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After a season filled with ups and downs, the Lady Falcons are back on track
Written by: Robbie LaBrie
The Bentley Women’s Lacrosse team has had some ups and downs this season, but they’ve come into their own recently and have pulled out a three-game winning streak, positioning themselves in fifth in the Northeast-10 standings.
After winning their first four games of the season, three of which were out of conference, Bentley dropped two non-conference games in a row to powerhouse C.W. Post and a solid Bloomsburg team.
The Falcons picked up a win against Assumption in their next game, but then dropped four games in a row, including three losses to Northeast-10 opponents, dropping their overall record to 5-6 and, worse yet, falling to 2-3 in conference play.
The Falcons were facing a long comeback road to the top of the Northeast-10 standings, but they were not ready to roll over yet, with a little under half the season to play and several big conference games on the schedule.
The Falcons needed to win some games, and they managed to pull off just that, starting with a home matchup against New Haven, another middle-of-the-pack team in the NE-10, on April 14.
Freshman Dovlyn Curtis got the scoring started for the Falcons and Bentley would never trail in the game, although it would be a close matchup throughout.
The Falcons held three goal leads at a few points in the game, but the score was as close as 8-7 in the second half.
Freshman Cori Geiger scored for the Falcons with 21 minutes left in the game to make it a 9-7 contest, but New Haven quickly answered to bring it within one.
At this point, both teams put their defense on lockdown. Bentley goalie Julia Powell played well, stopping a free-position shot at one point during the scoreless stretch to keep the game knotted up.
Finally, with a minute and a half left, sophomore Megan Wiggins scored the deciding goal of the game to make it 10-9.
The Falcons held the Chargers scoreless for the rest of the game and walked away with a close win that may have lit a bit of a spark for the once struggling team.
The Falcons carried their momentum into their next matchup against Franklin Pierce. Geiger was the star of this one, scoring four goals and dishing out two assists on the way to a 17-14 Bentley win.
Wiggins and freshman Alex Carney provided hat tricks of their own for the Falcons, while senior Leah Leavitt and sophomore Maureen Fields scored a pair in Bentley’s offensive explosion.
Powell was in goal for the first half, but sophomore goalie Kate Poznick came in relief after the score was tied at halftime, 9-9. Poznick made six saves in the last half hour, allowing only five goals from the Ravens and guiding the Falcons to the victory.
Franklin Pierce made it a close game, getting the score to 14-13 with about 11 minutes left, but the Falcons pulled ahead and took the victory by three.
The next game came on April 18 against Saint Michael’s in Colchester, Vermont. The Falcons came in looking to extend their streak to three games and they had no problem executing their plans against the Purple Knights.
Geiger was even better in this game, scoring five goals this time, while Leigh Tedeschi contributed three and Curtis found a pair of goals.
The Falcons led at halftime, 5-2, in a low-scoring 30 minutes of play. The offenses picked it up more in the second half, but Bentley easily won that half as well, 9-6.
With just four minutes left, the Falcons held a 14-5 lead. Saint Michaels managed to pull out three goals in garbage time, but it wasn’t nearly enough, as Bentley came away with the 14-8 win.
On Monday, Cori Geiger was named Northeast-10 Freshman of the Week. Geiger paced the team over the past week, contributing 16 points in the three winning efforts for the Falcons.
The freshman has stepped up big, leading the young team in goals, assists and points. The solid play from the freshman has been huge for the Falcons who have only two seniors and one junior, supported by a cast of sophomores and freshmen.
Leigh Tedeschi and Leah Leavitt have provided the veteran leadership for the Falcons, playing very well and starting in all 13 games. Geiger, Curtis and Fields have also started in all of Bentley’s games.
The Falcons are now looking to carry some of their momentum from the three-game winning streak into their final three games of the season.
On Tuesday, they will take on Saint Anselm, who is 2-5 in Northeast-10 play. Their last two games of the regular season will be against American International (2-5) and Southern New Hampshire (6-1).
Anything can happen in the highly competitive and talented NE-10 conference, but if the Falcons came out of these final three games at 2-1, they will likely be happy with their position heading into the conference tournament.
Heading into the tournament, Adelphi will be the team to beat with a perfect 9-0 conference record and a 12-0 record overall. They will be a tough matchup for anybody, and they beat the Falcons 23-3 earlier in the year.
Adelphi is ranked number one in the nation, so it would be no surprise to anyone to see them take home a conference title. Stonehill, Southern New Hampshire and Merrimack are the other teams ahead of Bentley, and they, along with the Falcons, will be looking to string together some wins heading into the tournament.
The key for the Falcons will be playing strong defense and continuing to get scoring out of their young guns and key veterans alike.
If Bentley wants to make any sort of run, Coach Carissa Medeiros will need to keep her young squad focused and playing beyond their years like they have been over the past three games. The talent is there and the wins could follow, making Bentley a tough out for anybody.
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