No. 17 Women’s Lacrosse Faces No. 20 Northwestern and No. 12 Notre Dame In Roads Contests Next Week – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
March 19, 2003
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 17th-ranked Ohio State (4-1, 1-0 American Lacrosse Conference) women’s lacrosse squad will face two ranked teams on the road in the next week. OSU faces 20th-ranked Northwestern (5-0, 1-0) at 1 p.m., Sun., March 23 in an ALC contest. The Buckeyes then play at 12th-ranked Notre Dame (2-2) at 4 p.m., Tues., March 25.
FORQUER NAMED ALC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The American Lacrosse Conference announced that Buckeye goalie Erin Forquer (So., Shaker Heights, Ohio) has been named the ALC Player of the Week. Forquer helped OSU (4-1 overall, 1-0 ALC) to a 9-6 victory over 15th-ranked Johns Hopkins last Friday. She played all 60 minutes and recorded 12 saves in the win. Sunday, in a 14-5 victory over Virginia Tech, she played 53 minutes and collected seven saves in 17th-ranked OSU’s fourth consecutive win. The top goalie in the ALC, Forquer, with a 4-0 record in four starts, has a conference best 4.64 goals against average and a league-high .625 saves percentage. She also was selected as an honorable mention player of the week by womenslacrosse.com.
A LOOK AT OHIO STATE
The Buckeyes, coached by Sue Stimmel, are 4-1 overall record and 1-0 in the American Lacrosse Conference. OSU is ranked 17th in the IWLCA poll this week. In home contests last week, Ohio State defeated 15th-ranked Johns Hopkins, 9-6, and Virginia Tech, 14-5. Shannon Wilson (Sr., Sherkston, Ontario) is OSU’s top goal scorer with 10 with Regina Oliver (So., Pottstown, Pa.) second with nine and Tracey Bounds (Sr., Ellicott City, Md.) third with seven. Oliver has a team-high four assists and leads the team in points with 13 (9-4). Wilson is second with 12 points (10-2) and Bounds is third with 10 (7-3). Oliver has team-highs in ground balls with 28, caused turnovers with 21 and draw controls with 13. In goal, Erin Forquer is 4-0 with a 4.64 goals against average and a .625 saves percentage.
A LOOK AT NORTHWESTERN
The Wildcats, coached by Kelly Amonte Hiller, are 5-0 on the season and 1-0 in the ALC. Northwestern won at Ohio University, 13-9, and at Duquesne, 10-4, last week. Courtney Flynn has scored a team-high 12 goals with Lynda McCandlish contributing 10. Angela McMahon has a team-high five assists with Donna McCann and Jenny Bush having four each. Flynn leads in total points with 14 (12-2) with Courtney Koester second 11 (9-2). Ashley Koester leads the squad in ground balls with 14 while C. Koester has a team-high 19 draw controls. Abby Alley is the team leader in caused turnovers with five. In goal, Ashley Gersuk is 5-0 and has a 6.20 goals against average on 31 goals. She has 35 saves and a .53 saves percentage.
THE SERIES WITH NORTHWESTERN
Ohio State has won the only meeting with the Wildcats. Last season, the 16-4 victory at Northwestern opened conference play for OSU in 2002.
A LOOK AT NOTRE DAME
The Fighting Irish, coached by Tracey Coyne, are 2-2 overall. Notre Dame is ranked 12th in the latest IWLCA Poll. The Irish lost 7-6 to13th-ranked Yale (3-1) Tuesday in Florida. In statistics prior to the Yale game, Danielle Shearer was the team leader in goals with seven. Meredith Simon is second with five. Shearer also had a team-high seven assists with Simon second with six. Shearer led the squad with 14 points (7-7) with Simon second at 11 (5-6). Andrea Kinnik had a team-high six ground balls with Simon collecting six draw controls to lead the team. Kristen Gaudreau had a team-high three caused turnovers. In goal, Jen White had a 2-1 record and was averaging 10.31 goals against on 28 scores. She had 32 saves for a .533 saves percentage.
THE SERIES WITH NOTRE DAME
Ohio State has a 4-3 lead in the series with the Fighting Irish. The teams played twice last season with OSU winning the regular season battle, 12-11, in Columbus and the Irish winning, 11-7, at home in the first round of the NCAA Championship. At Notre Dame, each team has won twice. The Buckeyes won 11-7 in 1997 and 15-12 in 1999. The Irish won 18-12 in 2001 and last season. In Columbus, Notre Dame won 10-9 in 1998 with OSU winning 10-9 in 2000 and 12-11 in 2002.
BOUNDS MOVES TO THIRD IN OSU CAREER POINTS
With her second goal against Virginia Tech, Tracey Bounds moved to third on the OSU career points list with 135 (91 goals, 44 assists) points. She passed Mara Simpson (1996-99) with 134. Bounds has seven goals and three assists this season ranking third in points on the squad. She also has 22 ground balls.
OLIVER CONTINUES TO POST BIG NUMBERS
With two goals against Johns Hopkins and a goal and an assist against Virginia Tech, Regina Oliver leads the Buckeyes in five statistical categories. She has team-highs of four assists and 13 points, ranking second in goals with nine. In the field, she leads OSU in ground balls with 28, draw controls with 13 and has caused 21 turnovers. Oliver is the American Lacrosse Conference leader in ground balls at 5.60 per game and caused turnovers at 4.20 per game.
VOGLER CONNECTS FOR TWO GOAL IN HER THIRD CONSECUTIVE GAME
Alexia Vogler (Sr., Ellicott City, Md.) has scored two goals in each of her last three games. She scored her first points of the season at Lafayette with two goals and two assists. Last week she added two goals in OSU’s two games against Johns Hopkins and Virginia Tech. Vogler ranks fourth in points for the Buckeyes with eight.
HITES EXPLODES FOR FOUR GOALS AGAINST VIRGINA TECH
Noemi Hites (Jr., Pleasanton, Calif.) scored four goals against Virginia Tech last week. She opened the scoring against the Hokies just 1:38 into the game. She added back-to-back goals in a period of nine seconds, scoring at 13:06 and 13:15. Her fourth goal at 15:51 gave OSU an 8-0 lead over Virginia Tech.
OSU RANKED 17TH IN IWLCA POLL
The Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association has ranked Ohio State 17th in the poll released this week. OSU moved up one spot after wins over 15th-ranked Johns Hopkins and Virginia Tech. OSU received 40 points in the poll. Loyola holds down the top spot in the poll.
MIRICK MOVES FROM PLAYER TO COACH
Megan Mirick has ended her playing career with Ohio State, but has moved to the role of assistant coach for the Buckeyes. Mirick ended her four-year career with 143 goals and 182 points, both Ohio State career records. She held the career goals record from the 2001 season and set the career points record in 2003.
HEAD COACH SUE STIMMEL
Sue Stimmel is in her eighth season as the head coach for the Ohio State women’s lacrosse team. A 1984 graduate of Temple University, Stimmel is the only coach that the Buckeye program has had. She spent six years has the head coach of Denison prior to coming to Ohio State. Stimmel is 56-47 at Ohio State and is 132-65 in her 14-year career. The 2002 season was her most successful with a program-high 11 wins and finishing the regular season ranked 12th nationally.
UPCOMING FOR THE BUCKEYES
Ohio State will play host to the Big Ten Conference/Atlantic Coast Conference Challenge this weekend. The games will start Friday with 11th-ranked Penn State playing second-ranked Maryland at 5 p.m. followed by Ohio State hosting ninth-ranked North Carolina at 7 p.m. The Challenge continues on Sunday with Penn State facing North Carolina at Noon and Ohio State playing Maryland at 2 p.m.
