The women’s lacrosse program will stick to the benches on Tuesday afternoon – while other Little East teams are vying for a place in Thursday’s semifinal round, USM has earned its first playoff bye – and first home playoff match – in recent history.
Heading into Saturday’s game against rival Keene State, they knew it would be a tough match – they’re a “fast, strong, good team,” said head coach Sue Frost.
But more than that was the mental game: winning would keep the Huskies at number two in the conference behind defending champion Eastern Connecticut, and give them a first-round bye in the tournament. Losing could have dropped them as low as number four, depending on how other conference teams performed in their final matches.
But Frost and her team felt prepared.
“I ate, drank, slept Keene for the last week,” she said.
And it paid off.
In a game featuring strong defensive play and an incredible seven goals from freshman Kristy Kendrick, the Huskies swallowed the Owls with an 18-15 finish.
“Everything I knew we could be happened tonight,” said Frost after the game, and rather than credit Kendrick’s goals, she said that they won because they were really able to gel as a team.
She also admits that no one really saw it coming. Earlier in the week, they’d faced what Frost called a “rough match” against local rival University of New England.
“We should have won,” she said, and heading into the important match-up with Keene, “they scared me.”
But, she said, her team pulls through in the big ones, “which is where it counts.”
The Huskies ended their regular season 7-8, and 5-1 in the conference. The only conference team they’ve lost to is Eastern. The conference is waiting on a Sunday match between Keene and UMass Dartmouth to determine the tournament schedule, but the Huskies know they’ll be playing someone – possibly an angry Keene – on Thursday on the home grass.
Other strong contributors against Keene were sophomore defender Britt Bennett, who Frost said has been a “huge addition” to this year’s team, senior goalie Katie Quartuccio, who had a phenomenal 19 saves in the win, and senior Justene Dorr, who added four goals.
Support the Huskies as they fight toward the conference championship game on Thursday. The time and opponent will be announced Monday, check out usm.maine.edu/athletics for details.