SEASON OUTLOOK: Tigers Hope To Break Through In 2014
After 24 regular season wins in the last two years, veteran squad looks to translate that success into postseason hardware.
Over the last two years, the Wittenberg women's lacrosse team has walked off the field a winner 24 times and has not lost a regular season North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) game in 14 tries. Head Coach Beth Hemminger welcomes 10 letterwinners, including six starters, back to the line-up in 2014 in hopes of building upon that unprecedented run of success and breaking through to compete on an even bigger stage.
In 2014, the conversation starts for the Tigers with four of their top five scorers returning in the line-up after setting a goal-scoring school record for a fourth straight year in 2013. Leading the charge will be the midfield trio of junior Logan Warye (Maineville, Ohio/Kings) and seniors Francine Murzynski (Mentor, Ohio/Lake Catholic) and Alie Marousek (Ballston Lake, NY/Portsmouth (NH)).
Warye enjoyed a breakout 2013 campaign, leading the Tigers with 57 goals and 72 total points while taking 28 more shots than any other player on the roster en route to her first collegiate all-conference selection. Warye's point total was the third-best in program history and her goal total equaled the Wittenberg mark set 17 years earlier. Murzynski added 39 goals and a team-high 24 assists for 63 total points in 2013 to earn her second straight first-team All-NCAC honor, in addition to first-team All-Great Lakes Region and third-team All-America honors.
Along with her offensive exploits, Murzynski has re-written the Wittenberg record book in other categories. She owns the best two season draw control totals in program history, and she already holds the career record with 168 heading into her senior year. In addition, Murzynski ranks 10th in career points, fifth in career assists and just outside the top 20 for career ground balls.
Marousek was a first-team all-region and all-conference selection in 2012 and an honorable mention all-league choice a year ago. She has scored 64 goals and dished out 45 assists in her first two seasons in the Red & White.
Other options on the attack include juniors Megan Loofbourrow (Prospect, Ky./Ballard) and Beth Hubbard (West Hartford, Conn./Notre Dame de Sion (Mo.)), who finished with 11 and 27 goals, respectively in 2013.
On defense, Hemminger's first task is to find a replacement for graduated NCAC Defensive Player of the Year Katie Warner. The task will be made easier by the return of three other starters in the backfield, including seniors Mallory Skrobot (Dublin, Ohio/Columbus Watterson) and Alex Dressman (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline) and junior Mary Ann White (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral), in addition to sophomore Sara Ellis (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich./Grosse Pointe South), who made seven appearances in 2013.
Sophomore Katie Reuter (Cleveland, Ohio/Hathaway Brown) is slated to take over in goal for the Tigers after she appeared three games a year ago. She will be backed by sophomore Maddy Kelly (Columbus, Ohio/Bexley).
A strong recruiting class figures to yield several immediate contributors, starting with sophomores Carrie Kubasta (Medina, Ohio/Medina) and Olivia Lash (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights), both of whom transferred to Wittenberg from NCAA Division I scholarship programs. Freshman Becca Joseph (Toledo, Ohio/St. Ursula) also figures to be a key figure in the Tigers' attack in 2014.
The Tigers open the 2014 season with a Spring Break road trip to North Carolina for games at Guilford and Randolph. The home portion of the schedule starts with games against Adrian on March 18 and perennial national powerhouse Stevenson on March 22, and the NCAC slate kicks off with a home date against Ohio Wesleyan on March 29.
Written By: Ryan Maurer