Women’s lacrosse club hoping to become varsity

Pitt currently does not have a varsity women’s lacrosse team, but the women’s lacrosse club… Pitt currently does not have a varsity women’s lacrosse team, but the women’s lacrosse club has been pushing strongly for one.

“The goal is definitely to get a varsity team here,” coach Gary Neft said. “We just don’t have the facilities.”

The women’s lacrosse club takes on Division I, II and III teams. It is a part of the Women’s Collegiate Lacrosse League, which also provides the club with some of its opponents.

Neft and Tim Hastings coach the Panthers. Captains Betty Chambers and Shannon House are looked to for leadership.

“Both of them have been here for four years. They have incredible leadership,” Neft said. “They know how the team works and they are able to make the younger players fit in pretty well.”

Sophomore attack man Becky Krinsky is a leader on offense and senior defensemen Susan Natale leads the defense. Janelle Winey and Carly DiPompeo split the duties in the goal.

“Overall I think we have one of the best defenses in the league,” defensemen Sarah Woolcock said. “We play a zone that collapses with the idea of helping when people drive into the arc.”

Pitt is off to an 8-0 start after winning four games last weekend. The Panthers’ hopes of making the regional playoffs depend on their performance against other club teams in the league.

“Our team works really well with each other. You would think we have been playing together for a while,” Woolcock said. “We communicate and connect really well on the field.”

The club has been around for 10 years and has attended the Regional Playoffs for the past several years. Only the top 12 teams from the WCLL go to the Midwest Regionals.

Generally the top two teams from the region go on to the national playoffs. For the past three years, the team has missed the nationals by one goal. This year the national playoffs will be held May 8 to 10 in St. Louis.

“We’ve been right there,” Neft said. “Our goal is to be in St. Louis.”

In the first four games of the season, St. Francis was Pitt’s only Division I opponent. Pitt defeated St. Francis 7-6.

IUP and St. Vincent are the Division II teams that the Panthers have faced and they beat them 7-5 and 6-2 respectively. Pitt beat Kenyon, a Division III team 7-5.

“The quality of players we have at our school is amazing,” Neft said. “Some of these players could be playing somewhere else, but they [decided to] play here.”

Pitt 6, Rhode Island 4

Last weekend, Pitt went 4-0 in a tournament. Rhode Island, which has a club team, was the Panthers’ first of three opponents on Saturday. In game one, Pitt beat Rhode Island 6-4.

House, a senior midfielder, led Pitt with two goals. Freshmen attack Jill Ciotta and Krinsky each had a goal and an assist. Chambers and freshman attack Tracey Eisen each contributed a goal.

Pitt 8, Miami (OH) 5

Pitt pulled out an 8-5 win over Miami of Ohio as Krinsky accounted for half of its goals. Stephanie Mansue scored three goals for the Panthers and Denice Dauer scored their other goal.

Pitt 14, John Carroll 2

Krinsky again led the way in the Panthers 14-2 rout of John Carroll, scoring three goals. Eisen, Ciotta and freshman Maggie Terrell added two goals apiece.

Kristin Wall, Sandahl Parrish and Chambers each had a goal and Laura Thomas contributed with a goal and an assist.

Pitt 8, Washington 0

Top performances from Ciotta, Mansueto and Krinsky aided the Panthers in blanking Washington 8-0 last Sunday. Ciotta lead Pitt with three goals, while Krinsky and Mansueto each had two goals with Mansueto adding an assist.

“We got better and better game by game,” Neft said. “We started off our first game a little sluggish. We had a month off before this weekend’s games.”

Chambers, House, Natale, Winey, Eve Yeager and Jen Collier are all seniors and will play in their final home game on March 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the Cost Center.