Cara Romanowski

Jenny Burns

The Wittenberg Women's Lacrosse Team kicked off the 2003 season last Tuesday with a 17-9 loss to visiting University of the Redlands at Wall-to-Wall Soccer in Mason, Ohio. The game had to be moved from Springfield due to unplayable field conditions.

The Tigers got four goals each from sophomore Jenny Burns (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) and senior Cara Romanowski (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) and one tally from sophomore Erin Kelly (Edina, Minn./Edina).

The 2003 Tiger women's lacrosse program will be unquestionably led by record-breaking defender Romanowski, who topped the conference in scoring a year ago en route to NCAC Defensive Player of the Year honors. She scored 54 goals and totalled 61 points in 2002 and earned first-team All-NCAC and Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association.

Romanowski was the team's main scoring threat a year ago, but she was hardly alone. Two freshmen, in particular, stepped onto the field and immediately began making an impression on opposing teams. Burns scored 24 goals and had a team-best 10 assists for 34 total points as she went on to earn honorable mention All-NCAC honors. In addition, Kelly finished with five goals and three assists.

Those three players will be expected to carry the offensive load again in 2003, and they will be joined in attacking opposing netminders by newcomers Margaret Ohms (St. Louis, Mo./John F. Kennedy), a freshman attacker, and Emily Hiscar (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins Memorial), a freshman midfielder, and two holdovers, junior midfielder Katie Babcock (Phoenix, Md./Dulaney) and sophomore midfielder Rachel Ridgeway (Montclair, N.J./The Taft School).

Defensively, Wittenberg has Romanowski and another veteran, senior Lindsay Law (Columbus, Ohio/Dublin Scioto) to show the way. Law was injured for part of the 2002 season, but in 2001 she led the team in minutes played. Among the other players who figure into the defensive mix are sophomore Carrie Happ (Pittsburgh, Pa./Vincentian), sophomore Jackie Comer (Tiffin, Ohio/Columbian), junior Christine Slone (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South), sophomore Motoko Hanatani (Kyoto, Japan/Perkiomen Valley (Pa.)), freshman Katie Burns (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) and senior Rebecca Russ (Louisville, Ohio/Sacred Heart), who was in goal a year ago. Taking over between the pipes will be freshman Alyssa Yackee (Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon).