale scored three times in just 2:19 of game play to take a 10-7 lead, but UConn would not go away. Huskies senior attacker Kate Shaffer answered with two unassisted goals to bring her team within one. Just as Yale’s defense started to home in on Shaffer, she found a cutting Susan Lafountain for the game-tying goal with 6:03 left.
Shaffer wouldn’t stop there. She netted the game-winner on a free-position shot in overtime, finishing with five points.
UConn’s passing and clutch defense made a huge difference. The Huskies had five of the game’s six assists, including helpers on the last two goals of regulation. While Yale held more possession and a 28-16 advantage on ground balls, UConn’s back end held firm. Landyn White had 14 saves, including six in the opening quarter. She now ranks third in the country in saves per game (12.17), and USA Lacrosse named her named D-I player of the week on Tuesday.
Next up, UConn has another Ivy League matchup at Cornell on Saturday. The Huskies are 5-0 against the Ancient Eight dating back to the start of the 2020 season.
2. Stanford outraces UAlbany in 41-goal affair. If you like scoring, you would’ve loved the Stanford-UAlbany Sunday matinee. In a game that had more goals than ground balls, the Cardinal came back from down seven to defeat UAlbany, 21-20, and avoid a significant upset.
Trailing, 13-6, midway through the second quarter, Stanford rattled off a 9-2 run that was jumpstarted by Annabel Frist’s woman-up goal. Frist had a monster half, scoring six of her eight goals in the final two quarters. The sophomore midfielder also dominated in the circle, winning 13 draw controls. Stanford’s 10-2 draw advantage in the third quarter was crucial to the comeback. Frist was named IWLCA co-offensive Player of the Week, as well as Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week, for her performance.
Cardinal attackers Ashley Humphrey and Sarah Jaques each finished with seven points, and the two connected for the eventual game-winner with under six minutes to go. Oregon transfer Shonly Wallace had a stellar day for UAlbany, netting seven goals. The Great Danes have now split a pair of one-goal games against Brown and Stanford.
UAlbany faces UC Davis this afternoon to finish up their West Coast trip. Stanford is at Colorado on Friday.
3. Florida rallies to beat Loyola in battle of mid-major heavyweights. Don’t look now, but the No. 8 Gators are rolling. They’ve won four games in a row after losing a heartbreaker to Maryland on Feb. 25. Of those four wins, however, one sticks out: a 14-11 victory over No. 9 Loyola on Saturday. Florida flipped the script of its late-game collapse against the Terrapins and staged a fourth-quarter comeback of its own, outscoring the Greyhounds, 6-2, in the final frame.
Senior middie Emily Heller and junior attacker Maggi Hall both notched hat tricks. Plus, junior attacker Ashley Gonzalez recorded a trio of assists—she’s now at 99 career points after the Gators’ blowout win over Colgate Tuesday.
Florida senior middie Emily Heller looks to cage during a 17-12 win over Arizona State on March 5. Heller is fourth on the team with 12 goals. Photo courtesy: Florida Athletics.
Gonzalez kicked off what became a 5-0, game-ending Florida run. All five goals were scored by different players, and four of them were unassisted. Hall was responsible for the game-winner, and the Gators’ defense—which held Loyola to 11-of-26 shooting despite losing the draw control battle, 20-9—preserved the lead the rest of the way. Goalie Sarah Reznick made 11 saves, and both Becky Browndorf and Heller scooped up three ground balls in the win. It was an uncharacteristic setback for a Loyola team that’s still tied for 14th nationally in scoring defense (8.83 goals per game allowed). But it speaks to the potential of Florida’s balanced offense, which is tied for first with only 9.83 turnovers per game and is 16th in shot percentage (47.3%).
4. Izzy Scane drops the ocho on Stony Brook. Scane doesn’t skip a beat when she’s out. That’s crystal clear. After tearing her ACL and missing all of 2022, the former Tewaaraton Award finalist started this season by piling up 27 goals in her first four games. Scane missed last week with a hamstring injury. But the Northwestern star let everyone in Ryan Fieldhouse know she was back Friday night. Against then-No. 4 Stony Brook’s famous zone, Scane erupted for eight goals, vaulting her Wildcats to a 13-8 win, their second victory over a top-five opponent this season.
The Seawolves converted a Northwestern turnover into a goal on the game’s first possession, taking early control of the first quarter. But Stony Brook never led by more than one goal in the opening frame, and the pass-heavy Wildcats used a 4-0 surge in the period to assert their dominance. Northwestern carried an 8-5 lead into the break and a 10-6 advantage into the fourth quarter. The Seawolves threatened in the final frame with a two-goal spurt to make it a 10-8 game with 12:55 remaining. Junior middie Ellie Masera—who scored five of Stony Brook’s eight goals—was the last Seawolves player to find the back of the cage.
Scane and graduate middie Elle Hansen—who netted a shot clock buzzer-beater in the period—took care of business down the stretch. Mercer transfer Hailey Rhatigan helped power Scane’s prolific performance, assisting three of her goals and scoring one herself. Scane is now only one goal off the nation lead, despite playing in three fewer games than top scorer Isabella Peterson from James Madison. But Northwestern’s defensive effort can’t go unnoticed, either. In a physical game that saw a total of 11 yellow cards, the Wildcats forced 10 turnovers, and goalie Molly Laliberty turned away 12 shots.
5. St. Joe’s throttles George Mason on A-10 opening weekend. The Atlantic 10 kickstarted conference play with a slate of five games on Saturday, and none stood out more than St. Joseph’s’ wire-to-wire domination of George Mason. The Hawks won, 19-0, in their first shutout in program history. It is the only shutout at the Division I level this season.
Equally impressive is the fact that St. Joseph’s had 11 different scorers, and no player had more than three goals. Sophomore attacker Sarah Groark finished with a hat trick and two assists, and six other Hawks players had two goals.
Junior goalie Jordan Concordia picked up the win in 50 minutes of action, making eight saves. She was named Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday. Watch out, St. Joe’s has the best team save percentage in the A-10 (.482), as well as the third-best scoring defense (10.29 goals per game allowed).
St. Joseph’s may have started the year 1-5, but don’t let that fool you. The Hawks had a challenging non-conference schedule against the likes of No. 11 Maryland, UConn and Temple. Remember, St. Joseph’s won the A-10 tournament in 2022.
6. Princeton back to winning ways against ranked USC. Less than a week after falling to then-No. 22 Yale in their Ivy opener, the Princeton Tigers took on a top-20 USC team in their third straight game against a ranked opponent. The Tigers withstood 29 Trojans fouls, as well as seven yellow cards, putting together a decisive third quarter run that propelled Princeton to an 11-8 win.
After leading, 4-3, at halftime, Princeton allowed two quick USC goals in the first five minutes of the third quarter and fell behind for the first time all game. The Tigers rattled off six of the next seven goals, though, including a pair from both sophomore McKenzie Blake and junior Grace Tauckus.
Amelia Hughes makes a kneeling stop against USC on Friday. She finished with 14 saves and has double-digit saves in all but one game this year. Photo courtesy: Shelley M. Szwast/Princeton Athletics.
Princeton head coach Jenn Cook’s freshman goalie, Amelia Hughes, turned in another impressive start. She made 14 saves and allowed eight goals, good for a .636 save percentage in the game. Hughes has saved exactly half of the 126 shots on goal she’s faced. The Tigers will face another ranked opponent in Penn State on Saturday.
7. Jacksonville has hit its stride. Well, Jacksonville is doing it again. Different head coach, same narrative. Last year, the Dolphins came out the other end of a rigorous start to their non-conference slate with a 3-3 record but rallied to win the ASUN and make the NCAA Tournament. This time around, with former Johns Hopkins defensive coordinator Tara Singleton at the helm, they lost their first three contests and have responded with a four-game win streak.
The turnaround began with a win over No. 21 Stanford, which the Dolphins also beat in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Then they topped Arizona State, UMass Lowell and, most recently, No. 23 Penn. Three of the four wins have been by two goals or fewer.
Jacksonville had to stave off a fierce fourth-quarter comeback by the Quakers Saturday. Penn outscored the Dolphins, 6-1, in the period, nearly erasing a six-goal deficit. But an insurance score from graduate middie Molly Brock with five minutes left proved to be the difference. Brock is tied for fourth in goals this season for the Dolphins, who have a top-heavy attack that’s led by graduate attacker Sarah Elms (25 goals, 4 assists). Jacksonville gets Navy, Delaware State and No. 6 Denver next.
Weekly Focus:
LINDENWOOD LIONS BRING HISTORY, PEDIGREE TO DIVISION I
Lindsay Smith (2) and Meredith Parry (28) jump for joy during Lindenwood’s first-ever Division I win. Photo courtesy: Don Adams Jr./Lindenwood Athletics.
If you haven’t met them already, allow us to introduce you to the Lindenwood Lions. One of seven programs to debut at the Division I level in 2023, Lindenwood is proof of the explosion of women’s lacrosse over the last 15-plus years.
Starting as a humble club team in 2006, the Lions made the leap to Division II in 2012. Due to NCAA rules, they were not eligible for postseason play in their first two seasons as a varsity program. That was no problem. In 2014, Lindenwood made the D-II national tournament on its first try, becoming the first team from west of the Mississippi River to qualify. The Lions fell in overtime, 10-9, to Lock Haven in the semifinals, but the story was just starting.
Lindenwood finished in the top two of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference every year from 2014-19. It played legendary games against Regis College in 2018 and 2019, where it lost in double and triple overtime, respectively.
In 2020, the Lions made the switch to the Great Lakes Valley Conference, where they finished out their D-II tenure. In 2021, Lindenwood defeated Queens (also a new D-I program), 14-12, to win their first national championship. Graduate student Erin McGuire led the Lions in scoring with 45 goals and 50 assists. To make the 17-1 season even sweeter, Lindenwood got revenge over rival Regis in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a 14-9 victory.
Lindenwood won the Division II national championship in 2021, defeating Queens, 14-12. Photo courtesy: Ryan Hunt/Lindenwood Athletics.
In 11 seasons at the Division II level, Lindenwood went 178-26.
Head coach Jack Cribbin has been there every step of the way. The team’s club coach in 2006, Cribbin played goalie for the Lindenwood men’s team from 2003-05. He was inducted into the St. Louis Chapter of the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2020.
Year one at the D-I level is going well for Cribbin and the Lions. They picked up their first win against Central Michigan, the reigning champions of the MAC, and they’re 3-4 on the season. Fresno State transfer Logann Eldredge leads the team in scoring with 22 goals and six assists.
Lindenwood will play its first-ever ASUN game on March 31 against Queens in a 2021 D-II national championship rematch.
Numbers to Know:
Georgetown sophomore attacker Emma Gebhardt is second on the team with 24 points this season, but 10 of her 20 goals came against Monmouth on March 11. Photo courtesy: Georgetown Athletics.
10 – Georgetown sophomore Emma Gebhardt scored a career-high 10 goals in the Hoyas’ 18-16 win over Monmouth on Saturday. She and Northwestern’s Izzy Scane are the only two players to reach double-digit goals in a single game in 2023.
11.17 – Bailey Wilson, graduate defender for Kennesaw State, leads the nation in draw controls per game. She’s won 67 draws in six games, including a career-high 19 versus Wofford on Saturday. Wilson started her college career at Furman, where she played in 11 games across three seasons before transferring to Kennesaw State prior to 2022.
401 – After UNC’s wins over Boston College and Virginia, Tar Heels head coach Jenny Levy now has 401 career wins, third most in Division I history and second most among active coaches. Princeton’s newly-retired Chris Sailer finished with 418 wins, and Navy’s Cindy Timchal has 555 and counting.
Tewaaraton Watch:
It’s still early, but, man, does it feel like it could be a two-way Tewaaraton race between Northwestern’s Izzy Scane and Meaghan Tyrrell. A lot can change between now and the end of May, though. And that’s why there are additions to the Tewaaraton watch list throughout the season. The first wave occurred last week.
Here they are:
Lacey Bartholomay, Jr. – Goalie (Army)
Sydni Black, Jr. – Attack (Loyola)
Emelia Bohi, So. – Goalie (Denver)
Megan Carney, Gr. – Attack (Syracuse)
Reilly Casey, Jr. – Attack (UNC)
Jenna Collignon, So. – Attack (Yale)
Kayla Martello, Jr. – Attack (BC)
Rachel Matey, Sr. – Defense (James Madison)
Trinity McPherson, Gr. – Defense (Denver)
Alecia Nicholas, So. – Goalie (UNC)
Jill Smith, So. – Midfield (Michigan)
Lauren Spence, So. – Goalie (Loyola)
Madison Taylor, Fr. – Midfield (Northwestern)
Jackie Wolak, Sr. – Attack (Notre Dame)
TAKEAWAYS
Army goalie Lacey Bartholomay sets up in net amid a 17-15 win over Boston University in the Black Knights’ Patriot League opener on March 11. Photo courtesy: Army Athletics.
1. Lacey Bartholomay is a big reason why Army is 6-0 right now. The junior goalie is third nationally in save percentage (.573). She’s making 8.5 saves per game, and her goals against average of 9.1 is 16th in the country.
2. Michigan middie Jill Smith is flying under the radar. That’s maybe because the No. 17 Wolverines are still searching for their first true signature win this season (they are 0-3 against top-10 opponents, although they did open the year with a win over No. 19 Jacksonville). Anyway, you should know who Smith is—she’s tied for third in the country with 4.25 goals per game.
3. Northwestern’s Madison Taylor is the lone freshman addition. The first-year middie has given the Wildcats a lift right from the get-go. She found the back of the cage five times in the opener against Syracuse and has scored two or more goals in all but one game this season. Taylor is second on the team with 17 goals, tied for the seventh most of any freshman nationally.
If you’re looking for the original 50 watch list honorees—announced on Feb. 10—USA Lacrosse Magazine has you covered here.
The second round of additions will be announced March 31. Then the field will be pared down to 25 nominees on April 20. Remember, those nominees can be players outside the watch lists, too. So that essentially allows for a third phase of newcomers.
The five finalists will be revealed in May, and the Tewaaraton Award Ceremony will be held on June 1 in Washington, D.C.
POINTS LEADERS
GOALS LEADERS
NOTE: Stats correct through March 13.
Inside Lacrosse Poll
Screenshots pulled from insidelacrosse.com.
BC is back in the top four after a one-week hiatus. The Eagles swapped places with now-No. 5 Stony Brook after the Seawolves lost to No. 3 Northwestern, and BC topped both Brown and Louisville. Florida climbed to No. 8 with its impressive win over Loyola, which consequently dropped two spots from No. 7 to No. 9. Michigan, winners of five of the last six, continues its rise up the poll, moving from No. 19 to No. 17. UMass regained ground, and some. The 7-1 Minutewomen are now No. 20—their only loss this season is to No. 4 BC. Rutgers, which opened the year No. 8, has fallen to No. 22, most recently dropping five spots. The Scarlet Knights did snap their three-game skid with a win over Vanderbilt Monday.
The two newcomers to the poll this week? Well, No. 24 Clemson, of course, but also No. 25 Penn State. The Nittany Lions are 6-2 and have won back-to-back games against Rutgers and Towson by a combined three goals.
What’s Ahead?
No. 2 Syracuse @ No. 9 Loyola, March 15, 6 p.m.
No. 19 Jacksonville @ Navy, March 16, 3 p.m.
No. 8 Florida @ No. 7 James Madison, March 18, 12 p.m.
No. 11 Maryland @ No. 22 Rutgers, March 18, 12 p.m.
No. 25 Penn State @ No. 14 Princeton, March 18, 12 p.m.
No. 4 Boston College @ No. 6 Denver, March 19, 1 p.m.
No. 1 UNC @ No. 3 Northwestern, March 19, 1:30 p.m.
Hope you enjoyed this edition of the Quick on the Draw newsletter. If you liked it or know someone who will, please share! We’ll be back next week for more coverage.