ST. JOE'S WOMEN'S LACROSSE
Schedule/Results l Roster l Coach profile l Season l News

2008 Women’s Lacrosse Season Review

Alyssa Marchant '11	Jaimee Brett '10	Lauren Hagerman '10

The Saint Joseph's College women’s lacrosse team posted a 5-8 overall and 2-3 conference record in the program’s first year at the NCAA Division III varsity level. The team earned the fourth seed in the GNAC tournament, placed four players on the All-Conference Second Team and a pair of players on the GNAC All-Tournament Team and recorded a long list of historic “firsts” in the team’s inaugural season.

The first NCAA varsity women’s lacrosse game in St. Joe’s history was played at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland, Me. on March 18th, 2008 against host-team University of New England. Although the women lost the contest, 22-5, several individuals showed promise as freshman Alyssa Marchant (Wakefield, MA) netted four goals, including the programs first at the 12:36 mark of the first half, and sophomore Heidi Stucki (Oakland, ME) collected six groundballs in the loss.

The women notched the first victory in program history in the team’s next game on March 24th on the road against Becker College. St. Joe’s defeated the Hawks 19-9 as sophomores Vanessa Brooks (Bath, ME) and Lauren Hagerman (Scarborough, ME) both scored four goals to help secure the historic triumph. Sophomore goalkeeper Jackie Zaccardo (Reading, MA) made seven saves in net to earn the victory.

After St. Joe’s dropped three consecutive games to Lasell College, Southern Maine and Emerson College, the women rebounded to collect the team’s first conference victory with a 15-6 decision over Saint Joseph College (CT) on April 6th. Marchant netted five goals in the game and Zaccardo made 11 saves between the pipes to help her team record the victory.

St. Joe’s fell to Salve Regina University (RI), 18-6, in the team’s next game, but went on to record three consecutive victories over Green Mountain College (VT), Thomas College and GNAC opponent Pine Manor College (MA) by a combined score of 51-20. Alyssa Marchant led the way offensively during the Royal Blue streak with 16 goals and 12 assists.

A seemingly endless winter forced the women to not only practice at Fitzpatrick Stadium, but also to play three of the team’s four home games there. As a result, St. Joe’s was unable to host an opponent on the SJC campus until April 21st when GNAC opponent Norwich University (VT) traveled to Standish to play in the team’s final conference match of the season. Norwich, the eventual conference tournament champions, defeated St. Joe’s that day by a 21-9 score, but numerous fans came to catch a glimpse of women’s lacrosse on that sunny April day and witnessed the young SJC team compete. Marchant recorded the first women’s lacrosse goal ever scored on the St. Joe’s campus with a tally at the 17:55 mark of the first half and went on to net five goals on the historic day. Freshman goalkeeper Chynna Nicholas (Acushnet, MA) made 10 saves for St. Joe’s in net as the Royal Blue fell to 5-6 and 2-3 in GNAC play for the season.

The 2-3 conference record was good for a fourth seed in the GNAC playoffs and trip to Boston, MA to take on the #1 seed, Emerson College. Although the SJC women lost the game, 14-7, the team fought back from a 12-1 deficit at the half and scored six unanswered goals to end the game. Lauren Hagerman scored three goals in the team’s first-ever post-season contest.

Alyssa Marchant registered four goals and teammate Vanessa Brooks tallied three scores in the team’s final game of the year, a 20-9 loss at Castleton State College (VT) on April 27th. With the loss, St. Joe’s completed their inaugural season with a respectable 5-8 overall record.

Four St. Joe’s players, midfielders Heidi Stucki, Vanessa Brooks, Ana Alejandro (Soph., Manchester, NH) and defender Claire Cook (Soph., Sangerville, ME), were named to the GNAC All-Conference Second Team after the completion of the 2008 season. Alyssa Marchant and Lauren Hagerman were listed on the GNAC All-Tournament Team and sophomore midfielder Jaimee Brett (Otisfield, ME) was named to the GNAC All-Sportsmanship Team.

Co-Head Coaches Rupert Lewis and Anna Gordon gave out three team awards at the conclusion of the ’08 season. Lauren Hagerman was named as the team’s Most Valuable Player; Alyssa Marchant received the Rookie of the Year award, Heidi Stucki was given the Coaches Award and Jaimee Brett also received the team’s Sportsmanship Award.

The future looks bright for the fledgling St. Joe’s women’s lacrosse program as the entire ’08 roster returns next spring with a year of collegiate play under their belts. With a talented incoming recruiting class, this team looks to be in the mix for a conference title as early as 2009.

“As we were really coming together as a team at the end of the season, the excitement for next year definitely started to build,” says co-head coach Anna Gordon. “We had a productive first season and it’s going to be great to start building on the foundation that we created.”