This hasn’t been the easiest season for the No. 23 UConn lacrosse team, but after a lot of hard work, it’s nearly over. The 10-5 Huskies are lined up to play their final regular season contest on Saturday in a game that shouldn’t be too difficult to win.
The campaign started off mixed as the Huskies flexed their muscles in wins over inferior competition, but struggled against their ranked competition. They lost by just four to current No. 5 James Madison and by four again to now No. 13 UMass. It became apparent that the Huskies were on the fringe of the top 25, but not quite there. An OT win over No. 15 Yale looked like it could cause a breakthrough, but they found themselves feeling the pain of defeat yet again against unranked Cornell.
The breakthrough came, but skipped the Cornell game, as the Huskies ripped off four straight wins. They then gave No. 3 Denver a run for their money, losing by just five and giving it their all. It took so much effort out of Connecticut that they lost their next game against now No. 24 Marquette. They didn’t let things slip too much as they faced the underbelly of the Big East, routing Georgetown, Butler and now Xavier.
The Musketeers on the other hand have had a trying season. If Charlie Brown trying to kick a football was a women’s lacrosse team, it would be Xavier. They’re 4-9, but don’t let those four wins fool you. Their largest margin of victory was three and none of their wins came against teams outside of the bottom 20 nationally in KPI. Their losses are less impressive. The Musketeers are firmly in last place in the Big East (0-5) and have given the next two worst teams their sole conference wins. And those weren’t even close. Xavier lost to Georgetown and Butler by a combined 24 goals.
The lone bright spot has been the performance of Lola Mancuso. The freshman has done the bulk of the scoring for a team not great in the department (28%) with 37 goals on the year. It is important to note that 17 of those 37 scores came in their four wins, but it’s still encouraging that their best player is a freshman.
For UConn, this game’s key will be not letting the emotions of Senior Day get the best of them. They’re a clearly superior squad and it would require a massive slip-up for them to not come out with their 11th victory of the season.
Kate Shaffer is coming off one of the best performances in program history and is having a stellar season. She put the ball in the net six times and added four assists against Butler. The senior has only gotten better and better during her time as a Husky and is the key piece for the team. Looking to the future, perhaps poised to replace Shaffer’s production once she graduates is redshirt freshman Rayea Davis. Davis has eight goals in the past two games and has continually shown flashes of greatness. Both Huskies will look to shine Saturday.
Senior Day activities will commence at 11:15 a.m. and opening draw will be at 11:30 a.m. The game can be viewed on FloSports.
