Feb. 27, 2008

This Week In Saint Mary's Lacrosse
The 2008 Saint Mary's women's lacrosse season will get underway with a pair of home games this weekend. Saint Mary's will open the season on Friday, February 29 when the Gaels host the Mount Saint Mary's Mountaineers at Saint Mary's Stadium at 3:30 p.m. The Gaels will close the week with a 1 p.m. game against the Boston College Eagles on Sunday afternoon.

About the Gaels
The 2008 Saint Mary's women's lacrosse team returns 15 letterwinners from last season, and includes three of the top five scorers from last season. P.J. Hainley returns for her junior season after leading the team in points with 37 last season. Hainley scored a career-high 26 goals and with 11 assists, she was one of three players to dish out double digits in assists. Abbie Coleman, now a sophomore, finished third on the 2007 squad with 33 points on 20 goals and 13 assists. Coleman and Hainley were two of four players on the 2007 team to start all 17 games. Alana Burrough finished her freshman season fifth on the team with 23 points, scoring 13 goals and finished third overall with 10 assists.

Scouting The Mount
Mount St. Mary's is off to a 0-2 start this season following losses to Lehigh (9-10) and Towson (6-17) to open the season. The Mountaineers will play at UC Davis on Wednesday, as part of a two-game West Coast road trip. Junior midfielder Katelyn Catanese leads Mt. Saint Mary's. Of the 15 goals scored by the Mountaineers, Catanese has scored seven goals to lead the squad. She scored four goals against Lehigh in the opening game of the season, and then followed that with her second hat trick of the year, with three goals against Towson. Breana Waraksa is second on the team with five points, as she has scored twice and dished out a team-high three assists in two games. Ashley Johnosn and Kelly Taylor have scored two goals each.

Scouting the BC Eagles
Boston College is off to a 0-1 start following a 23-10 loss to No. 6 Maryland to open the year on Feb. 24. After a week off, the Eagles will open a two-game West Coast road trip against the Gaels. Following the game in Moraga, BC will travel to Palo Alto for a Wednesday game against Stanford. In the opening game of the year, Lauren Fitzpatrick notched a hat trick with three goals on four shots. Lauren Costello led the team with four points, as she had one goal and three assists. Jenna McCabe and Maura Mahoney had two goals each.

SMC In The Season Opener
Since the inception of the women's lacrosse program in 2000, Saint Mary's has posted a 3-5 record in the opening game of the season. The last win to open a season came in 2006 when SMC defeated Robert Morris 16-15 in Saint Mary's Stadium.

Head Coach Lauren Uhr
Lauren Uhr joined Saint Mary's in 2007 after serving as head women's lacrosse coach at Claremont McKenna College from 2003-06. In her first season at Saint Mary's, the Gaels posted a 3-12 overall record. Under Uhr's leadership at Claremont McKenna, her team went 34-13 the last three seasons. She enters the 2008 season with a career coaching mark of 37-25 overall.

Next Week
Following the two games this week, Saint Mary's will play a third home game on Wednesday, March 5 against the Fairfield University Stags and then travel to Annapolis, MD for a pair of games against Cincinnati and Navy. The game against Cincinnati will play played on Friday, March 7 at 10 a.m. The Sunday game against Navy is scheduled to begin at noon Eastern.