April 7, 2015
Swezey Interview | Schonk InterviewÂ
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It was just one victory. But the Vanderbilt lacrosse team hopes it was the beginning of something much bigger.
Snapping an eight-game losing streak with a 14-8 victory over Temple on Saturday, the Commodores want to build off momentum gained from their first BIG EAST Conference win. And stringing together a couple victories would be a nice start. Vanderbilt hits the road for Cincinnati to play the Bearcats at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. The Commodores (4-8, 1-2 BIG EAST) are trying to win consecutive games for the first time in nearly two months.
“Hopefully we’re riding a wave of winning,” coach Cathy Swezey said. “We had a victory the other day, and it was much needed obviously, especially in the BIG EAST. We know we are kind of rewriting our season right now. I think the kids are ready to go.”
Cincinnati (2-10, 0-2) enters the game on a five-game losing streak. The Bearcats are led by Courtney Curtis, who ranks third in the BIG EAST with 31 goals. Junior Kyara Byner, a Franklin, Tenn., native and the younger sister of former Commodore defender Brandi Byner (2011-14), leads the team with 24 caused turnovers. This will be the teams’ first meeting as conference rivals, but the teams have played before. Vanderbilt holds a 3-0 edge in the series, last meeting in 2011 when the Commodores won 17-3 in Nashville.
Vanderbilt will try to build off a superb shooting performance against Temple in which it made 14 of 23 shots. Swezey attributed the stellar marksmanship to extra work after practice as each attacker had to take 100 extra shots a day last week. The bonus time appeared to pay off as Caroline Peters, Mallory Schonk and Jill Doherty each collected hat tricks. Amanda Lockwood added two goals and Alexa Kunowsky and Meggie Ramzy also scored.
“We’re just trying to pick up the momentum from our win on Saturday and run with that,” Schonk said. “It gives us a lot of confidence going forward. We’re hoping we can win out from here on out, keep our momentum moving and finish our season strong.”
TRIO PICKS UP BIG EAST HONORS
Three Commodores earned accolades from the BIG EAST on Tuesday when the weekly awards were handed out.
Sophomore Caroline Peters was named Attacker of the Week, senior captain Alex Duckenfield was picked as the Defensive Player of the Week and Emma was tabbed to the Weekly Honor Roll.
Peters tied career-highs with three goals (on only three shots), two assists and five points, and also won two draw controls. Duckenfield also set a personal-best with five caused turnovers while tying a career-high with five ground balls. Dagres had a goal, two assists and a career-high four draw controls. She also held the BIG EAST’s fourth leading scorer, Nicole Tiernan, to just two goals on nine shots.
HIGH SCORING QUARTET
Vanderbilt is on pace to have four 20-goal scorers, and the team is already three quarters of the way there.
Mallory Schonk (25 goals), Jill Doherty (22) and Alexa Kunowsky (21) are the top scoring trio in the BIG EAST with 68 combined goals. Caroline Peters is not far behind with 17 goals.
Schonk, Doherty and Kunowsky rank seventh, ninth and 10th, respectively, in the conference in goals. Schonk (38 points) and Doherty (36) are fourth and fifth in the league in points.
KRATZ ON A ROLL
Senior Maddie Kratz has been a stonewall in goal the last four games, making 40 saves. That stretch includes two 11-plus save performances, with a career-high 13 saves against Johns Hopkins on March 25. She allowed just eight goals against Temple on Saturday, for the team’s second-fewest goals against in a game this year.
Her 7.62 saves are the third-most in the BIG EAST and her save percentage of .439 ranks fifth.