April 29 kicked off the women’s lacrosse Atlantic East Conference tournament. The team looks to capture their 21st conference title and once again advance in the NCAA tournament.
Little makes big impact
Individual members of the team are heating up as well. Fifth year attacker Olivia Little is having a great final
season, leading the team with 61 goals. She also surpassed 200 draw controls and 100 career assists accompanied by three AEC Player of the Week awards. This is even more impressive because she’s only in her second year with the Cavs; she attended Division I St. Joseph’s University for her first two years of college.
“My individual success is due to the hard-working teammates that I have on my team. Without everyone going 100 percent every practice, we wouldn’t be as prepared as we are for each game,” Little said.
Youth step up
In the net, junior goalkeeper Abbey Fenton gained her 100th career save this season.
Fenton stepped up in her first year starting in net.
Senior defender Jess Ruk said, “Abbey Fenton has had an awesome season. She went from not playing much the past two seasons due to a senior goalie ahead of her, but she has stepped up big time and made a huge impact on our team. We wouldn’t be successful without her.”
Morgan McClintock and Maggie Cella are two other younger players on the team who contributed this season. Cella had 29 goals and McClintock has 16.
Looking for more
“Our goal is always to win the AEC Championship and play in the NCAA tournament,” Little said.
Women’s lacrosse has high expectations for this postseason. Last season saw a 13-point championship game win. The Cavs continued to dominate the AEC for the past year but see the NCAA tournament as their main goal for the season.
“When preparing for the postseason we like to take it one day at a time and not look ahead too much. We work hard but still keep things light because the postseason is the most fun. Overall, we focus on the game right in front of us and dominate each opponent,” Little said.
Last year, the Cavs made history by winning their first-ever tournament game. They upset number 22 ranked Haverford in the first round.
“We’re hoping that we get a good team to play in the NCAA tournament. Last year we played two great teams, Haverford and Ithaca, and we did well against both. I’d say our goal for this year is to get to the second round of the tournament like we did last year and advance from there,” Ruk said.
Despite their success in the Atlantic East, the team has been tested out of conference this year. However, this tough schedule gives them a better chance for an NCAA tournament bid or a higher seed, because both are based on the schedule’s strength. This means the harder Cabrini’s regular season schedule is the higher ranked they will be headed into the NCAA tournament.
Ruk said, “Our schedule is something that sets us apart from other teams in our conference. We play hard games against the top 25 teams because it makes us better. Our out-of-conference schedule prepares us for the postseason and is reflective of what we may see in the tournament competition-wise.”
