Sports
Updated May 2, 2008 12:49 AM
As soon as the Penn State women's lacrosse team stepped off the plane yesterday, it loaded all the luggage onto a bus -- and immediately headed to a practice field on Northwestern's campus.
Updated April 30, 2008 12:42 AM
Before every game, an announcer reads off the list of starters for both teams. Each time, Jessi Lieb waits for her name to blast from the loudspeakers.
Updated April 29, 2008 12:48 AM
When the final whistle blew at Jeffrey Field on Saturday, the Johns Hopkins sideline erupted with shouts and players skipping toward teammates on the field.
With less than five minutes to play, senior goalkeeper Jess Boccio scooped the ball into her stick’s strings as her teammates spread out for the clear.
Near the end of the game, senior Kim Kontson sprinted downfield, weaving in and out of defenders and ducking under her opponent’s sticks. Once she was near the goal, she brought her stick back to wind up for the wide-open shot.
Lil’ Kim’s “Magic Stick” and the Penn State classic “Hey Baby” are a couple of the songs that resonate across the lacrosse field after every Nittany Lion goal. Per routine, the players meet to slap their sticks in the air as they jog back to their side of the field.
As the family car reaches the intersection of Curtin Road and Burrowes Road, 2-year-old Jake Hohenshelt looks up at Rec Hall and often asks the same question from the back seat, "Are we going to volleyball?"
Erica Mihm walked to the center of the field at the end of practice. She took her position and stared down her teammate, Amanda Longobucco, before a draw control yesterday.
Suzanne Isidor sat on a bus coming home from Ohio State contemplating where it all went wrong.
As the final buzzer sounded this past Sunday, members of the Penn State women's lacrosse team stared at the scoreboard. For the fourth time this season, they lost by one goal.
Kim Kontson stands behind the net inspecting the entire field, looking for the perfect pass. As a defender tries to steal, Kontson spins away and in the same motion makes a bullet-pass to an attacker cutting toward the goal.
Sophomore attacker Theresa Bucci cradled the ball while running down the right flank and attempted to pass it to an open teammate Sunday.
Junior attacker Laura Lincicome had one last chance to set up the tying goal against the No. 1 team in the country -- but Morgan Lathrop had other ideas.
Goalkeeper Jess Boccio held her stick so tight yesterday that her knuckles turned white. Her eyes never left the yellow ball, as it traveled from player to player while Northwestern drove to the net.
Suzanne Isidor and her women's lacrosse players shared the same response when asked about the team's upcoming matchup with No. 1 Northwestern -- shrugs.
In the Nittany Lions' first eight games, the loudest voice on the team came from the sidelines.
Senior Christina Buttle would like to blame her team's sloppy play on Sunday on the poor conditions of the field. But she knows better than that.
Suzanne Isidor was all smiles after her defense caused a turnover in its last home game. As the team ran to the sidelines, she made sure to give freshman defender Maggie Dunbar a high-five.
The lineup and location were the same, but the Nittany Lions' play failed to show the same consistency.
Senior defender Linsey Shea netted her first goal of the season with a little more than a minute remaining to send the Penn State womens' lacrosse team's game with Maryland into overtime Friday. Updated 11:30 PM
With only one full day of practice this week, the Penn State women's lacrosse team made every minute count during Wednesday's two-hour practice.
Whether in practice or a game, senior goalkeeper Jess Boccio can't help but notice one particular defender when she picks her head up after making a save.
Yelling and screaming can be heard hundreds of yards away from Bigler Field during home games, but when the Penn State women's lacrosse team hits the road, that enthusiasm is sometimes lost.
After her team blew a two-point lead, Penn State women's lacrosse coach Suzanne Isidor called a team timeout out of frustration 10 minutes into the second half.
After a collision with a Loyola player late in the first half yesterday, Penn State women's lacrosse defender Linsey Shea came to sideline looking like a boxer in the 12th round of a fight.
The Penn State women's lacrosse team was held to its lowest goal total of the season Friday with a crushing loss against Delaware, 13-4. The defeat also marks the Nittany Lions' fourth consecutive loss.
After spraining her ankle on March 9, Penn State senior captain Christina Buttle has been watching the Penn State women's lacrosse team from the sidelines.
Guarding a net that's six feet high and six feet wide, a Penn State women's lacrosse goalie gets bombarded with shot after shot going at speeds upward of 60 mph. While giving up seven goals on 16 shots in other sports would get a normal goalie pulled, in lacrosse the keeper may garner the game ball.
My Opinion
With only four conference games on the schedule this season, each one bears a heavy weight.
After back-to-back losses, the No. 18 Penn State women's lacrosse team was hoping senior defender Christina Buttle would return from injury in time for yesterday's match.
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