Women’s Lacrosse Begins 2000 at Home – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/2/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
March 2, 2000
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s lacrosse team will open its 2000 season at home against the Gannon Lady Knights. The game Sunday will be the first of the season for Ohio State, while Gannon enters the game having played two games (Feb. 29 and March 2).
Scouting Ohio State
Ohio State enters the game Sunday with 13 returning letterwinners from the 1999 team, which won 10 games, the most in Ohio State women’s lacrosse history. Highlighting the group of returnees are senior Miranda James, junior Erin Andersen, sophomore Megan Mirick and junior Celeste Cianfrani. Last season James became the first Buckeye to ever receive All-America honors. Andersen, Mirick and Cianfrani return as the top three scorers from last year, which broke nearly every OSU scoring record. Andersen paced the team with 53 points, Mirick had 49 and Cianfrani 47. The Buckeyes will be backed in goal by Megan Barnett. Barnett started all 15 games as a freshman, recording154 saves for a save percentage of .544. Her goals-against average of 9.00 was good enough for a No. 23 NCAA ranking.
Head Coach Sue Stimmel
Sue Stimmel is entering her fifth season as head lacrosse coach at Ohio State. Last season Stimmel led OSU to a stellar 10-5 finish, marking the first10-win season in the history of Ohio State women’s lacrosse. With a 23-3 win over the Ohio Bobcats April 10, 1999, Stimmel earned her 100th career victory.
Scouting Gannon
The Gannon Lady Knights enter the 2000 season with seven letterwinners, including six starters, returning from the 1999 squad which went 13-2. The Lady Knights won the ECAC Conference championship and finished second in Division II last season. Gannon will be led by All-American attacker Stacey Reynolds. Reynolds led the Lady Knights last season with 102 points, 73 goals and 29 assists.
Gannon Coach Jim Nestor
Jim Nestor is in his fifth year at the helm of the Gannon lacrosse program. In his four years he has compiled a record of 47-14.
The Series
Gannon and Ohio State have met on the lacrosse field once. Ohio State leads the series 1-0, as the Buckeyes defeated the Lady Knights 10-4 in 1998.
Largest, Toughest Schedule
Ohio State will play the most regular season games in the program’s history–16. The Buckeyes also will face the toughest schedule in the program’s five-year history. The Scarlet and Gray will face six opponents that were ranked in the final IWLCA poll last season. The Buckeyes’ schedule includes games against No. 3 Penn State, No. 9 North Carolina, No. 15 Syracuse, No. 17 Boston University, No. 20 Virginia Tech and Division II power Gannon. The Buckeyes will have the difficult task of playing their last four games on the road, including games at North Carolina, Vanderbilt and Syracuse.
Virginia Tech and Bucknell on the Horizon
Ohio State will take on Virginia Tech and Bucknell next weekend. The Buckeyes will travel to Blacksburg, Va., to play the No. 20 Hokies. The Buckeyes will return home to play Bucknell in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Young, But Experienced
The Buckeyes return only four seniors for the 2000 season. However, they do return 10 starters who are sophomores or juniors. We are a young team, but we have young players that got experience last year,” Stimmel said. “We had the opportunity to play and even start many of our freshman last year.”
More on Sue Stimmel
Sue Stimmel is entering her fifth season as head women’s lacrosse coach at Ohio State. She has compiled a 27-26 mark at OSU, the only head coach in the brief history of the varsity women’s lacrosse program. Stimmel came to Ohio State from Denison University where she guided the Big Red to a 76-24 record during her career. She took over the Big Red program in 1989 and was named the IWLCA Regional Coach of the Year in 1991, 1992 and 1994. She was honored as the NCAC Coach of the Year in 1990, 1992 and 1993. Denison won five NCAC championships and made four appearances in the NCAA tournament during Stimmel’s tenure. She also coached the North Team in the Division III North/South All-Star Game in 1995. Her coaching career began in 1984 when she was named an assistant coach at the University of Massachusetts, where she stayed until 1986. Stimmel is a 1984 graduate of Temple University, where she received a degree in mathematics. She was a four-year varsity starter and a member of Temple’s national championship teams in 1982 and 1984. She was named a Regional All-American in 1984 and was invited to the U.S. team tryouts.
Looking Back at 1999
The Ohio State women’s lacrosse team finished the 1999 season with the program’s best record, 10-5. The Buckeyes were led by a powerful attack of underclassmen. Freshman Megan Mirick led the team in goals with 39. Sophomore Erin Andersen finished a close second with 36 goals. Andersen also led the team in total points with 53. Sophomore Celeste Cianfrani also contributed to the offense with 47 total points, 32 goals and 15 assists. Megan Barnett had an amazing freshman campaign in goal. She recorded 154 saves. Her goals-against average of 9.00 was good enough for a No. 23 NCAA ranking.The Buckeyes as a team were ranked seventh in scoring, averaging 13.13 goals per game. The Scarlet and Gray ranked 12th in scoring margin, averaging 4.07 more goals per game than their opponents. Ohio State also was ranked 25th in scoring defense, allowing only 9.07 goals per game. The 1999 season was marked by milestones. On April 10, against Ohio University, head coach Sue Stimmel earned her 100th career victory. Postseason awards were earned for the first time in program history. Miranda James was named a Mid-Atlantic Regional second-team All-American for her defensive efforts. Throughout the season the Buckeyes broke 11 team and individual records.
–GO BUCKS!–
