2008 Women's Lacrosse Season Review
ANOTHER
BIG STEP: In their second season as a varsity program, the Pacific
women's lacrosse team took another big step in building their program.
After winning just one game during their inaugural 2007 season, the Boxers
improved to a 3-10 record thanks to an impressive start to the year.
After going 0-2 to start the season, the Boxers outlasted Linfield in a close contest to earn their first home victory and their first victory over the rival Wildcats, 14-13, on Mar. 13. Mimi Takamune scored the game-winner with just over two minutes left for the team's first win at the new Lincoln Park Stadium.
The trend continued in the Boxers' next two games. In their next game, Pacific made it two straight victories over upstart Fontbonne University of St. Louis, Mo., taking a convincing 13-4 victory from the Griffins. The Boxers then did themselves one better in their next game on Mar. 20, holding the Crusaders to just two goals in each half and outshooting Dallas 39-16 to run away with a 14-4 win.
The three-game win streak was all the Boxers would as Pacific came out on the losing end of a number of close contests in their remaining eight games. The Boxers saw a second half rally fall short in a 22-20 loss to Oberlin on Mar. 24. The Boxers then dropped a pair of games at home against a pair of experienced New York programs, falling 14-7 to Potsdam and 19-12 to Oswego State.
After dropping a 16-15 heartbreaker at Linfield on Apr. 9, watching the Wildcats come back from a 10-3 deficit, Pacific never quite got back to the level of play they experienced at the start of the season. The Boxers lost each of their final four games by five goals or more.
TAKING
ONE FROM THE CATS: Mimi Takamune scored the winning goal with
just over two minutes left to secure the first home victory in the history
of the Pacific women's lacrosse program, beating Linfield 14-13 at Lincoln
Park Stadium on Mar. 13.
Takamune's goal quelled a Linfield bid to steal the victory from the Boxers after the Wildcats had reduced a 13-8 Pacific to lead to 13-12 with four answered goals. Melissa DePierro made it 14-13 with 1:34 left on her free position goal. Linfield had a couple of chances in the final 90 seconds to win, but a pair of turnovers stopped any chance of a rally.
Lori Hanken led all scorers with five goals to go along with an assist. Abby Coleman and Takamune each scored three goals. Lilia Lee added two goals and Stephanie Manning scored one. Pacific controlled nearly every offensive statistic, outshooting the Wildcats 33-23 and holding a 22-20 advantage in ground balls. Linfield led in draw controls 15-14, but turned the ball over 27 times compared to the Boxers' 24.
FOLLOW THE LEE-DER: For someone who had never picked up a lacrosse stick before coming to Pacific, Lilia Lee has not only picked the game up well, but has turned into the Boxers' top impact player. The sophomore midfielder led the Boxers in most statistical categories, including points (81), goals (38), shots (81), ground balls (32), draw controls (32) and caused turnovers (18).
Lee scored goals for the Boxers in every game except for the season opener at Puget Sound. She tallied five goals in Pacific's 13-4 victory over Fontbonne on Mar. 18 and then registered a single game record six goals in the team's 16-15 loss to Linfield on Apr. 9. Lee also tallied a five-goal performance at Pomona-Pitzer on Apr. 20 in addition to two other four-goal efforts. In all, Lee scored two or more goals in all but three matches. She finished the season ranked among the top-100 Division III players in goals per game, raking 98th at 2.92 strikes per contest.
MORE HAWAIIAN PUNCH: Mimi Takamune was also a newcomer to the game when she came to Pacific in 2006, but has picked up the game to a point that she has become one of the team's top scorers. Takamune finished second to fellow Hawaii native Lilia Lee in scoring, finishing with 30 goals and five assists. She scored in 11 of the Boxers' 13 games and hit for two or more goals in 10 of those matches. Takamune scored the game-winning goal in Pacific's victories over Linfield and Fontbonne in March. She scored her season high of four goals at Linfield on Apr. 9 and scored three goals in the Boxers' final four games.
KEEPING
THE BALL OUT OF THE NET: Two seasons into her lacrosse career,
junior Valerie Nelson has established herself as a very capable goalkeeper.
Nelson finished ranked 27th nationally among NCAA Division III goalkeepers
in saves, averaging 12 stops per game. She also ranked 65th in total saves
with her 151 stops. Nelson played every minute in goal for the Boxers in
2008 after splitting duties with Christine Nishida in 2007. She put together
a school record performance of 18 saves twice, against Puget Sound on Mar.
9 and again on Apr. 13. Nelson will enter the 2009 season having played
the most minutes of any Pacific lacrosse player over the last two years.
PUT THE BISCUIT IN THE BASKET: As one would expect from a second-year program, the Boxers found themselves finding the back of net much more often in the second year of the Pacific lacrosse program. Pacific scored 139 goals in 13 games, well above the 57 scored by the Boxers in 2007. Three Pacific players, Lilia Lee, Mimi Takamune and Abby Coleman, all scored 20 or more goals. Nobody scored more than 18 goals in 2007. Pacific also took more shots at the goal than the first year, putting up 355 shots compared to 192 in 2007.
CHANGING THE RECORD BOOK: The improvement from one year to the next was readily apparent in a major re-writing of the Pacific lacrosse record book. Pacific reset all but one record from the previous season, including every individual game and team season record. View The Record Book
STIFFER COMPETITION: Head Coach Wynne Lobel worked to raise the level of the Pacific lacrosse program by putting the Boxers up against higher-level competition. The Boxers welcomed a number of established programs to Forest Grove this season, including a pair of Ohio teams, Oberlin and Kenyon, and a pair of teams from New York, Potsdam and Oswego State. The Boxers played nine of their 13 games at home, which included Northwest rivals Puget Sound and Linfield, Fontbonne, Univ. of Dallas and Redlands.