Wednesday, February 16, 2005

MORAVIAN WOMEN’S LACROSSE TEAM PICKED NINTH IN MIDDLE ATLANTIC CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL

ANNVILLE, PA --- The Moravian College women’s lacrosse team has been picked to finish ninth of the 11 schools that participate in the Middle Atlantic Conference in a preseason poll of the conference’s coaches released Wednesday.

The Greyhounds received 30 points. The University of Scranton was selected first in the poll with 91 points and four first-place votes while Messiah College and Drew University tied for second with 90 points. Messiah had four first-place votes while Drew received the other three first-place votes. The remainder of the poll included Susquehanna University, Widener University, FDU-Florham, Elizabethtown College, King’s College, Moravian, Lycoming College and Wilkes University.

Second year head coach Kate Miller expects the Greyhounds to show the continued improvement that really showed through at the end of the season when Moravian kept several of its matches close throughout the entire contest.

Returning to lead Moravian on the field is junior midfielder Jess Cordani (Point Pleasant Boro, NJ/Point Pleasant Boro HS), who led the Greyhounds with 38 goals and 40 points to go along with two assists and 77 caused turnovers, an average of 5.5 per match, which leads all of NCAA Division III. Cordani, who added 42 ground balls and 36 caused turnovers, was also named to the MAC All-Conference Second Team.

In her debut season with the Hounds last spring, sophomore attack Lindsey Lustrino (Spring Lake, NJ/Manasquan HS) was second on the team in goals with 29 and had three assists for 32 point. Lustrino added 30 ground balls, 26 draw controls and 23 caused turnovers. Junior defender Rebecca Schol (West Chester, PA/Henderson HS) added four goals and two assists for six points to go along with 16 ground balls.

Junior defender Lauren Johnston (Huntingdon Valley, PA/Upper Moreland HS) and sophomore defender Nicole Dodd (Hackettstown, NJ/West Morris Central HS) each contributed one assist last season. Johnston added 21 grounds balls and 14 caused turnovers while Dodd had ten ground balls and three caused turnovers.

Sophomore midfielder Jenna Abramson (Bangor, PA/Bangor HS) contributed 11 groundballs and 14 caused turnovers while classmate midfielder Jennifer Connolly (Manchester, NH/Manchester West HS) added six ground balls and two caused turnovers. Junior defender Kristin Schol (West Chester, PA/Henderson HS) had 22 ground balls and 14 caused turnovers.

In the cage, senior Hayley Zamek (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough HS) saw all 852 minutes for the Greyhounds, Zamek’s first-ever season as a goalie. She made 149 saves, had a .419 saves percentage, and posted a 14.58 goals against average.

The Greyhounds will begin their 2005 season on Tuesday, March 15th in a non-conference contest versus Swarthmore College beginning at 4:00 p.m. on the HUB Quad.

2005 Middle Atlantic Conference Women’s Lacrosse Preseason Poll