It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that this season likely hasn’t started off the way the No. 25 UConn women’s lacrosse team might have hoped. They’ve lost their first two games, not to poor opponents, but a pair of defeats this early in the year is not a great sign. Their first one came at Fairfield and the next was against No. 3 James Madison. That’s the bad news. The good news is that they have at least 14 games ahead of them that they can use to turn things around. Their next game is on Friday.
Their opponent in this one should fortunately be their easiest so far. The Huskies are traveling to Philadelphia to take on St. Joe’s, who also is 0-2, despite playing all of their games at home. The Hawks opened their slate against No. 9 Maryland and were absolutely hosed down. By the time the teams headed into the locker room for halftime, the Terps had already gained a 10-0 advantage, and the outcome had long since been decided.
Next up was Colorado, who they played close. Though SJU never led, Maddie Yoder tied things up with four minutes to go. They ultimately conceded a goal just a minute later that proved to be the dagger, but losing in a heartbreaking fashion was a better outcome than looking like they didn’t belong on the same field as Maryland.
The Hawks don’t have a particularly potent offense, but Yoder is one of the key cogs in it. Of the nine goals that SJU has scored this season, she’s has been responsible for a third, with two goals and an assist.
Their other big contributor is Emma O’Neill, a graduate student whose stats are identical to Yoder’s. She’s coming off a season that saw her score a career-best 28 goals and O’Neill will hope to build towards that total this year.
Perhaps the most notable member of the team is Jorden Concordia, St. Joe’s goalkeeper. Though letting in 23 goals, the senior has been tremendous in not giving up more. She owns a .574 save percentage, good for 12th in the nation. While the defense has been as porous as a block of swiss cheese, Concordia has kept things from getting out of hand much of the time.
The Husky in the most need of pushing Concordia’s limits is graduate student Kate Shaffer. After netting 55 goals in last year’s campaign and being named an All-America honorable mention, the attacker has come out to a sputtering start. Across her first two games, Shaffer has managed three goals and three assists. The losses have certainly been a team effort, but it’s also true that a more electric Shaffer could have helped them steal at least one of them. Either way, perhaps the six day break helped her reset. St. Joe’s is not a tough opponent to score against, so this is a fantastic chance to get some momentum.
A player who has been a pleasant surprise has been Susan Lafountain. It’s not that she hasn’t shown a capability to be a lead scorer, but a jump like this was not obvious. Lafountain has eight goals through her two games after averaging 1.6 per game last year. This is likely not a sustainable clip, especially if Shaffer picks things up, but it’s encouraging to see that she can perform at this level. She wasn’t picked as an all-conference player in the preseason, but more games like the ones the attacker has had so far will put her name firmly in the postseason conversation.
Regardless of who performs, this is a must-win game for the Huskies. The Hawks are not great and UConn has NCAA-tournament aspirations. A win would go a long way confidence wise, as they look to come home with a victorious effort.
The matchup will be held at Sweeney Field and can be followed live on St. Joe’s athletics website.