Women’s Lacrosse: Patriot League Team Rankings

By: Marisa Ingemi

1. Loyola Greyhounds- Since joining the Patriot League, the Greyhounds are yet to lose a conference game. Senior scorer Maddy Blakeman is gone, but Loyola still has a young core that can take over and still produce with the top scorers in the country. With one of the nation’s best goalies, Molly Wolf, now gone, it will be freshman Kady Glynn taking the reigns.
2. Navy Midshipmen: After falling in the conference tournament to Loyola, Navy is back with 68 point getter Jenna Collins back for her junior year. In fact, just three seniors gone means the Mids have most of their roster back to try to compete for the Patriot League title. Ingrid Boyum had a solid sophomore season in the crease, but a breakout player to watch is incoming senior Julia Collins.
3. Boston University Terriers: BU lost quite a bit, but still has a solid core. Mickenzie Laviree is ready to be a leader after two solid years with the Terriers and take over for Mallory Collins. After 34 assists last season, Taylor Hardison picking up more of a scoring role in her last season is something to keep an eye on. Kelly Matthews eneters her sophomore year looking to breakout as well.
4. Lehigh Mountain Hawks: Alison Labeau enters her last year not just one of the best players in the conference, but in the nation. Other than her, the team doesn’t distribute the ball much, with a drop of from her 34 assists to the next leader having 11. Still a young team overall, led by goalie Taylor Tvedt as a senior, the Mountain Hawks will make noise.
5. Bucknell Bison: Eve Lukowski and Christina Manis are part of a returning offensive group for the Bison that will contend to make the Patriot League playoffs. With three scorers over 60 points, Bucknell had the best offense in the conference but will have to replace Emily Becker. Jamie DeWitt was an impressive freshman goalie and she’ll be someone to lean on as well.
6. Colgate Red Raiders: Colgate struggled out of conference but was solid in the PL itself. With 46 points from Isabel Kreitler leading the team, players like Haley O’Hanlon and Natalie Washuta can step up to replace a huge departing senior class. Asil Asfour owns the goalie position after a 35% save percentage last season.
7. Holy Cross Crusaders: Led by sophomores Keeley Connors and Alexis Leighton, the Crusaders also struggled outside of conference play, but they could surprise some people this season. Losing three senior scorers is a blow, and junior goalie Julia Maloney is also going to have to step up for the Crusaders to contend.
8. American Eagles: After an iffy year, two of the Eagles top three scorers are gone. However, that means three sophomores in Sam Breeze, Morgan Lamey, and Brooke Stapleton have a chance to get more involved and conribute. Freshman ‘keeper Fiona Geier had a solid first season campaign, and if she plays well again, American could overtake Colgate and Holy Cross.
9. Lafayette Leopards: The Leopards biggest hope is sophomore Emma Novick emerging following her 36 goal freshman season. Carilanne McCabe and Charlotte Avallone are the big losses as seniors, but 50 goal scorer Kirsten Wilhelmson could get even better in her senior season.
10. Army Black Knights: In just their second year as a program, Army won five games, but went 0-9 in Patriot League play. This season they could take a leap, but it’ll be tough as the program still gets its feet under them. If Amy Johnson and Rachel Hornick improve off of their 20+ goal seasons, that first conference victory could be in the Knights’ future.