Lacrosse splits homestand

by Jon Greenberg
THE POST

Outlined against a blue-gray sky and a bright green AstroTurf field, the Ohio lacrosse team (3-5 overall) weathered both the elements and the experienced Gannon offense before bowing 17-15 to the Lady Knights (4-1-1) yesterday afternoon.

The weather might have been so-so but the on-field action was where the lightning struck. Ohio went into halftime down 10-5, and fell as far behind as 14-8 before the team went on the offensive. After Ohio attacker Katie Dempsey scored off a free possession to make the score 14-9 with more than 21 minutes left in the game, the Bobcats went on a 6-1 run. That tied the score at 15 with 4:31 seconds left in the game. Attacker Alyssa Trocher scored the tying goal, picking up a rebound from midfielder Ashley Boccia's failed direct possession attempt.

Trocher scored seven goals on the afternoon, adding to her six goals in Ohio's 18-4 win against St. Bonaventure on Saturday. Trocher is leading Division I freshmen in scoring with 29 goals in eight games.

The Bobcats had the chance to take the lead on an ensuing direct possession. But it would be Gannon's day. The Lady Knights took the lead for good when midfielder Carrie DiBasio slid one past Ohio goaltender Katie Borokhovich. Gannon ran the clock down for nearly two minutes before scoring the final goal with six seconds remaining in the game.

Ohio Head Coach Anne Moelk chalked up the loss as a lesson for her young team.

"With this being a brand-new program and our kids not having a lot of experience in situational parts of games, today, to have a situation being down five or six, we come back to tie it up and we fought back and forth the entire game; that's a great learning experience for my team," she said.

Ohio's comeback was due to its offensive play, particularly when the team began to slow the game down and run its plays, attacker Diane Villarreal said.

"(The offense) did a really good job settling it; that's all it is: settling it," she said.

Moelk said she was pleased with the leadership shown by Villarreal and the improving play of Boccia.

"Today Ashley Boccia finally had a really good game," she said. "She has been struggling the past three or four games, and today she finally picked up her game and played like she should be playing and can be playing. Diane is doing the same thing."

Gannon, a Division II program, was evenly matched with the Bobcats, Moelk said. That made the loss easier to take. With Davidson visiting Athens next Sunday, Ohio will use the weekend's experiences as a tool for handling close games.

"I'm excited for Davidson next Sunday," she said. "It's going to be another really close game and I hope we can pull that one out."

There was no need for dramatics in Saturday's win against St. Bonaventure (0-4). The Bonnies, as a new program, are in the same boat that Ohio drifted on during its initial trip into collegiate waters last spring.

The Bobcats jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Bonnies midfielder Emily Lilyea struck twice to make it 3-2.

From that score onward, Ohio buried the Bonnies with a barrage of goals, outscoring them 10-1 in the half. Villarreal provided the nails, assisting on three goals in five minutes to push the lead to 9-2. Trocher pounded them in, scoring three consecutive unassisted goals to extend the lead to 12-2. Trocher said the team was focusing on running its plays on a less-than challenging Bonnies defense.

"We've been working on a lot of new plays and we tried very hard to run them today," she said. "We knew we had to go out strong no matter how they played."

The team worked on its give-and-go techniques, Trocher said, as well as operating from behind the net to set up streaking forwards.

Moelk said the game was a success because of what her team accomplished, not because the Bobcats blew out their opponents.

"This was a great game for us because we did what we're supposed to do, we did what we practiced all week, and that was to not only play a good skill game but to play a good mental game," she said. "I'm really happy with the way we came out strong and finished strong."

Ohio plays host to Davidson at 1 p.m. Sunday at Ohio's AstroTurf Field.